Matthew, fascinating, so now I know what I can eat as pure protein shall I land on a deserted island with only my sack of flour! Although, I am literally living like that (island) already!

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My favorite recipe for seitan, and actually I last made it for Valentine's day last year, is something I was served at a restaurant a few years ago and I figured out the recipe so I could make it home. The seitan is cooked in mole and then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. It is surrounded by roasted root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnip, etc.) and topped with more mole and sesame seeds. It is called seitan en croûte.

Thanks for the explanation of the name--that makes perfect sense. All you do is make a dough with flour and water and knead it like you would do for making bread (enough that the gluten is fully developed). Then you gently wash away all of the starch, and what you have left is the gluten structure, which you can slice into pieces and then cook. I think you usually boil it for about an hour, usually in some seasonings, and store it in that water until you are ready to use it. Then you can use it like any meat protein. You can also buy it ready made at Whole Foods and probably most Asian markets.

Yes, it is the protein part of the flour--the gluten network that forms the structure of bread. It is neat to see what is holding up your bread after you wash all of the starch away! I think it would be hard to incorporate back evenly into bread however, so it is best to use powdered gluten if you need to increase it in a bread recipe.

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Matthew, how do you use it? I think my Mom used to dice it and deep fry it, then use it on Jai or other Chinese stews or stir fries.

Is that how you obtain gluten? I suppose you can add it to your bread dough to increase the gluten? Is this the protein part of the flour?

Seitan sounds like washed (sei) flour (tan or fun), translated from the little Chinese language I know.

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It is mostly called seitan in the US Hector. I think every bread maker should make it once, because you get to see gluten in its purest form after you wash away all the starch in the flour.

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Cindy, hear from you, makes me think of my Mom!

She used to make her own Foo Jook (soybean curd sticks), rather simple to do, but it took days to gather! The taste was great, much fresher and less plastic or metallic than any store bought variety.

The left over milk was made into Tofu Fa, something I awaited patiently after harvesting the Foo Jook.

I must rediscover these soy recipes!

We also used to make "Chinese gold" by washing wheat flour dough in running water. I google this, is called wheat gluten or mian jin.

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Happy Chinese new year , Hector. You are very good to have Jai for CNY.This makes me want to make some for dinner tonight. Thanks for your greeting.

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Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!!

Perhaps as elaborate at Ethereal Pear Charlotte, my friend Deanna dropped some Jai her Mom made. I am having it for dinner right now; my Mom used to always say to keep Jai sitting in the fridge for a week or two sitting!

http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/savory/KungHeeFatChoy.html

Deanna and her lovely kids were at my Ethereal Pear Charlotte party, and indeed her photo graced our blog cover page then.

My Dad's ivory chopstics, Alessi scale, and mixer props.

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Cindy, I should have say "FDA....can cure"

Yes, I've known cilantro is good as medicine, but 'forgot' exactly for what. In Peru there is a saying "culantro es bueno para la salud pero no tanto" (cilantro is good for your health but not in excess).

Love the use of fresh, in Chinese dishes. Specially when used as a garnish for great dishes, like steamed whole fish, stews, topping soups, foul, layered pork/potato, etc. I love cilantro, and as a garnish it is displayed whole and holy, the aroma is incredible (pungent too strong for some complainers), and having it whole alone is a blessing to eat 'as is' since I adore cilantro!

Other fav uses are in Peruvian chicken or meat stews (seco de pollo, seco de carne). Basically, you make a traditional stew, but you turn the stew green with about a loose bunch of chopped cilantro. Cooked together with potatoes or yucca is incredible (many stew recipes don't call to add potatoes). In Peru, we make a cilantro/giblets watery 'rice soup' with cilantro called "aguadito;" it is a 'levanta muertos' (can lift the death) since it is believed to cure morning sicknesses or hang overs.

My bunch has been put on the freezer, which I feel always guilty to do to cilantro, since fresh is awesome.

I should make some rice cooker rice with cilantro and post here.

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Hector,
It is a lot of cilantro indeed. With the roots cut away, you have to eat it up quickly. Catonese have a soup with river fish slice , thousand year egg, preserved sweet pickle and cilantro. it is good to ease away heatness with symptom like ulcer in the mouth , coarse voice etc.

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wasn't sure where to post this, but why not make cilantro rice a la Spanish rice (green rice)?

here is CILANTRO, grown by my grand aunt. Never before my kitchen has seen so much cilantro at once!

http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/cilantro.html

FDA may give me a fine since such amount of cilantro can kill!

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hey, rice soup is also wonderful and perhaps one of the best 'mistakes' ever invented!

sorry to hear about barbara tropp.

in Italy now, w/o Chinese rice!

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For directions on making perfect rice, refer to "The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking" by Barbara Tropp. Perfection!!!!! I assisted Barbara in a cooking class here in Austin many years ago and she knows rice!!

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Some of my worst cooking nightmares come from rice...and those terrible cooking directions on the bag...grrrr.

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Elicia, Cindy, and ROSE, I am leaving this country with great inspiration and motivation from all the nice things you say.

Mandarin peels, soy sauce, books, now I am really inspired. I always complained to my Mom of everything she cooked and prepared, but I always watched everything she did. Now her reincarnation has just began on me! My brothers are getting together for Thanksgiving at THE YELLOW KITCHEN, and we plan to share some dim sum if not making a few ourselves.

But sorry to change topic, not sure where to post. Heading to Italy in a few minutes, taxi is picking me up at 5 am to head to the airport. None of my eating dinner friends would dare to show up this early to give me a ride! It is 4 am Thursday. I arrive 4 pm Friday! I am already having blog withdraws...

Here are the first pictures of this journey. I managed to pack 2 Perfect Pecan Pies (my first trial, need to work more on getting the filling shimmery clear). I was going to take my KA Artisan and leave it for Luca's Mom, but could not find a power converter, plus I found no room. Airport security knows that I am the baker passing thru the gates, and I blunt it.

Be back on the 17th, just in time to continue Rose's Celebrations Thanksgiving menu.

Oh, I am also packing Keiko (my sourdough starter), 8 quarry tiles (yes, I could easily buy a pizza stone there, but shopping for it can waste 1 day of traveling), and my little infrared thermometer.

Arrivederchi, Choi Kin, Adios!

http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/ItaliaMajare2007/index.html

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Lately been so tied up that I only read the comments here most of the time! But I must say - Hector - the soy sauce story is amazing! I'm also cantonese! You're blessed to have such a great cook in your Mom - am sure you have sweet memories of her. One day, you shld write a biographical oriental cookbook in honour of your mom - after all, you take great pics, write in the most delicious detail, and is a great cook yourself!!

BTW, we also make the dried mandarin peel ourself - saving the peels from chinese new year!!

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That is a great great idea!!
Sorry that your mom passed away, you must miss her so much as I miss my father.
The dry orange peel can be very pricy but usually affordable for daily use at home or we can dry our own. When in season,we can buy the fruit and peel them carefully and thread it to dry. Sometimes we cannot finish so many of them ,the flesh are discarded . The dry orange peel is a vtial ingredient in making a very common dessert ,sweet red bean soup (hung dau sha), There was a joke about some notorious restaurant that is cunny and they recommend the costomer to have sweet red bean soup with "aged" orange peel and the customer do not aware of the trick and only when he receive the bill ,he is charged a very unreasonale price. I take this as a quote to illustrate how priceless "aged" orange peels can be, it should be safe to try this dessert in most restaurants in HK and China and it is recommended.

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Oh Cindy, I do remember the dried mandarin orange peels, never knew it was so precious, I just remember my Mom was always extremely carefully when peeling fresh mandarin oranges to make nice dry peel.

My uncles now live in Hawaii. I have a few far aunts living in Mainland China, I've met them briefly a couple of times when they came to visit my Mom. My Mom passed in 2004.

If there is enough interest, we can have a blog convention in Hawaii!

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My mom was from Guangzhou (as spelled in Mandarin) but she spoke mostly Cantonese and Jaka. My Mom actually spoke many dialects, including Mandarin, Saki, etc, etc. I knew who she was talking to when hearing her speak on the phone!

Big Chinatown is on Island of Oahu. Maui is mostly touristic.

I've never visited China or Asia! Amy Tam said that you become chinese when visiting china!

Rose, you must be jet lagged!

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Oh , Hector, She comes from southern China. That make me very excited. Does she speak Cantonese or the dialet so do you understand Cantonese? My parents came from Canton, a place called "sun Woo" (my translation )where the mandarin oranges are very famous for dry orange peel.The aged dry peel can cost as much as gold. My grandfather generation was in HK and my mother came to HK through marriage. we still have lots of relative in the mainland ,mainly on my mother's side. Now that travelling back is so easy, my mother can see her sisters and friends as often as she can.It is just a ride on a bus for an hour or so. Are your mother and uncles still in China and HK? The big China town in Hawaii, do you mean in Maui island? I had been to Hawaii(maui) during my honey moon and was with a turist group. I don't think I visited the China town. If I am travelling by myself , I always visit the China town ,to try the food there at least. I found the food of NY chinatown best so far.I shall have that of Hawaii on my list.

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Cindy, glad you read the recipe. My mother was from the south of mainland china. Been the eldest child, she was left on mainland china with her grandma when Mao arrived, her parents and brothers fled to Hong Kong. It is interesting, my Mom was very 'red' (she used that word referring to mainland chinese people at that time) but my uncles are very HK!

In Hawaii we have a huge Chinatown with all the imports. Lots of soy sauce. NONE, tastes like my Mom's. It is on my to do list, haven't made it yet. Store bought soy sauce is mostly sugar, molasses, yeast, and soy extract, I am unsure if all brands still do the natural fermentation process. Home made soy sauce is very thin, light brown like tea, not sticky, not sugary, very very salty, and has a nice earthy flavor, it is comparable to the commercial soy sauce that you don't find often which has no molasses (lau chu vs san chu, something like that).

The wonders of food in our universe.

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Hector, that is amazing. I still remember when I was young, my mother and the aunties next door will prepare a lot of things for winter like the dry vegetable that were hanging on the beam.They are for soup, right? Others will be dry duck gizzard,dry pork etc but I have never heard people making their own soy sauce. We made some sweet wine out of glutinous rice and the rice paste left can be used to make desserts.As I was under the British education system, I do not pick up too much from my mom or aunties.Which part of China does your mother come from, southern or northern? Are you still making your own soy sauce in Hawaii? I would say it is a lot of work but if the result are good ,may be it is worth the effort. AS I live in HK at this moment.People always buy what they need and there are not many people who will cook let alone making the raw materials. As for me , I always think it is part of life and appreciate this art very much. Thanks for sharing.
Cindy

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http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/SoySauce.html

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The other day Rose asked me to 'teach' her how to make Chinese sausage with rice on the rice cooker. The question triggered a series of Chinese food topics, one of them soy sauce.

Hope you enjoy this excerpt I wrote. It is the empirical version of Soy Sauce Recipe that will be on my upcoming book!

I was just sorting thru the pictures of my family to find the moon cake picture, and was going to tell you that the best soy sauce is the one you make yourself!!!!!!!! My Mom and her friends did, yearly during the summer months, and would bottle enough for the rest of the year (funny, like the Italians making their own wine). So, I can't tell you what is my favorite brand since really I don't buy much of it. Currently, I get the Hawaii brand called Aloha Shoyu, light sodium or regular, people that left Hawaii always ask me to bring some with me when I go visit. It is a light soy sauce (without much molasses).

It isn't that hard to make your own soy sauce. You boil soy beans (dried beans) until cooked but not popped, drain, then while still hot knead in some flour that has some leavening (all purpose, not self rising), unbleached, enough flour to make everything look powdery (kinda plenty, half and half I think). Knead it until the beans are popped, but still whole, like a wet bread dough consistency. Spread this on large wire racks lined with cheese cloth, about 2 inches thick as big as a rack you have. Fold the cheese cloth over until it is well covered. Preferred to use flour sacks, boiled, instead of cheese cloth. It needs to be something pretty "organic" as it will help the fermentation process (thus using unbleached flour, too).

Now place this in a hot room that gets heat up during the day, fairly dry room, not moist. We had this top bedroom on our top floor without an insulated roof, and we kept all the windows closed. It was hot. The room was as storage room and was never dusted, you need all this 'natural' air germs to start that fermentation. If everything goes well, in about 2 or 3 weeks, the beans would have fermented but also dried out. No worms. My Mom would check every now and then, you need the beans to dry in about 1 week, otherwise the worms will appear. She got it down to a science with the amount of water/flour, and with the temperature of the room (she will open the windows every now and then to let things air out for a few hours).

So now, you have this wonderful fermented, but dry soy bean 'cakes.' Powdery white like flour, and moldy gray/green/cream from the fermentation. It does not smell rotten. The cakes are tough and almost impossible to break apart.

Get those giant lemonade glass jars (about 24 quarts big). Fill it with boiled water room temp and salt, regular iodized salt is ok. So much salt that it will no longer dissolve and you see it precipitating on the bottom of the water. Fill the jar only 1/2 full. Now add about 1/3 of the soy bean cakes, broken to fit thru the jar, but try to keep them in big pieces that will float and not touch the bottom (horizontal floating pieces, not vertical sunken ones).

The fun now begins, place the jar outdoors, where direct sun hits it. Must be summer. Every night, or every time it rains, you cover the jar with a lid or plate. If rain water gets into it, it will spoil. Add more boiled water room temp as things evaporate (sometimes up to 300% times. We tried to build a clear roof on top of the jars, so we wouldn't have to cover them each night or protect them from the rain, but the flavor wouldn't be the same. Needs direct sun to hit it. I know how to make soy sauce because each night and each morning I had to do this job.

Water will turn darker and darker. After 3 months (summer is over), the water will resemble black tea. Strain, boil, and bottle. Things don't need to be sterile since there is so much salt!

When you boil the soy sauce, you can add molasses to turn it into dark soy sauce. But my Mom will never do that because you mask the true flavors! Better to add molasses when you cook with it.

I still have the taste of true soy sauce on the tip of my tongue, the way my Mom and her friends made it. It was very very salty, so technically not great to taste alone or as a dip with ginger chicken. But for cooking, or diluting or turning it into a dark soy sauce, it was magic!

When you have time, you can comment on this, I think you can find the science behind this empirical recipe, and I would very much so like to know.

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I made 'quick spanish rice' by cooking fresh carrots and frozen peas with Rose's Celebrations wonderful glace de volaille.

http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/GlaceDeVolaille.html

This is my first dish made with the wonderful glace de volaille, and... the best 'quick spanish rice' I've ever tasted.

I have to confess that when reconstituting the glace de volaille, it starts smelling and tasting like a Chinese clear soup my Mom often made, those with tons of dried vegetables from all the kingdoms in nature. But when finally diluted and presented on its final form, the glace de volaille turns into the most multidimensional flavor enhancer there is. I just don't know how else to describe this new multi-dimensional flavor!

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Why dun have picture on the wedsite?

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Dear Osage, i appreciate yr interest in exploring the unknown corners of global kitchen. and i am extremely sorry to say that the rice flour found at grocery stores are not suitable for making traditional Bengali pitha. i have tried those flours but my pithas turned out like stones! in fact, in Bangladesh we use grocerystore-bought rice flour only to make chapatti, idli, dosa(traditional indian bread-like foods). but pitha needs flour made from special varieties of rice which have to be processed(moistened and peeled after cropping) and milled in manually operated eqipments! Believe me, some varieties of rice have got a very thin layer arond the grain which is gone if processed mechanically in rice mills/ factories. the same quantity of rice produces larger volume of flour (probably keeping the essential oil and moisture within)if milled in traditional equipments than in a power-driven machine. Unfortunately, we are a third-world country with exploding population and regular floods. many of our rich varieties of rice and milling things are simply disappearing. I am lucky to have relatives living in villages with big farms and those milling things, i get my supply of flour for pitha from them. i have heard about some NGO doing some good job for our rice heritage, not sure if they have started exporting the traditional varieties.
Bengali pitha is made with simple ingredients like flour, milk, coconut, date sugar, plain sugar, palm juice, sago, eggs etc, mostly made in winter in large batches (quite likely for a less-urbanized country with large joint-families). i am searching for a recipe u can try using the regular rice flour. thanks for yr time.

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Hector, sticky rice doesnt grow well in our soil or not that popular among the cultivators. i must take a bag of MOCHI rice from Australia when i return to my country. mashed ripe banana is alltime hit(for its availability all the yr round) in milk-rice but in summer even jackfruit puree goes well too! we make "mango bars" in summer and keep for the rest of the year. mango puree(sugar also added if the mango isnt sweet enough) is spread on bamboo mats and dried in the sun, next batch of mangoes are then pureed and spread on the first layer, dried again, and so on. the process is supposed to continue till the mango season ends(it hardly goes that long because of kids and heavy rains) and finally the thick sheet is cut into bars. pulling the layers apart is fun. the color is exotic, flavor is divine. and taste? just imagine soaking it in creamy milk for a couple of hours, then adding to sticky rice... or just let it go into the blender for a unique smoothy!

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Nushera, could you share with us how to make one of the pitha you describe? I'm guessing that maybe the rice flour could be found at an Indian grocery store in the US.

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Nushere, with these 5 lb of mochi rice, I shall use it every way I could. Thanks for the dessert recipe, and indeed it is always summer here!

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Hector, we have a favorite after-lunch dessert in summer: sticky rice mixed with CREAMY milk, banana /mango puree, date(like palm) sugar and a pinch of salt. it tastes better if mixed by hand;-), and even better if mixed by Mom...

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You all made me hungry, that I've just bought a 5 lb bag of mochi rice! (chinese glutinous rice). I will attempt a sticky rice Spanish rice.

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Oh Yasmin, cooking THAI WHITE RICE is something you can never forget!!!
I am tempted to let you know some interesting facts about Rice and Bengalis.

1.Rice is our main food, a MUST main dish in both lunch and dinner!

2.we use the rice cooker only for cooking regular unboiled rice. but we prefer the boiled rice(the grains had been boiled once or twice while being processed)which is usually cooked with more water and the liquid starch is drained afterwards. we cook Pulao/Biryani in special occasions for which scented fine rice is fried (sauted) with spices before adding boiling water. another popular dish(for rainy days!) is khichuri, the gorgeous yellow rice with mung(a type of lentil) and turmaric(rice:mungdahl=2:1).

3.We dont say, "taken lunch?" we talk about taking RICE.
"what are the curries?" means "Whats for lunch/dinner alongwith rice?"
Moms call kids,"hurry up, RICE is served"

4.Our traditional cakes(pitha) are mostly made with rice flour, and we have special varieties of rice for making different pithas. the varieties have got their own distinct aroma, flavour and color. to retain that they have to be milled manually in traditional equipments made of wood and stone. cakes made from these flours puffs up beautifully (dont need any baking agent or beating).

5.we have different kinds of puffed rice(some look like popcorn, but nt actually similar), puffed in traditional method using peeled or unpeeled grains, clay ovens, clay pots and sand. we take puffed rice as snack, and also use in making traditional desserts.

6.if u ever see a Bangladeshi grocery, i'd request u to get the KALIJIRA rice. it is really something special apart from the well-known Basmati or Jasmine (My husband works at a uni in Melbourne and whenever i go to Australia we have friends from 5 continents visiting us asking if Kalijira Khichuri is on the menu!). it is cultivated in particular places in Bangladesh. Kalijira fields are easily noticable with dwarf-plants dark brown-to-black paddy and heavenly aroma.
Thanks for yr time!

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Yasmin, that's a really interesting explanation of the difficulty in cooking Asian white rice. I did not realize that it takes an hour of almost constant attention. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

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Dear Rose,

My Mum use the same type of rice cooker that you use-the lid is attached to the cooker. I have found that this type of rice cooker is very easy to use. However, it is also a bit tricky to wash. You will get all this sticky brown stains in the corners of the lid.

So I use the other type of rice cooker, where the lid is seperated from the cooker (like the original rice cooker version). It is a modern one, though, so it is good. Its easier to wash and to stay cean. My rice is cooked within 15 minutes usually. Thats fast! :)

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Hi Patrincia. Rice cooker is important to asians because we use white rice. Unlike long grain rice or bathmati rice, asian white rice needs alot of attention if cooked manually. You will have to stir it from beginning (YOU MUST!), till the water is half gone, till the water is totally gone.. basically all the way. Otherwise, your rice will be burnt and even if it is cooked, you will still get burnt smell. I am aware that with bathmati rice, all you do is boil it on the stove, let it sit, reduce the fire when its almost cook and you are done- no stirring is necessary.In fact, you can get away even if you dont stir AT ALL.

This means, with asian white rice, if it takes one hour to cook rice, you'll have to just watch your rice and keep stirring for that whole ONE HOUR. If you go to the loo or something, your rice will get burnt- and also some will be cooked, yet most uncooked. Meaning, you must keep an eye on your rice FROM BEGINNING TILL THE END. So this is hard; you cant afford to spend all your time just for rice, right? You also need to cook other things, like chicken, vegetable, etc (side dishes).

So that is why rice cooker is very important to asians because with it, you can simply put your rice inside the cooker, press "cook", leave 15 to 20 minutes and your rice is ready (You will know it is ready when the button changes from "cook" to "warm"). No need to stir.

(And in the meantime you can do other stuffs like cooking side dishes and salad)

Hope this explains some :)

P/S: If you dont believe me, try cooking THAI WHITE RICE the way you cook your usual rice (long grain, bathmati etc) on a stove. Meaning, just let it sit, dont stir or anything. See what happens!

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Thanks Rose, much appreciated. I guess the main difference must be a) the size of the motor and b) the size of the bowl (plus additional ruggedness aspects). I guess I can use one of my children as a beater-holder, in place of the stand.

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while we are on the subject of mixers, I can't afford a Kitchenaid (particularly here in Britain), but I can afford (well, sort of) a Kenwood chef or nearest equiv. What are people's experiences with the mid-range models of mixers? What do you get for your extra £150 ($200)?

Thanks

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And the Viking mixer for bread - the King Arthur folks swear by it!

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Diana, there are a few make and models out there that are GREAT, but for beginners I think everyone should have a KitchenAid stand mixer and a Cuisinart food processor.

Depending what you use your stand mixer for, if primarilly for cakes and frostings, then the KitchenAid stand mixer is great. But if you use your stand mixer for lots of breads and dough (including pasta dough), then you may want something like an Electrolux Magic Mill, or a Bosch Universal!

Strictly speaking of bread dough, the Zo bread machines kneads the dough the BEST way!

And, a few of us are currently putting to test the Cuisinart Stand Mixer, an improved remake of the old trusted Kenwood.

There is also the Hobart!

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What is the best food processor and stand mixer?

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Rose - I've enjoyed your newsletters for some time now and really enjoyed this one re the rice cooker and rice, etc. I spent 3 years in Tehran, Iran, a long time ago, and learned to truly LOVE their rice. And when we discovered Basmati rice and the fact that it literally is almost exactly the same flavor as the Iranian rice we loved, we were in heaven.
But you didn't mention - the true Iranian also loves a raw egg yolk over the crispy mound of rice. We used to like it over there but I'm not so sure now.

Cheers!
eno

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If I may, let me post this entry on this non-cake topic with an Asian flair. I made Penne tossed with roasted garlic and white figs, and garnished with Chinese Black Moss Hair Seaweed and onions. This seaweed tastes more like a mushroom. With some soy sauce and enough salt, it was tasty. No worries, this is not going on the cake! Enjoy

http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/PenneFatChoy-RoastedGarlicWhiteFig.html

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http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/RiceCooker.html

This is my little rice cooker. I finally retired our family's panasonic and tiger rice cookers. Soon I should get the little zorijushi, but in the meantime I am using my le creuset 2.5 qt veggie shaped pots... why not, I have each one of them!

When I want salted rice for most of my Peruvian entrees, I fry some garlic, salt, and ev olive oil, then toss the rice in for a few minutes until the rice kernels soak the oil and become shinny and slightly translucent. Add the water and keep at high heat covered until boiling. Now I crack open the lid until the water is consumed and see the "rice eyes," about 5 minutes. Now I cover it again, reduce the heat to simmer, and cook for about 10 to 20 minutes or until ready to serve. I believe the key of this method is that you need a pot that conducts and retains heat very well, and a heavy lid that seals shut. The picture is a combination of basmati rice and about 5% of arborio rice. The results were yummy, the bottom crust was there, too (see a little of it on the top left side of the pot on the second picture).

The best part was making fried rice, 2 days after, with a mix of spicy carrot ragu, soy sauce, and tons of minced fresh ginger. Sorry no picture, it got eaten faster than my camera could load. For some reason, the fresh ginger became ultra sweet instead of peppery or hot spicy. Magic must happened when I combined the spicy carrot ragu, the soy sauce, and the ginger, the resulting flavor was amazingly sweet!

I use the same pot whenever I want to make Chinese rice, or any rice, too.

And, yes, my dog was so happy I made rice, she jumped on her seat at our dinner table. Her name is Lucky, and she is the one I walk in the mornings while eating a slice of something deliciously baked. Today was grilled panini made with raisin basic sourdough bread made with ap bleached flour (I feel shame), grilled with salame and asiago cheese.

Enjoy!

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Elicia - thanks for your response... now I see why so many people have one.

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I haven't seen a Chinese household without a rice cooker!

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Hi Patrincia, the rice cooker is an essential item in a Chinese kitchen. We have to cook at least 3 dishes to accompany the rice everyday, and the rice cooker removes the hassle of cooking rice as well on the same stove top where we stir-fry, steam, deep fry all our other dishes! You can cook rice on the stove top too of course! I guess in a Western kitchen, it is a 'nice-too-have' item. Do try to discover its many other uses - fancy one-pot dinners, double cooking (eg steaming or reheating on top of the rice), and keep warm function etc. I sometimes fry a lot of rice for parties at my house, and the rice cooker helps to keep the fried rice warm till dinner time, thereby allowing me to fry the rice in advance. If your counter-top permits the space, it wld be nice to have one too!

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Ah rice!....
The essential staple in the Asian diet. You can cook it in a rice cooker, in a saucepan, in a claypot, steam it wrapped in a lotus leaf, boil it wrapped in bamboo leaves, cook it in a bamboo pot, and even cook it in a bamboo stem!

You can stuff it in poultry or fish. You can pound it after steaming it to make mochi.
You can make rice vermicelli, rice cakes, rice puddings, etc... from it.

There is red rice, brown rice, calrose rice, long-grain rice, basmati rice, glutinous rice.....so many to choose from.

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I have been shopping/researching small rice cookers. I usually cook for two people and my old giant cooker does not really like small quantities or brown rice. Is this Zojurishi the best to get?

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Have you tried fried rice with sauteed garlic? Saute lots of crushed garlic with butter or with any bland vegetable oil. When the garlic has browned a bit, add the rice and saute together with the garlic. Add salt. You may add a little soy sauce. Lower heat and cover a few minutes until the rice is heated through. Garlic rice is great eaten with tomatoes, broccoli, sausages especially those that come from Spain,and if serve at brunch, have some eggs too. Great with Spanish omelette (eggs and potatoes)!

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I love my rice cooker. My family's favorite is jasmine rice (2 cups) washed and cooked with 1/2 a diced onion sauteed in butter, then I add some chicken broth to the rice cooker up to the proper level (I now use brown jasmine rice so the broth amount is different from using the white jasmine rice). It creates a fantastic crust on the bottom that my kids fight me for.

For a one pot dinner, I also use the steamer basket to steam some peeled shrimp when there is about 5 minutes left. If you line the steamer with napa cabbage, you even have your vegetable ready at the same time with only one pot dirty - an added bonus.

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There is an article in today's Wall Street Journal about a new rice cooker from Toshiba...

$830!!!!

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Zojirushi rice is absolutely the best and most versatile. It makes the most perfect rice: soft to hard to "al dente", whichever your preference may be.

The cooking bowl is already marked with water level needed for each type of rice; brown or mixed or sushi etc..

Although it often takes longer to cook than other rice cookers in a Zojirushi; nontheless it has a "fast cook" function.

The prewashed sushi rice in Japanese markets is also great.

Anyone tried those jasmine or green tea flavored rice which are "in fashion" lately?

Akai rice is also great and seems really healthy, which is a mixture of various grains. Market by some Chinese company in California, i find it a bit expensive though.

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I see. I cook just standard plain old varieties of rice (not mixes) - long grain, brown, basmati, etc.

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I think the "rice cooker" is the best way to make rice as served on the fanciest and most authentic Chinese restaurants in the world, NOT to be confused with Chinese "take out."

Uncle Bens, and in fact many other kinds of rice, do cook better on the stove top.

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I must be missing something here... I've never seen the need for a rice cooker because I've never had any trouble making rice on the stove top. I make all kinds of rice - why is a counter top cooker so much better?

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Yep, it's ALL about the Zojirushi! We've had ours for over five years and I don't remember what making rice was like without it. We also have a Green Star juicer/foodmill/processor we make mochi with, both sweet and savory. Try it it's fun!

http://healmyhands.typepad.com/heal_my_life/2007/02/koshian_mochi.html

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Don't forget rice pudding! No more mushy stuff since I got MY "little Zo".
It's perfect!

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Rice seems to tie cultures together. The frying the rice with garlic and a little oil first and salt, is VERY PERUVIAN and Latin American in general. Adding edamame is VERY JAPANESE. In fact, in Peru we do the same but with fresh peas instead of edamame!!!

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Wow! It's mind-boggling that we share similar "rice-cultures" in different parts of the globe! Especially tips such as eating hot rice with egg or reheating dishes on top of cooking rice (Hector's tips), steaming sausages with cooking rice (Cindy) and using the water to water plants, wash face etc etc! I remember my mom used to grind rice into a powder and mix in water to paste - make little droplets that are dried and stored with the fragrant pandanus leaves. These droplets are then moistened and applied to the face - very cooling and great for zits!

Oh Cindy, rice dumpling festival is celebrated here by the Chinese community but it is not a holiday! They have dragon boat race in Penang - an island up north of Malaysia (my hometown). I usually make the 'nyonya' style dumpling which is sweet and spicy at the same time. It has a filling of chopped candied winter melons, chopped toasted groundnuts, chopped pork, lots of pepper and spices (coriander and cekur ginger root). This flavour I believe is unique to Malaysians and it is also not sold widely here. So I usually make quite a lot to give away to friends!

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Oh ,Elicia, the bamboo leaf wrapped glutinous rice dumplings are food for the Dragon Boat festivel which is 19th June this year and it is a public holiday in HK .We shall eat these glutinous rice dumplings ,both savory and sweet. The savory usually with green bean ,meat and duck's egg yolk and the sweet one with read bean paste or mashed lotus seed and golden syrup. We shall have dragon boat race. is it similar in Malaysia?And rice is also used in make up products. One famous Japanese brand has finely grained powder for exfoliation and the water left from washing rice is good for washing face with.That was what my grandmother's/mother's generation did when beauty products were scarce and they did have smooth , white skin even at elder age. In this generation, this tradition seems to have lost.

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Yeah, water from washing rice can be used to water plants that are green leaf and prefer also an acid soil, like ferns, most green leaf houseplants, azaleas, and overal everywhere in the garden.

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Wow! Wonderful to read rice being dissected like baking!

Rice is a staple here in Malaysia too, and the rice cooker is also indispensable in our kitchens. Let me contribute my 2 cents worth!

I also use the egg technique when I want to fry fresh-cooked rice. Just fluff up the rice, fry with a little oil, add the beaten eggs - stir fry till dry and grains separated. Remove from wok. Now stir fry the other ingredients - shallots, prawns, carrot, scallop etc etc till fragrant, then add the fried rice back, mix and adjust taste!

Here, we usually steam glutinous rice in a steamer lined with cheesecloth (soak the rice overnight first) - we have many variations of steamed glutinous rice - steamed with turmeric and peppercorns, and served with chicken curry to celebrate the 1st month of a newborn; to make many varieties of rice dumpling (wrapped in dried bamboo leaf with different types of fillings ranging from savoury to sweet) for a special festival sometime in June; or to be steamed with coconut milk and compressed into squares and served as a dessert with coconut milk and egg curd (a local fave)!

Of course, I think you will soon discover that you can make many one-pot rice recipes in the cooker - the chinese sausage rice; or chicken rice (marinade chicken pieces + chinese mushroom + carrot + salted fish with ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, sugar to taste) - cook rice and when water just dried up, add ingredients on top and let the cooker continue cooking - when ready to serve, stir everything together and sprinkle with chopped spring onions and deep-fried crispy shallots.

One last note, I know that water from washing rice can be used for sourdough starter!

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Hi Rose,

Can you tell us anything about your forthcoming rice book?

Thanks,
Renee

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Rice is one of my favorite foods. I've never used salt, and usually wash it first, although I've heard that you don't wash basmati rice first, so I don't. That might be a myth, though. Usually when cooking Chinese food, I have about 3 times or more rice than main dish - and I still need more rice to eat the main dish with.

I love hearing all of the recipies in this thread, can't wait to try them out.

I sometimes cook about 2 cups of basmati rice under low heat until it smells nutty and turns white. Then, I add slightly more chicken broth than rice (about 2.5 cups) and heat until it starts to boil. I ten cook for 20 mins on low heat, turn the rice off and let it stand on the burner for 20 mins before serving.

Thanks.

Richard

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Hi Rose

Maybe you would like to check out the Rice Cooker Bread. I have not tried it myself but it sounds fascinating: http://thelazychef.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/rice-cooker-bread-ja-pan-2/. So your next next next book can be about both rice & bread?

Crystal.

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Recent model of rice cooker are so versatile that they make really good rice with little attention.Usually there are marks that specify the water amount with different kinds of rice.it is so fool proof. You only need to adjust to your taste. They can cook congeen (Porridge of rice)too. For glutinous reice. I usually steam it after soaking so no harder layer will be formed and all can be used to be stir fried. But I know the rice cooker can also handle that. The latter model by Zojirushi or tiger etc can make good rice even with the smaller model which is a good news for singleton or couple. The rice cooker is such a good wedding gift.

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And, I can't way for you to include a lot of science on rice cooking on your next book. It is time rice gets the attention from Rose's science explanations.

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Rose, your little rice cooker must be the best. I have no point to compare since my experience is only with the old fashioned panasonic "low-tech" models. After the panasonic, we got a tiger model (Japanese) which I believe was the first attempt for rice technology. Nowadays, I see even the most inexperienced cooks offering to bring rice at picnics, and they show up with a high tech rice cooker that looks very futuristic and advanced, I thought they were bringing a boom box! Delicious.

Oh, our rice cooker was also a good way to reheat left overs instead of using the microwave, for things that are best reheated without a direct source of heat. We found a pyrex pie dish to place the left over foods, the pie dish was about 1 inch smaller than the rice cooker's bowl. When the rice was almost done, we will put the pie dish on the rice, and in about 3 minutes, it will be nicelly reheated.

We also made a lot of steaming, together with the rice being cooked. You find a steamer "rack" that will sit on your rice and elevate your pie dish about 1 inch above the "cooked rice" You could steam sweat potatoes, beef, chicken, hard vegies, etc, etc, MOM will make full meals this way. She also loved to stick a few pieces of sweet potatoes directly on the rice, from the beginning of the cooking cycle, I remember each time I went to the rice cooker to get some rice I would find surprises in it for her. You can even boil an egg, throw a chicken leg, etc, etc.

Happy ricing, Rose the ricer.

/H

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Yummy! I looooove rice - it's my favorite food.

Here's another tip when cooking rice such as Uncle Ben - use a heavy pot. Stainless steel if at all possible, with a flat bottom. I usually use equal measurements of rice and liquid, for instance, 1 1/2 cup liquid (usually chicken broth) and 1 1/2 cup rice. I put the liquid with salt and butter in the pot, let it come to a roiling boil and then put the rice and stir, and I put the lid on and turn temperature down to low or a notch above medium, depending on how soon dinner is going to be served (I usually fix rice last as I like it to be piping hot at dinnertime).

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If you like eggs, specially not well done eggs, try this recipe.

In a large Chinese rice bowl, put one raw egg, a teaspoon of soy sauce, a dash of vegetable oil (use sesame oil if you like the flavor, don't use olive oil as it would be such a foreign flavor for Chinese dishes). Stir a little with a fork. Now fill the bowl with VERY hot freshly done rice, cover with a lid or plate for about 10 minutes. The rice will cook most of the eggs, now stir with chopsticks and enjoy the most flavorful and moist Cooked Rice. Kids often will not stir the rice after the 10 minutes, they would you unmold the bowl on a place, and watch the coloful colors of the egg and soy sauce at different stages of doneness.

PS. YES, the Chinese sausages cooked on your rice cooker are the best "TV dinner" you can have. Easy and delicious. Be sure to try the Canadian varieties, made with mostly low fat beef ro pork.

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Growing up in Peru, coming from Chinese parents, and now living in highly-Asian-Hawaii, I feel I was born with rice under my arms, not bread.

A rice cooker is one of those things that need to be at your countertop all the time, the bigger the better, the more wealth and good luck it brings to your family. Rice was in every meal at home, even if the main course was based on potatoes or other starches.

We had a Panasonic rice cooker, the very only one that was so traditional over so many years, before the Japanese arrived with the high tech rice cookers. The Panasonic model is long gone, now the Japanese models are used.

My basic recipe of plain white rice (as you find it at any Chinese restaurant or at my parents home) is: Use a rice cooker that makes a minimum of 6 cups of rice; the smaller models don't make rice well perhaps because the surface area is too shallow to make the rice grow. With the 6 cup rice cooker model, you can make anything between 2 cups of cooked rice or more. YES, one cup of cooked rice will make a layer so thin, it just don't come out right.

Rice grows twice when cooked, and it requires 1 to 1 1/4 equal volume of water. These are the rules of thumb. If you like your rice to be on the dry side, not so sticky, then you use 1 cup of rice with 1 cup of water. If you like your rice a little more clumpy and moist, add up to 1 1/4 cups of water. Rice should always be rinsed, even if clean. We rinse rice in a bowl, changing the water about 3 times. You need to rub the rice between you palms as if you were rubbing dry oregano or such. After the 3rd water change, the water will be mostly clear. This eliminates most of the starch that accumulates in the rice during storage. Now you add your measured water (regular water right from the tap, not hot or boiling). Close your rice cooker, press the button and in 20 minutes it "will be done." Mom ALWAYS allowed an extra 10 minutes before opening the rice cooker and serving it. Mom didn't feel that the 20 minute just done rice was soft enough, and she made clear NOT TO OPEN the lid at this mark because the best part of the rice moist arome will escape.

To reheat, you add a little water and turn back on the rice cooker, this will be good for several days.

Now, the fun part starts when we wanted to make rice for Peruvian dishes. Most call for Arroz Salado (rice with salt). And the rice cooker is the way to do it. On the stove, fry some oil, salt and garlic, add the rice and gently stir it without burning it, just a few seconds. Now dump it on the rice cooker, add the water, and cook. This makes the most wonderful Arroz Salado.

Moreover, you can make Arroz con Pollo (or Spanish Rice), it is YUMMY and the bottom crust were the best part of it!!!!! You need to count the soft, mostly water, ingredients as part of the water. For example, if you are going to add carrots, measure the carrots as if it would be water. The same for spinach, fresh peas, corn, etc. Also, you need to time the cooking time of your ingredients with the 20 minutes it takes for the rice to cook by itself. For example, if you are going to add chicken, you may want to heat up or cook half way the chicken, so with the 20 minutes on your rice cooker, it will be done. The same for carrots, if you want them nice and orrange, you may want to add them at the last 10 minutes of the rice cooker. Mom always sauted all the meats separatelly, then use the oil and juices to cook the rice, then add the meats at the end when the rice was done.

I have thousands of days of rice at home, so when I read this post on this blog, I felt "Rose is stepping in my boundaries!!!" how dare I can say that when everyday I step in hers with baking.

Another appreciation for rice, is that it has so many years of history and culture.

Oh, what else can I say about rice? Try using your Le Creuset enamel cast iron pot. IT MAKES GOOD RICE. Use the same washing technique and amount of water. Boil covered on high heat, when you see steam coming from the lid, remove the cover and turn the heat to medium-low. In a few minutes (if not already), you will see most of the water being absorved or evaporated; you will see the characteristic "rice eyes" on the surface, which are pea sized incisions on the surface of your cooking rice, these "rice eyes" are like a volcanoe crater where the hot vapor escapes. When you see these "rice eyes" turn the heat to minimum, the lowest you can have on your stove, cover the pot, and let it cook for 10 minutes. If your stove can't be set to minium heat, you can put an old cookie sheet under the pot on the stove. If you have the time, you can just turn off the heat when you see the "rice eyes" and let the residual heat of the cast iron pot finish cooking the rice for about 30 minutes.

I have evolved away from "rice cookers" and now use my enamel cast iron pot exclusivelly. I find the gentle and even heat distribution and retention from these pots ideal for rice cooking. And the heavy lid is sure to help keeping the "best part of the rice moist aromes inside."

One of my favorite fried rice recipes are done without soy sauce. In fact, soy sauce dulls the flavors or most other ingredients. I like my fried rice very "white" looking. My favorite fried rice is the one that is very plain, but scented with tiny minced pieces of salted fish.

Happy ricing.

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Hi Rose, In making the glutinous rice , What I usually do is I soak the raw glutinous rice with water covering it in a bowl for several hours or overnight. Then cook it with the amount of water just covering the rice. When it is done mix it in the pot as I have mentioned and covered for say 10 minutes before you fry it. We usually add chinese sausage disc, dried shrimps or roasted peanut and some dark soya sauce (to give some colour)nd a little of sugar to taste. A sprinkle with finely cut spring onion and cilantro will add to the flavour.

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Oh, Rose, I am sure you will love the rice cooker. In a Chinese family ,this is a must and the japanese have made such enhancement and the rice cooker now are approching perfect. You can cook white rice ,brown rice, glutinous rice which makes wonderful fried glutinous rice with preserved meat and sausages. We usually have a pot of rice cooked and we fry our dishes. When the rice is done , I would open the lid and stir it with a flat spectula to mix the rice throughly bc those at the top are slightly harder and those at the bottom are softer. It is esprcially so if you are cooking a large quantity. After mixing ,just close the lid and when you serve it ,the rice will be very evenly moistened and fluffy. We have rice nearly everyday. An electric rice cooker is indispendsable. In winter ,we cook the chinese sausage together witht the rice . The sausage is added when the rice is half cooked and the fat from the sausage just blend in the rice which is very flavourful and heart warming for a winter evening. The rice cooker can also cook a lot of other dishes besides rice .

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I don't know if you've ever cooked Persian-style rice, but it's all about crispy brown crust. You boil the rice briefly, until it's mostly cooked but still a bit tough, drain it, and then put it in a preheated pot or casserole lavished with butter. More butter on top. Cover tightly (so that it steams) and cook until the rice is completely cooked and the surface in contact with the pot is crispy brown.

How hot and how long depends on your pot and your stove. I had to overshoot (burnt) and undershoot (pallid) a few times to figure out just how to do it.

The Iranian friend who taught me to cook rice decorates the rice with a rosette formed of thin slices of raw potato, arranged on the bottom of the pot. Ideally, one should be able to turn over the pot and produce a perfect mound of crispy brown rice, with the potato rosette decorating the top. You serve the crispy part, the best part, to your dinner guests.

I'm a failure as a Persian cook, because I've never been able to get my rice to un-mold like that. But it still tastes good.

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Rose,
I thought I would share this neat technique I picked up watching, of all things, Iron Chef. As you stated above, normally if you try to fry freshly cooked rice, it turns into a gummy mess. The Iron Chef, however, added raw eggs to freshly cooked rice. The egg coats the rice and keeps the grains from sticking to each other. This is great if you want to make fried rice without having to wait. I actually like the taste better than the normal technique now.

Since Iron Chef doesn’t provide any recipes, I had to do a bit of guess work. I found that one egg to 2 cups of rice seems to work well.

I use four cups of cooked jasmine rice to make fried rice: Cook the rice. Divide the rice in to 2 bowls and stir to cool and separate grains. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Break 1 egg into each bowl of rice and stir to coat grains. You are ready to fry now.

Here is a photo of a version I made recently using peanut oil, garlic, shallots, salt, sugar, soy sauce, Thai roasted chili paste (nahm prik pao), Thai basil, pea pods, and cucumbers. You can see that the grains remain separate and are not gummy at all.

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