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Rice is the grain, which is one of the most devoured cereals on planet earth. The origin of rice dates back to a period, which is as old as the human civilization. Rice is acting as a principal cereal crop for different parts of the world since the time, human race have learnt the tactics of agriculture.There are ample variations of rice recipes prevalent throughout the world. Innumerable dishes can be prepared with rice being the main ingredient.
Rice happens to be the staple food for most of the places in Asia; therefore, most of the important rice recipes emerge from this continent. There are various ways rice can be cooked, it can be soaked, boiled, ground, fried for creating various specialized delicacies.The countless forms of rice recipes constitute dishes where rice is cooked in its true form or transformed into different types of cakes, puddings and different spicy and at the same time sweet delectable. There are variations in the form and type of the rice for preparing each of the dishes and the taste depends largely on it. Here is a compilation of few of the popular rice recipes.
Chinese Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of long grained rice (precooked)
- 2 slightly beaten eggs
- Ham
- 4 green onions
- salt and ground pepper
- 1 medium white onion
- Shrimps (cooked)
- 2 tablespoon peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
- Frozen green peas
Preparation:
Mix the egg, salt and pepper. Onions needs to be chopped and the ham needs to be sliced. Both of them should be diced well. Take 1tbsp of peanut oil in a panand heat at medium flame. Put the egg mixture; once it is well cooked take it out of the pan and keep aside. Then put another tbsp of peanut oil in the pan. It must be spread throughout the pan. Add the onion and cook until it becomes transparent. Put the ham and cook for 1 minute then put the cooked rice and saute for about 3 minutes. Put the egg, soy sauce, the shrimps and green onions in the rice as it gets heated up. Cook in a simmer flame for some time and then remove it from fire and serve hot.
Risotto
Ingredients:
- Rice
- olive oil or butter
- parmesan cheese
- saffron
- homemade chicken broth (3-5 cups)
- 1 chopped onion
- white wine
Preparation:
Heat the olive oil the butter in a pan. Add onions and fry it until it’s golden. Then add the rice and make it sure, that it should have a coating of olive oil.Fry the rice for some time stirring it occasionally. Then start putting the chicken broth slowly about 1/3 cup at a time as the rice will absorb the liquid. Put the flame at simmer. Then pout little wine in it in the same way as the broth. You are the best judge to decide the right poroportion of wine and broth. It is npot advisable to use red wine. When the rice will look well cooked , add the saffron and the parmecean cheese in it. One can also add asparagus, mushroom, spinach and other vegetables too. In that case the addition should be doneat a bit initial stage.
Chicken Biryani
Ingredients:
- Basmati rice
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 small peeled potatoes
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 medium sized peeled and chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 (2 inch) piece cinnamon stick
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken pieces cut into chunks
- 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 pinch powdered saffron
- 5 pods cardamom
- 3 whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Preparation:
Put 2 tbs of vegetable oil in a skillet. Fry the potatoes till they are brown and keep them aside.Add another 2 tbs of oil and put the onion, garlic and ginger in it and fry till golden. Then add turmeric, cumin, salt and the tomatoes stir constantly and fry for 5 minutes. Put a lid and then leave it to be cooked for some time at a simmer flame. See when the tomatoes pulp out and if the mixture tends to become dry then add a cup of hot water in it so that nothing should stick at the base of the pan. When the mixture starts thickening add chicken chunks and stir well so that the spices thorougholy cover it. Cook it by putting a lid at a low flame for about 30- 45 minutes, tikll the chicken gets tender.
Then again heat oil in another big pan and fry the onions, add rice, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, clove and saffron in it. Heat the chicken stock and put it over the rice. Then add the mixture of chicken and potatoes in it. Tightly cover the mouth of the pot and bring to boil at a low heat. Cook for 20 minutes. Never lift the lid during cooking. After 20 minutes remove it from fire and serve hot.
Sigi tells you to try out the various rice recipes and add up a new dimension to the daily rice eating routine.
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