Small Win #7: What they don't tell you about cooking rice

Would all those who can cook perfect rice on the stove please stand up?

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If you’ve nailed consistently cooking perfect rice on the stove then you’re a better cook than me (and please do share your secrets in the comments below, thanks so much). Alison Roman perhaps said it best: “cooking rice is a true art form and… I’m not good at it yet”. Relatable! Me neither! Because nobody tells you that what seems like it ought to be the simplest task in the world is sort of tricky.

It’s an odd truth that the tasks that appear most basic and foundational in the kitchen — frying an egg, making rice, whipping up an omelette, roasting a chicken — are often the hardest to nail.

But maybe you didn’t know that you’re not obligated to cook your rice on the stove? Maybe you didn’t know that you could bake it instead, and that it could turn out perfectly cooked and fluffy every time?

I was in the dark, too, until I came across this technique by the wonderful Francis Lam. One to add to your repertoire, it’s especially useful when feeding a crowd. When feeding yourself? Well, there are microwaveable Tilda rice pouches for that.

Love,
Alexina

Coming up on Small Wins — a simple formula for soup, the best banana bread in the world (including 3 ways to level up your cakes + the anatomy of a ragu

For my Small Wins+ community — This month it’s everything you need to know about pasta, but coming next week it’s potatoes 101 (including but not limited to: the potato variety that outshines Maris Pipers; the easiest, crispiest potatoes; mashed potatoes for every occasion and 5 tips for the best roasties).

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THE MERITS OF STEAMING

Image by gaellemarcel on Unsplash

When you think of steaming as a technique where does your mind go?

I’ll start: steamed vegetables. Bland, boring steamed vegetables. Hardly a glowing advert for the technique.

But what comes to mind next starts to give a better indication: a basket of steamed dumplings delivered to the table in a dim sum restaurant; a whole steamed fish doused in a marinade that’s punchy with fish sauce, garlic and chilli. Steaming can be a useful technique to employ in the kitchen but its merit is entirely unrelated to flavour: rather, what’s special about steaming is what it can do for texture.

Steaming is one of the gentlest forms of cooking and one that preserves moisture. The benefits of this are threefold:

1. It results in delicate, soft textures

2. It offers the cook a wider margin for error when it comes to timings

3. It cooks food more quickly (since water molecules conduct heat better than air)

Stick with me here, but there’s a reason that prominent food writers and chefs — from double Michelin-starred Sat Bains to MasterChef winner Tim Anderson to Nigella — advocate for the microwave (yes, the microwave). Microwaves steam foods from the inside out — a fact which makes them useful for producing perfectly wilted greens, or a speedy baked potato, or the lightest of sponges and, yes, rice too.

Steaming is one of the oldest techniques in Chinese cooking — and it makes sense: it’s a cuisine that majors in soft/gelatinous textures which are best created through steaming. Chinese cuisine also makes use of salty/sweet/umami-rich seasonings and sauces, which make up for things on the flavour front.

You might be confused to hear me talking about steaming here when I referred to the technique for this recipe as ‘baking rice’ but when you bake something in an oven, covered tightly with a lid — as is the case in this recipe — it ends up steaming more than it bakes. The lid prevents a direct hit of heat and creates an enclosed space where the water can evaporate, condense on the lid and be absorbed back into the food. It’s a technique that has more applications than you might imagine: from sourdough to polenta to baked custard — and it was a genius move on Francis Lam’s part to use it for cooking rice.

Two advantages to steam-baking something (as opposed to just plain steaming it) are that it doesn’t require you to own a steamer or steam basket, plus it allows you to add some fat, which brings richness and flavour to the party. Don’t just take my word for it: one of the key features differentiating the ovens used in professional kitchens (these pricey Rational models) from the average home oven is steam. It’s a feature that helps chefs to cook food more quickly and precisely, whilst also achieving juicier results.

Here’s why I love this method of cooking rice:

• Long, fluffy, seperated grains every time!

• No rinsing required — which means one less step + one less item to wash up (scroll down for more about rinsing your rice)

• Minimal effort — once it’s in the oven, 95% of your work is done

• Perfect for feeding a crowd — it doesn’t clutter up the hob nor require you to have the extractor fan on, plus once it’s out of the oven you can leave it to sit on the side with the lid on for at least 15 minutes and it will stay warm

• Extra flavour from the butter and the toasting of the grains

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LIFE-CHANGING BAKED RICE

Adapted from Francis Lam via Luisa Weiss’ old blog The Wednesday Chef (she’s now on Substack at Letter from Berlin!)

Serves 4 to 6 (easily halved — just bake in a small saucepan instead)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp/15g/a good knob of butter (it could be olive oil)

• 2 cups (around 370g) basmati rice

• 2 3/4 cups (around 630ml) water

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.

2. Place a large heavy-bottomed saucepan (or smallish casserole) on a medium heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted add the rice and stir to coat in the butter. Keep toasting and occasionally stirring the rice for around 5 minutes, until the grains have turned glassy (I don’t mind if some of the grains go a bit golden, but if you want pure white rice then obviously keep the temperature lower to avoid this).

3. Add the water (it should sizzle and boil as it hits the pan) and salt then place a sheet of greaseproof paper over the pan and the lid on top.

4. Transfer to the oven and bake for 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to sit, without removing the lid, for at least 5 minutes (but it can stand up to 15 minutes, and will stay warm).

5. Remove the lid, fluff up the rice with a fork, stirring it to ensure that it’s all equally seasoned, then serve.

Here’s a video of the process (sped up — not in real time!):

To rinse or not to rinse?

I find this method works best if you don’t rinse the rice, since you want the grains to be dry when you toast them in the pan. If you rinse or soak the rice beforehand, the grains will get damaged when stirring and they won’t turn out long and elegant.

There are valid reasons to rinse your rice — namely to reduce the amount of arsenic (thank you to Candida for bringing my attention to this) — however, after doing some further reading, it seems to be a question of exposure.

Legislation limits the levels of arsenic that can be contained in rice imported into the UK — and it’s suggested that an intake of 100g unrinsed rice per day would be ‘of low concern’ for adults. I don’t necessarily believe in blindly trusting such legislation or guidelines, but here’s what I also know: I don’t eat rice every day, and I largely reserve this method of making rice for feeding a crowd (i.e. on occasion, rather than frequently). This makes me comfortable with not always rinsing my rice. If you were eating rice every day it’s plausible that you might want to play it differently. As with most things, it’s an entirely personal choice. Should you want to rinse your rice before making this recipe, please feel free — the only adjustment required would be to reduce the water slightly to 2 1/2 cups/600ml.

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A FOOTNOTE ON STEAMING AT HOME

There are multiple ways of harnessing the benefits of steaming in your home cooking:

• Make use of foil or lidded casserole dishes to create enclosed spaces when baking in the oven — like we’ve done with the rice above, or when roasting a big cut of meat

• Chuck ice cubes in the base of your oven when baking bread

• Employ a cartouche when braising meat or vegetables on the stove

• Purchase a collapsible stainless steel steamer that allows you to turn any of your saucepans into a steamer

• Use your microwave

Or, if you’re in the market for a new kitchen, consider buying an oven with a steam function (not an aff link — I have not ever tried this model!). It’s what I’ll be doing when I eventually get around to having my kitchen done.

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FURTHER READING + RESOURCES

• In terms of buying rice, two recommendations:

  • Waitrose aged basmati

  • Tilda rice pouches, which are brilliant when cooking for one or two during the week — I particularly like the brown basmati which has a bit more flavour / nuttiness than the white basmati whilst still being light

• For more on the history of steaming in China, as well as a practical guide to using a wok to steam sfood, check out Wok Skills 101: Steaming over on Serious Eats

• Speaking of steaming, did you know that you could also steam cakes? These Steamed Rice Flour Cakes with Papaya Compote by Shelina Permaloo are delicious