To Boil Rice for Curries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash Patna rice in several waters until the last water poured off looks clear.
Prepare a saucepan on the fire and fill it with three parts water.
Add salt to the water in the proportion of one dessert-spoonful to a quart.
Boil and drain
Throw the rice into the water and bring to a boil.
Boil quickly with the lid off, stirring frequently with a fork to prevent sticking and keep the grains separate.
Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the grains rub down easily when tested between finger and thumb.
Strain the rice through a sieve or strainer.
Dry
Finish cooking and drying the rice by putting it back into a saucepan on the side of the fire or leaving it on the sieve, which may be placed on the rack above the fire or on a plate in a moderate oven.
While drying, stir lightly with a fork every now and then to keep the grains separate.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Patna rice (in the method)
- Its starch cooks into separate, fluffy grains that hold their shape in the boiling water.
- Salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the rice is flavoured throughout.
The step that matters
Boil quickly with the lid off and stir with a fork. Vigorous boiling in plenty of water keeps the grains moving and cooking evenly, while stirring stops surface starch from gluing them together and sticking to the pan.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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