To Boil Rice for Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Wash the rice thoroughly.
Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Add the rice and boil quickly for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally with a fork.
Just before the rice is done, add the salt.
Drain the rice in a colander.
Dry and serve
Shake the colander gently and place the rice on a doubled cloth.
Cover the rice with a fold of the cloth and let it sit by the fire for a few minutes to absorb excess water.
Serve the rice in a separate dish or arrange it around the curry.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the bulk of the dish; its starch gelatinises in boiling water to give the cooked grain its texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the rice and adds flavour to the boiling water as it is absorbed.
The step that matters
Adding the salt just before the rice is done. Salt added early can slow water uptake and toughen the grain surface, while adding it near the end seasons the rice evenly without changing its texture much. Timing it late helps the grains stay separate and tender.
“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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