The New English Kitchen: Changing the Way You Shop, Cook and Eat. Rose Prince
with one of your store foods? The shop has spring onions, you have some eggs, frozen peas, and cooked rice left over from last night. A bowl of fried rice is yours, and very good it can be.
cooked store foods
There is a group of storable foods that, since they are already cooked, can be swiftly added to something else for an almost-instant meal. Leftover rice; tomatoes simmered until sweet with oil; mashed potato; braised lentils; meat sauce, and stock – these are the things that really do save time shopping and cooking, while simultaneously helping to provide the home cooking that everyone craves deep down.
food-safety rules
Modern food-safety advice can be the enemy of good home economics. It encourages wastefulness and, worse, it promotes the idea of microwaving chilled or frozen food in sealed containers. Talk of reheating food is viewed by the food-safety authorities as subversive stuff – dangerous talk perverting the nanny state’s plan to make all food safe. But there’s no hope of making all food safe. Not when 60 million humans are on the loose – eating dirt as babies, sharing dinners with family pets as toddlers. Who hasn’t occasionally sampled the glory of a dropped 99 ice cream with its topping of earth and grass, or gallantly rescued a dusty boiled sweet from under the sofa? And in adulthood there are all sorts of opportunities to eat living food, as you begin to enjoy handmade cheeses, air-dried meat and reheated leftovers.
The thing to bear in mind is that the most dangerous thing about food is the person handling it. If you store and reheat food, use your common sense, and your senses. Keep cooked food in clean, sealed containers in the fridge and check it for signs of deterioration in terms of appearance and smell. Always make sure you reheat food thoroughly before use, and the risk to anyone who’s had that dirt-eating, droppedlolly childhood should be low.
rice
I recommend deliberately cooking more long grain or basmati rice than you need. Kept in a sealed container in the fridge, it yields almost-instant meals throughout the week: reheated into a pilaff with meat or vegetables; stir-fried with peas; or stirred into lemongrass-infused coconut milk. Short grain or risotto rice can be partly cooked, then stored to make into quick risottos; any leftover risotto can be rolled into balls, crumbed, fried and eaten with green salad.
rice economics
The value of rice – and all grains, beans and pulses, for that matter – lies in its ability to provide a cheap, meatless meal. Once you accept the principle that more must be paid for better meat, inexpensive foods such as rice become essential. A kilo of good-quality basmati rice should cost around £2.75, while Arborio rice will be about £4. They will yield 20 servings of 50g, each serving costing 14 pence and 20 pence respectively. The cost of added fat, vegetables, herbs and spices is minimal, so this is great food, economically and gastronomically.
buying rice
To make it easy, I buy just two types of rice: genuine long grain basmati from India or Pakistan, and Italian short grain rice, usually Arborio but I have also made short grain rice dishes with Carnaroli, Spanish paella rice and even ‘pudding rice’, which works magnificently in emergencies.
Basmati rice is grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, in both India and Pakistan. It is the rice I eat plain with curries and sometimes with fish, or make into pilaffs and re-fry in a pan. Good basmati lengthens to almost twice its size when cooked, so it is worth paying for the best. Choose genuine brands, labelled ‘pure’ basmati, rather than the cheaper, inferior hybrids, which do not lengthen in the same way.
Asian stores and some supermarket delivery services sell 5-kilo bags of pure basmati rice. They have nylon zips so they can be properly sealed to keep out bugs and mites, which is very important. A bag of this size costs approximately £10, bringing the price of one helping of best basmati rice down to 10 pence.
American long grain rice is the other choice. But, while it is cheaper and meatier, it does not have the elegant scent of basmati or its enjoyable texture in the mouth.
Short grain rice is used for risotto and rice puddings. It can absorb twice or more of its weight in liquid, and should retain a tiny opaque pearl of hardness in the centre when perfectly cooked. There are many brands, most of which perform their task well, but makers of specialist varieties from Italy or Spain will wax on about their superiority – which is, in my view, less obvious than it is with genuine basmati.
to cook basmati or long grain white rice
The following method should solve your rice troubles, but given time you will instinctively know when to turn off the heat, how long to leave the lid on, and so on. I like to wash and soak the rice first, as it shortens the cooking time by a few minutes and also helps to produce perfectly cooked, unbroken grains. However, you can omit this procedure if you prefer.
Serves 4–8, depending on appetite
480g/1 lb long grain white rice
600ml/1 pint water
To wash the rice, place it in a saucepan, fill the pan with water, then swirl the rice around a bit to release the starch. Carefully pour most of the water away, leaving the rice in the pan. Repeat twice, then cover the rice with water again and leave to soak for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Drain the rice in a sieve, then return it to the pan and add the 600ml/l pint of water. Bring to the boil, stirring once. Let the rice simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed, then cover the pan with a well-fitting lid – put foil between the lid and the pan if it is loose. You do not want the vapour to escape. Turn the heat down very low and continue to cook for 5–7 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the rice for a further 5 minutes, without removing the lid. Fork the rice to loosen the grains and it is ready to eat.
kitchen note
Regular rice cooks rely on their rice steamers, which not only cook perfect rice but keep it warm safely. The best are available from Asian shops.
how to store cooked rice
Cool the rice quickly in the pan with the lid slightly off, immersing the base of the pan in a bowl of very cold or iced water. When the rice is cold, transfer it immediately to a clean plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. It will keep in the fridge for about five days. Smell it and inspect for deterioration before use.
The following three recipes serve two and can be made in minutes – they make perfect TV dinners.
fried rice
An enormous bowl of this, on the knee – a big cup of jasmine tea beside – makes an immaculate dinner on its own.
Serves 2
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
a few drops of sesame oil
2 helpings of cooked basmati rice (see here)
4 spring onions, chopped
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons frozen peas
Heat the oils in a non-stick frying pan or a well-seasoned wok, add the rice and stir-fry quickly over a high heat. Mix the spring onions with the beaten egg, push the rice to the edge of the pan and pour in the egg mixture. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, stirring, for a minute. Bring the rice back over the egg and stir thoroughly but with a light touch, flicking the egg through the rice. Once the egg has turned from transparent to pale yellow, stir in the peas, heat for a minute until they defrost and warm through, and eat.
cooked