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- Hey, I'm Ben.
One of the chefs at SORTEDfood
and today, we're tackling rice.
I'm gonna show you two different grains
and how to cook each one of them perfectly.
Now, there is rice from all over the world,
so many different ways of cooking it,
it can get a bit daunting.
But I promise you, this is a method I use at home.
This is a method you can use at home, and it will work.
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First up a long grain rice, Basmati.
And the simplest ratio ever, two to one.
Find yourself a container, it could be a ramekin, a cup,
a mug, a bucket, depending on what you're cooking.
For something this size, ample for two people.
When it comes to Basmati rice don't forget,
it's gonna absorb all that water and expand a lot.
You're gonna fill it up with rice.
Now, we're not gonna soak the grains as such,
but we are gonna give them a quick wash.
So, put it into a sieve
and then run it under cold water in your tap.
30 seconds under cold running water,
or just swizzled around in a bowl of water.
Drain the rice and then it's prepped to cook.
And to cook, you need a small saucepan with a lid
and start to warm it up and add into the pan, some fat.
Either a little bit of butter, or some ghee,
or even just oil.
This bit is an optional extra,
but I like to add a little bit whole spice
into that fat, begin to toast off.
I was shown this by a friend about a year ago.
I have not cooked Basmati any other way since.
Like with all these videos, use what you have.
Typically I just use cumin seeds at home,
but here I'm gonna use a little bit of this,
a mixture of whole seeds and a little pinch of salt.
In fact, you don't even need the spice at all,
You can just do plain Basmati,
in which case you're just gonna season the water later on,
instead of adding spices.
When your spices start to jostle and fizz about
in the fat, you're gonna add in your prepared,
washed but not soaked, Basmati grains.
You're just gonna toast that in the oil for 30 seconds,
to a minute, and then you're gonna add your water.
And this is where the ratio comes in.
The same container you weighed out before,
you did one of rice, you're now gonna do two of cold water.
One stir, then bring it up to boil and put on the lid.
And on the lowest heat, you're gonna cook it for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, I'm going to grill some salmon.
So, this is a salmon fillet that has been marinating
in yoghurt with a few tandoori spices
under grill, to cook and char.
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Once the rice is cooked, what I'm gonna make with it,
is a warm tandoori salmon salad.
So, I can prep everything else.
After 10 minutes, you're gonna take it off the heat,
but leave it in the pan, for another five minutes.
You kind of wanna leave the lid on.
I'm just gonna show you,
so you know what you're aiming for.
It's pretty much dry, you start to see holes in the rice,
where it's separated, but leave it as it is.
With the rice cooked,
you can see you've got individual grains
coated in that wonderful spiced ghee.
While it's hot, I'm gonna toss in some spinach, to wilt.
Then I'm gonna add the cucumber, the fresh coriander,
the toasted almonds and I've also made a dressing
from lime pickle chopped up with a bit of oil,
but you could equally use any spiced pickle,
or even a mango chutney.
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That version was long grain rice, Basmati,
and gives you kind of individual grains.
This method is short grain,
and they're gonna be much stickier
by the time they're finished cooking.
Let still use the ratio, this time we're gonna weigh it.
So, I'm gonna weigh 150 grammes of rice into a pot.
Just as before, we're going to wash it,
but we don't need to soak it.
So, just in a sieve under cold running water
for a minute or so,
or just swirl it around in a bowl of cold water.
Just joosh it around, technical term.
(Mike laughing)
Rice washed and prepped.
And now onto the ratio.
Before, the long grain took two to one,
these are shorter grains, they need less water.
So, weigh out the same weight as rice, and then add a third.
So, in our example, match the rice, which is 150
and then add a third, so another 50, takes it up to 200.
And that is the amount of water
we need to cook our sticky rice.
You know the deal here, pan with a lid,
because it's absorption method
and you've gone to the effort of weighing out
so, you don't wanna lose the steam.
Add your washed rice, your weighed out water, pinch of salt,
then give it a swirl, lid on and heat it up to a boil.
And then the cooking time, is really easy again.
It's 10 minutes of the lowest, lowest heat with the lid on,
then we move it off the heat
and leave it to cook in the residual
for another five or 10 minutes.
I'm deliberately just doing this one plain today
to show you the ratio.
But you can add flavours into that pan,
a couple of slices of root ginger,
or a squashed clove of garlic,
even a tied up bit of pandan leaf, lovely.
You could also take out a couple of tablespoons of water
and add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in
with a teaspoon of sugar.
And you've got like pre-seasoned sushi rice,
or you could even sub the water out for stock.
The point is, it's the same ratio.
One part by weight of rice and one and a third of liquid.
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And while we wait for the residual heat on the rice,
I'm just prepping up a whole bunch of ingredients,
I've literally found in the fridge.
So, some pickled lettuce, some radish, some fresh coriander.
And then the other half of the salmon fillet
that we used in the previous dish,
I've mixed through with some miso paste
some yuzu zest, you'll find out about that
and why on earth we've got one of those, on Sunday.
You could use lime and a little splash of seasoned vinegar.
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And there we go, off the residual heat as well.
That's what you should get.
Beautiful plump, sticky grains of rice, but it's not mushy,
there are still individual grains in there.
I'm gonna pile half of the rice into a bowl
and scatter all the ingredients
with extra edamame beans and black sesame.
Now, this rice is just seasoned with salt,
all the rest of the flavour
comes from everything else we've thrown into the bowl.
It goes without saying you can mix and match
and put whatever you like into that.
That is tasty mid-week cooking,
full of fresh, vibrant flavours, AKA leftovers.
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There we go, two different rice grains with easy ratios,
for you to remember how to make them at home.
And today, we've been inspired by these flavours,
but can't wait to see what you do.
Speaking of which, if you wanna put these two methods
to the test right now, then head over to our meal packs app
and whilst you're cooking up those ideas,
you'll also be bossing mid-week meals,
saving money and on top of saving money,
we're gonna give it to you for a whole month, for free.
One of these is my absolute favourite, Mike.
- [Mike] Do I have to guess which one?
- I think so.
- [Mike] Wow!
That is like proper Indian style rice.
- [Ben] Basmati is already an aromatic grain,
but start in a little bit of butter with some whole spices,
it's just... I can eat it on its own.
- [Mike] I've never cooked rice like that
and I will be, from now on.