Something that I buy 2 kgs a fortnight in my shop but seem to take for granted is …rice ./
I use it in stir fries , soups , stews and casseroles as well as just cooking a plate of it for lunch and topping it off with some chives and a sprinkling of ground black pepper . Actually just thinking about it I have that daily for lunch ./
If it is not too much trouble for you when you post could you please put the type of rice you buy , the brand , country of origin and if you so desire your favourite uses for it . Recipes welcome as well ./
The rice I buy is …Sun Rice Australian brown medium grain in the 2 KG pack . I think they have a 10 kg pack so will maybe buy that if it is more cost effective . Looking forward to hearing from you in this post .
We used to, but now buy 5kg as a minimum. Having lived in China, we use about 1kg+ per week.
Currently we have a Sunrice Australian long grain rice (10kg bag) which we are eating and have a Sunrice Australian medium grained 10kg grained rice as the next to use.
We don’t stick to one brand or necessarily Australian rice. We buy Thai, Pakistani etc rice of varying lengths (jasmine, basmati) and will eat wholemeal or white. White is usually our main staple though. Wholmeal is great in stirfries such as fried rice and has a more ‘nutty’ taste. Wholemeal doesn’t clump as easily as white rice.
Something which is interesting is Australian rice has a higher arsenic concentration than many overseas grown rices…and as a result we only buy Australian from time to time (maybe on average 5-10kg/yr). It just happens that we have two Australian rices in the pantry at the moment and not something we planned. We bought the medium grained Australian rice because it was on special when we bought it and need a spare… $12 for 10kg bag.
It is hard to get new season rice in Australia…that is rice that has just been harvested, dried and dehusked. We had this often in China in autumn and the taste is far superior that the bagged (aged) rice in Australia. It is quite flavoursome and has a strong rice flavour. We have also had new season rice in Taiwan and Vietnam.
I buy the type of rice that I need at the time. That could be short-grain, basmati, arborio etc. There are noticeable differences between them and you will always do better if you choose the best kind for the purpose. The kind of starch present will determine how the rice behaves as it cooks and when it is cooked.
If you want firm separate grains as is favoured by those who eat with forks and spoons (say Indian food) get long grain rice. Basmati is one style, there are others that behave similarly that have different perfume. If you like a glutinous pudding get sticky rice. For grains that are not gluggy but stick together enough to pick up in a lump with chop sticks use short-grain. I am assuming that you know how to cook each kind as with enough overcooking any rice will turn to porridge.
Say you want to do oriental fried rice. The traditional approach is to use short-grain rice. The problem is that even when cooked correctly it is likely to be too soft and sticky when just cooked. One trick is to cook it the day before and allow it to dry out in the fridge. Another solution is to discard tradition and use long grain.
Before you buy that BIG BIG bag that is so much cheaper per kilo check your rate of consumption. If you don’t eat that much rice you may have to throw out half when it gets weevils. Sorting them (and their excreta out) is very tedious even if you choose the lesser of the two weevils. I haven’t tried it but I read that if you deep freeze rice for a few days it will kill the larvae/eggs and improve the shelf life. Something for survivalists to try before entering the bunker.
Thanks for the input . I remembered after starting the post of an occasion where I had purchased a 5kg bag of rice . It was Sun rice med grain brown and it had larvae in it .Coles replaced it and I then did as you suggested purchased rice to suit my needs . I refrigerate the rice in a stainless steel canister that comfortably holds 2 kg’s ./
Your reference to one of my favourite movies was great . I’m into tall ships and really enjoyed . "Master and Commander : The Far side of the World . One of Russel Crowes better performances ./
We buy 5 or 10 kg bags of Basmati Rice, generally India Gate brands but we do buy others. Used for meals such as curries, stir fry and similar, as others have also stated. We prefer India Gate and similar as most of the rice is at least 2 year aged rice and has a distinct flavour (also slightly yellow/golden in colour before it is cooked). We prefer the “Classic” or “Premium” India Gate varieties.
We buy 1 kg packs of arborio rice for dishes that require this short grained type of rice eg for Risotto but we also use it for Creamed Rice (dessert), & Baked Rice pudding. It is a pretty good all-rounder and we tend to buy Australian grown.
We also buy specialty brand rice for Sushi eg SunRice’s Koshihikari in 750 g packets or their Japanese Sushi Rice in a similar sized packet.
We do use medium grained if we can’t find any short grained for dessert dishes.
It seems to me after reading the initial posts I’m somewhat of a Philistine regarding my tastes in rice . Thanks for you input @grahroll . As per usual very informative as have been the other posters .
We buy LOTS of rice too. We have no particular preference for a brand, and as with @syncretic we buy or use the rice we need at the time.
Love the in grain humour! We haven’t had a problem with the little blighters in rice, but definitely with bird seed. I give the seed a burst in the microwave and that kills everything and adds protein to the birds’ diet.
Reminds me of an acquaintance couple who bought big hessian bags of rice ready for the Y2K meltdown. Unfortunately, almost all of it had weevils. There was too much to throw out, and they weren’t rich, so it had to be consumed. Much time was spent over a couple of years de-weeviling.
Hey Tamas good to hear from you . I had really bad experience with rice a few years ago . I would come out to the kitchen in the morning and there would be these little moths on the walls and ceiling . First a few then more and more . I eventually found two packets of rice that had been carrying weevils , meal worms or whatever . They had pupated eaten , their way out and were enjoying themselves in my kitchen . Phoned Sun Rice and they sent me coupons to be redeemed at Coles , where rice ha been purchased ,to replace the infected bags ./
They also told me to refrigerate the rice . I have done that since being advised to do so .
I used to experiment with different types of exotic rice and had many rice based meals. Then I married a man who only has boiled short grain white rice with milk as dessert, very occasionally. He has never seen rice as savoury and will complain if I eat it in front of him. 10 years on, I know him better, so I sneak brown rice into our stews. I buy what is available, a kg once every 2 years or so. Presently Sun Gold (?) Australian short brown. I’ll check that when I get home, in a few days time. There was no ‘home brand’ alternative at our little shop.
No weevils either. As a kid, my job was to periodically sift the weevils out of the flour. We had huge bins (about 200lb or 100kg plus) that held white Plain & SR that were filled from sacks. I don’t think we ever emptied them, just kept topping up. My haul of wigglers and strands were tossed to the chooks. Today my wholemeal rice, flour etc has a 3 day sojourn in the freezer before going into an airtight container with bay leaves. We grew up with the odd contaminant in cooking and thought nothing of it.
my wife is Japanese, and our rice consumption is approximately 95% ‘koshihikari’ white and 5% brown.
We have tried to reduce our food miles by buying Japanese varieties grown in countries other than Japan, including Australia, but it has never tasted ‘right’. ( Taiwan came close for taste, but it’s not much nearer than Japan ) So our white rice is always Japanese-grown, purchased in 10kg bags from Asian supermarkets. We might travel up to 15km from home if we see any bargains on offer. Since the Fukushima disaster, we check the prefecture of origin, and there’s several that we reject.
Brown is always SunRice from one of our local supermarkets.
You’re not alone - to me there is ‘white’ ‘brown’ and ‘that sticky one’ - now I’m thinking I should pay more attention - this is an interesting topic !
My super duper automated smart rice cooker has not seen rice since my partner started a diet 2 years ago. Yes I could put my basmati for 1 in a pot as easily as the packet, but I got really lazy. It works OK with curries and makes a pleasant pulao replacement by adding peas.
Or make it using base materials which is very easy…finely chopped fresh lemon grass can be used instead of paste.
I suppose the other question which is interesting for rice novices or aficionado is how one also cooks the rice.
My preference is for steamed rice (cooked in large steaming ovens) as this tends to maximise the flavour of the rice and cooks it to perfection. Unfortunately my overhalf doesn’t aspire to having a high price and energy consuming special rice steamer oven (sitting permanently in our kitchen) to cook our rice…so the next fall back is using a rice cooker (evaporation method).
We used to boil rice before living in China but soon realised after our return it is the best way to get gluggy. tasteless rice, and soon quickly changed to a rice cooker.
I always use a rice cooker too Phil . Does a good job . Had a Breville . Wore it out . Was given a Ronson as a gift . Too easy . Certainly takes the guess work out of it . All ways get the cook I want .
