Rice Ignoramus No More

Rice is so much a part of Singaporean living that I never really paid attention to it. I knew I didn't like eating it very much. I preferred the variety of European breads that has recently come available in Singapore. I liked the crustiness and chewiness of these breads chockfull of nuts and seeds. However, when I ate Vietnamese rice in the Mekong Delta, I marvelled at its sticky chewiness. It was so delicious I wanted more. So I began to examine the different types of rice.

There is rice for paella, fried rice and bryani (that don't stick). There's rice for risotto and sushi that do. Then there is jasmine rice that I've eaten almost as soon as I began to eat rice. Jasmine rice is the only rice I've known and eaten at home... and it wasn't something I hankered for. I thought I was genetically programmed to like bread instead of rice. It turns out that I had just not met the Right Rice for Me.

Today, I bought the Right Rice for me - a short-grained rice from Taiwan. It was chewy QQ ... very al dente. I ate and wanted more, which never happened with jasmine rice. Not my type of rice I suppose.

Round Short-Grained Rice (kinda sticky and very al dente)

Little Boy likes rice that doesn't stick together. He likes separate grains of rice like in the nasi bryani across the road... and he often complains that jasmine rice sticks together too much. So for Little Boy, I bought a packet of Indian basmati rice - a long-grained rice that sticks not at all. I'll make fried rice with that rice, and that'll make Little Boy happy.

Long-Grained Rice

Then there is jasmine rice of which I bought the cheapest grade for Milo to eat. Milo loves jasmine rice. He'll even gobble it down plain.

Long-Grained Rice that tends to be slightly sticky.

After all these years, I now find out that there is rice and there is rice... and thus one must match the rice to the dish... and even the person.