(upbeat music) – 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. (upbeat music) 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. (upbeat music) 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. (upbeat music) 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. (upbeat music) 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. (upbeat music) 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. (upbeat music) 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. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M0h77faAgM
