Steamed/Boiled rice.

Rice is the main crop in South East Asia. Rice is so important to our life that in Vietnam we say rice to refer a meal. We say' Have you had rice yet?', it means have you had your meal yet. Asking someone to stay with you for a meal we say ' Please stay for some rice with us'.

The most important thing you will learn in Asian cooking is cooking the perfect steamed rice. That perfect fluffy rice will make you enjoy the meal no matter what comes with it otherwise it ruin all of your hard work on the dishes you spend effort to prepare. I remember growing up in Vietnam I learnt this first lesson from my mom around 12 or even earlier if your family is poor and you have to help your parents at early age, sometimes as early as 9. The first pot never turned out right, it could be the measurement, the heat as you use wood to cook back then and the rice would come out mushy, burnt, undercooked. You will never forget that first lesson because of the reaction and you already knew it at first bite yourself. Once you make it right cooking rice cannot be any easier.

Here are the rules:
_Get the right measurement of rice and water.

_Use the right heat at each stage. Thanks to modern rice cooker all you need to do is pressing a button.

_ Separate the cooked rice when it's still hot to prevent them sticking together and form a hard block later on.

In this video I show you how to cook jasmine and basmati rice in one go.