Fun with Rice

Back in my 20's when I was going to be a rock star and lived the bohemian life for a few years, I learned 2 things: 1) Rice is easy for me to cook, and 2) Rice is uber cheap for lots of it. So I ate alot of rice. It was a staple of my diet and probably the only thing I've spent alot of time cooking. I've never had a problem with rice, and I know some people do. For me the key was always "don't peek". Most people I know who have troubles figuring out rice only have problems cuz they peek into the pot while it's steaming away. Don't do it. Of course nowadays with rice cookers so cheap, there's no reason to not be able to steam up some rice.

The thing about rice for me was that even tho I ate it so much, I always prepared it basically one way: a little butter (or marg), a little salt. I don't know why I never branched out on my rice preparations, but alas...I didn't. I no longer ever cook white rice, usually it's only short grain brown as it's apparently much healthier and lower in carbs or something. Often, when I cook rice now I'll use chicken broth instead of water. I've thought that some time I'll use juice maybe too...orange rice might be tasty. It certainly changes the whole flavour when you cook it in something other than water.

The other day I cooked a large pot of rice in water, and had it for lunch two days in a row. I decided to prepare it different than usual and got some pretty yummy results. On day one, I put in a little butter and a little salt as per usual, but then I added two crushed garlic cloves and a bit of thyme. Man it was yummy! But...when I heated it up I stunk up the whole kitchen at the office with garlic...sorry co-workers! I guess putting the garlic on cold and then mic-ing it is probably not the best idea. It sure was tasty tho...I'm gonna experiment a bit more with the garlic rice.

Yesterday I did things a bit different. First off, instead of butter I put on some extra virgin olive oil. I then put in a healthy amount of dill, a pinch of oregano and some lemon pepper. For a bit of heat i put in just a nudge of chili powder. I chopped up some green onion and put it in as well. Mmmm...it was tasty. For a guy who hates dill pickles, I sure love dill on my food. That was one of the tastiest rices I ever remember having. I had a bit of asparagus as well, so that got steamed up and dropped in, but to be honest I kinda wish I had just eaten the rice, and maybe had a salad or something on the side. I'll definitely do this rice again.

There are so many different herbs and spices available that rice should have near endless possibilities of flavour. Who knew? Well, anyone who thinks of food as more than just sustenance I guess. But anyways...I will continue to experiment with it and try new things and see what works and what doesn't.