Rice is nice

Unlike cats, who are generally happy with the same thing twice a day, humans eat an extraordinary variety of dishes. (Or at least Annie and Martin do. I can’t speak for all humans, as I have seen people in television commercials eating Crunchy Nut Cornflakes at inappropriate times of the day and night, and nothing else. However, I think they may be paid to do this.)

Take just one staple - rice. Martin steams or boils jasmine, basmati, simba, patna and brown rice. He’s also fond of red, green, black and wild (this last one isn’t really rice at all, but let’s not get into that). Recently he tried sticky rice, which is soaked overnight, steamed and eaten with the fingers, rolled into a ball and dipped into sauce. Sushi rice is similarly glutinous, and you can keep it and just give me the raw fish, thanks very much. In our house, left-over rice is often stir-fried with onions, egg and soy-sauce, Chinese-style, or with peanuts, dried shrimp and coconut, or some similar combination, for a South-Asian effect. Then there’s a whole range of constructed dishes where the rice is cooked from raw with other ingredients - pilau, biriani, jambalaya and rice-and-peas, for example. Risotto is a subject in itself, and can contain mushrooms, ham, chicken, seafood, peas, chicory, wine, cauliflower, lemon zest, saffron, chicken livers, cheese, radicchio and several other things I can’t remember - although never all at once. Suppli - which are balls of left-over risotto formed around cubes of mozzarella, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, and deep fried – are a particular favourite of Annie’s. Then there’s paella; the classic one with rabbit, the touristy one with seafood, and any number of regional and seasonal variations on vegetables, fish and chicken. There’s even rice pudding.

Sorry if that sounds like Clement Freud on Just a Minute, but M prepares most of the above on a regular basis, so there’s not much he doesn’t know about or can’t do with rice. When he suddenly comes across a completely new and distinctive way of preparing rice, it’s quite an occasion. So it was at the weekend, when he tried Chelow, an Iranian way of preparing basmati that results in a fantastic chewy, crunchy crust together with light, fluffy rice. Here’s a recipe:

Wash basmati and soak in warm water for 3-4 hours, then drain. Boil plenty of fresh water in a large pan, add drained rice and salt to taste, and cook it like pasta, on a rolling boil, for just two or three minutes, until al dente. Drain in a sieve and cool immediately with cold water. Pour oil into a large pan and add rice. Make some holes through the mound of rice with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour a little more oil (or butter) over the top of the rice. Cover the pan with a tea-towel and a tight lid, cook on high flame for two minutes, reduce the flame to an absolute minimum (use a diffuser if you have one) and leave to steam for 30-40 minutes. Dip the base of the pan in cold water in the sink (this helps loosen the crust). Now take the lid off and you’ll have fantastically fluffy, light rice and a delicious crispy layer of rice at the bottom of the pan. This crispy stuff is considered the best bit in Iran, and should be served separately.

This is rice-only Chelow. The technique is the basis for lots of layered dishes of meat and vegetables with rice; you just add half the rice to the pan, add your other (cooked) ingredients and put more rice on the top. Martin made one with cabbage and lamb cooked with turmeric, which was very nice (I know because I put my paw in the pot and pulled out a little bit when he wasn't looking).