Rødgrød med fløde

(Alert, alert, foodie type post alert!)

You know, sometimes, it's better to just stop, take a look around and realise that there is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel.

At the risk of having to wave off shouts of "you need to get out more, you dullard", I will admit that I have spent a rather disproportionate amount of time, trying to perfect the cooking of rice.

It's not that I've got nothing whatsoever to worry about in my life you understand; just that I like to have certain things in my repertoire that I can get right, all the time, every time.

And so it is with rice.

The staple diet for over 1.5 billion Chinese. The small/medium/large packet which will undoubtedly be sat somewhere in your larder, however far back. The base for many Oriental main courses. For Danish and English desserts. That seemingly innocuous little packet of elongated beads that children use to fill kitchen roll tubes with (rather than toilet roll tubes - more hygenic you see), at school to make shakey type musical instruments.

Whatever you think of it, rice plays a part in your life in some way, however small.

It just so happens that I have tried (and tried and tried and tried), to cook the stuff as close to perfection as I can, time in and time out. I have followed my HFW bible, Rose Prince's New English Kitchen, Raymond Blanc's Cooking for Friend's etc etc and so on and so forth, but all to no avail.

Yes, I know I need to get water to a simmer, wait for all water to evaporate and then cover with tea towel and leave for further 5-10 minutes. It does yield good results but at the bottom of the pan, I invariably end up with a thin layer of gelatinous rice that is not appealing.

One despairs, one really does.

Until, that is, one remembers back to one's childhood, watching one's own Mum cooking rice. How did she do it again???

And so, with a little bit of self imposed regression therapy that Derren Brown would be proud of, I managed to sneak glimpses of how Mum did it (with a little twist of my own, natch). She did it thus;

Soak and rinse desired amount of rice in cold water. Repeat until water is clear. Heat small glug of oil in large saucepan and throw in rice, stirring gently for 1 minute. Pour on boiling water and boil for required amount of time as stated on packet. Drain rice and rinse with freshly boiled water, cover with tea towel and leave for several minutes. Fluff with fork and serve.

Perfect.

Every time.

ps; please forgive non-rice related pic' - I was too busy gloating at how good my rice looked to remember to take a photo'!

Next time, I swear.