It may seem to many that rice is just for curry. A fluffy, white mountain designed to accompany the star dish. But no! Rice has rights too. Rights to take centre stage and be the hero of the dish rather than just a sidekick, albeit a very cute sidekick.
So let us introduce risotto: a creamy, forgiving hug on a dish. Some may say that making risotto is a big commitment because of the continual stirring but in reality it’s only 20 minutes of your life and what’s that for a delicious homemade meal? Worth it is our opinion!
And elsewhere in Europe the Spanish have treated us to the paella, now a firm favourite in campsites up and down the country as it is a cinch to cook for a large gathering. If you don’t believe us have a go yourself – you won’t ever look back! And practically every child we know will devour it.
In South Asia rice takes centre-stage in the dish biryani, also know as kabsa in Arabic countries. These dishes are a labour of love of closely associated with celebrations and festival. Rice and curry are layered and then baked in the oven to tenderise the meat and accentuate the flavours.
And in oriental Asia it is of course fried rice which steals the show. When we were researching popular recipes on Google, we learned that ‘fried rice’ had the highest number of searches.