- 4 months ago
Ever wondered how rice is enjoyed around the world? Epicurious brings together 10 chefs from 10 different countries to showcase their unique rice transformations. From traditional Indian Biryani to Chinese fried rice, discover how cultures around the world transform this simple grain into something mouthwatering.
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00:00You're about to see 10 different chefs from 10 different countries make rice.
00:13I'm making biryani. Biryani is a very, very technical and a very intricate dish.
00:18It's basically made with meat, rice, aromatics.
00:22We are using long grain basmati rice.
00:25The rice has this yellowish hue to it, which means that the rice has been aged for a while and it develops an even a nicer aroma.
00:33It is probably the most consumed starch in the country.
00:37So we've had the rice soaking for about 30 minutes. All the water has been absorbed by the rice.
00:41I have a pot in front of me. Best ways to build flavour into the rice is also to perfume the rice.
00:46A bay leaf, dry red chilli, cloves, some cinnamon, one star anise.
00:51We're going to go with a rice that's cooked about 75% done.
00:56When you layer it with the meat, that's going to generate steam and that's going to complete cooking your rice.
01:01I like to keep a large sheet tray just to spread the rice out.
01:04And you see how much steam there is.
01:06So if this just sat on top of each other, the rice would completely overcook.
01:10So the first step of assembling your biryani is taking your jhol.
01:15The jhol is basically a mixture of the ghee, the saffron and the cream.
01:19It's going to give your final layer of perfume to the rice.
01:21It makes sure that your biryani doesn't stick to the bottom because it's got ghee.
01:25If there's any excess moisture, the clay pot is going to absorb all of that up.
01:29And then my meat.
01:31The layers are what make it biryani.
01:33Because when it cooks, all those layers come together.
01:36I have dough. You're going to create a seal.
01:39As this cooks, there's going to be a lot of steam that's generated.
01:43The dough is going to trap that steam inside.
01:45Traditionally, this was put over an open flame.
01:48You would put a plate and then you would put this on it so that the heat would go bottom upwards.
01:54A really nice way of cooking this also is also just putting it in the oven.
01:58Now it's showtime.
02:00The biryani is ready.
02:02I can literally look at each and every grain of rice and I can tell that it's not clumped up.
02:07Traditionally, I would just eat it with my hands and that's what I'm going to do right now.
02:11Just going to take some of that meat, some of that yogurt.
02:15Exactly what it should be like.
02:17The rice is not clumped up.
02:18It's taking the flavor from the ginger, the mint, the cilantro, the saffron's perfumed the rice perfectly.
02:23That's it. That's biryani.
02:25Today, I will be making tai chazuke, rice with tea.
02:30Every single one of the prefecture has their own version and also a kind of different style of ochazuke.
02:36Today, I'm going to make a cold version.
02:39So this is Japanese short grain rice.
02:41It's sweet. It's subtle.
02:43It doesn't affect any other flavors but it complements other things.
02:47So our rice is rinsed and it's ready to cook.
02:50I'm going to put it in this clay pot called donabe.
02:52It's a very traditional method.
02:54Make sure it's leveled and put your finger in and the water goes up to here on the first joint.
03:00It's usually a good measurement.
03:03If you want to make better quality rice, you can put kombu, which is kelp.
03:07And it cooks it with kombu's umami coming into rice and it gets a little bit more shinier.
03:11You just put the lid on and start with the maximum fire first.
03:15Nowadays, there's a lot of electric rice cooker.
03:18They cook really great rice.
03:20But one thing that they can do and this does is to make okogen, which is the bottom crispy part.
03:28That's what makes this rice a little bit more elevated.
03:32So once it comes up to a boil, you bring it down the heat to the lowest.
03:36Let it be for about 15 to 20 minutes and turn off the heat and let it steam for about another 10 minutes.
03:43And your rice should be done.
03:45The rice looks very sharp and each grains are not sticking together.
03:50Slight brown color I was looking for.
03:53This rice spatula is called shamoji.
03:56It's like a rounder shape. It's a good shape.
03:58You can grab rice without breaking the grain of the rice.
04:02Now this one is shio kombu.
04:05Snapper on top.
04:07And this is tamamiso.
04:09This is dashi stock with gyokuro tea.
04:12It's a Japanese green tea.
04:13This one I made with a cold brew style.
04:15You're gonna have a ochazuke.
04:17Taichazuke desu.
04:23Oishii desu.
04:24It's really good.
04:28Today I'm making risotto.
04:30It's like creamy.
04:31The grains are not separate to each other.
04:34Risotto is typical from the northern of Italy.
04:38So for today we're using carnarello rice.
04:41You can use arbori rice.
04:42You can use roman rice.
04:44The way that I prefer to do it is dry toasting it.
04:47The salt we're just gonna add it right now.
04:50So the goal for toasting the rice is because when we're gonna add the liquid, all the starches from the rice are just gonna come out.
04:59Risotto needs that starch to make the creaminess when we add the stock.
05:04So carnarello is a little thicker.
05:07So when you stir it, it doesn't break.
05:10When you use like long grains, what you wanna have is like touch as less as possible, otherwise it's gonna break.
05:16So the saffron is for flavor, also for color.
05:19It is a lot of saffron, but you know, we want it to be yellow.
05:24Just a little more saffron.
05:27So I turn it off the heat because now I wanna add the fats and I don't want the fats to break.
05:32Just don't judge me when I'm doing this because it's gonna be a lot of butter.
05:36Parmigiano cheese.
05:37The secret of delicious stuff is a lot of butter and cheese.
05:42So what I made it here is like the sour butter.
05:45So it's a reduction of the white wine, vinegar and butter and some black pepper.
05:51When you eat something, it's very heavy.
05:53You eat one, two, three spoons, then you're like, okay, that's it.
05:56But when you add the sour part, then you just wanna have more.
06:00This is what is called allonda, means the wave.
06:04So you wanna see the wave because that's the texture and you wanna hear that sound.
06:09And we're gonna let rest this one.
06:13The creaminess, you can see each singular grain and then you just wanna fill it up.
06:20All right.
06:21So our dish of risotto is ready.
06:23You see it's creamy.
06:24It's al dente.
06:25Mmm.
06:28I just love risotto so much.
06:31We are making Yangzhou fried rice.
06:35It has its root in the city of Yangzhou, the birthplace of Yangzhou cuisine.
06:41The earliest documented version dates back 1500 years with a beautiful name, rice with gold pieces.
06:49You want to use like day old or leftover rice because it has less moisture.
06:55So when frying and tossed with other ingredients, each grain will separate.
07:01I am going to add chicken, bamboo, some Chinese ham, sea cucumber, dried scallops, rehydrated, shiitake mushrooms, and some shrimp.
07:13Rice wine.
07:14And then rice.
07:16And quickly separate the rice.
07:19And then you want to add eggs.
07:21By tossing the rice in the hot wok, it also removes the excessive moisture.
07:28It's a quick cooking so you want to make sure that you have room like a wok to be able to toss everything very quickly.
07:36Because the longer you let the rice cook, the moisture will go into rice and will make the rice super wet again.
07:43You don't want the amount of all the ingredients more than the rice because the rice is the star.
07:50The rice is done.
07:51So you can see all the ingredients are mixed perfectly well.
07:56It looks dry but it's actually very moist from the fat from all the ingredients and also the rice are individually separated.
08:05It's soft but you still feel a little bit of the chew and then the slight bounciness.
08:12So today we're going to make rice pilaf.
08:16It's a French typical recipe.
08:19We don't see a lot of dishes with rice in France because of the climate.
08:24It's only grown in Camargue regions, Southeast France.
08:28The variety of rice we have here, it's long grain because it keeps separate more.
08:33Saute the rice first.
08:36This way you create that crust around each grain.
08:39Make the rice stay separately.
08:42The goal is to get the flavor of the garlic, the onion and the butter to the rice.
08:47It's kind of oily and that's what you want.
08:50Then you get that crust around each grain.
08:53Brove.
08:54Season your rice.
08:56And salt.
08:58Fresh believe.
08:59You could use a lid but it's better with parchment paper.
09:04It doesn't keep the steam too much inside.
09:07This way you got a perfectly separate rice.
09:10As soon as it's boiled, we're going to finish cooking it in the oven.
09:15It's been 17 minutes.
09:17That's perfect.
09:18There is no water in the bottom of the rice and that the rice is separated.
09:23So we're using a carving fork to mix the rice.
09:25This way we're not going to break our rice and we're not going to make it mushy or stick together.
09:30We want to add a little bit better for the flavor but also to help the grain to separate a little bit more.
09:36So this is my rice pilaf.
09:39You can see the grain is very separate.
09:41Get a good taste too.
09:44A little firmness.
09:45It's perfect like that.
09:47So the dish it's called the ros mferwe.
09:52Mferwe means steam.
09:53So the rice will be steamed with some chicken and a lot of spices.
09:57We do find this dish in Algeria.
09:59Mostly like at the wedding we make that rice.
10:02It's like a luxury to have like chicken, rice, saffron.
10:05Especially saffron it's really expensive.
10:07So we are using a long grain, basmati rice.
10:11It's very important to soak the rice at least three times just to remove the starch.
10:16And it doesn't stick as much.
10:18So we are going to be using the couscous.
10:21Yeah.
10:22It's very old school.
10:23So in the bottom we'll have the broth.
10:26Steam will go up.
10:27We'll flavor the rice.
10:29So I'm adding vegetable oil.
10:31The chicken.
10:32Onion.
10:33Carrot.
10:34The secret spice.
10:35The tomato paste.
10:36Some thyme.
10:37Bay leaves.
10:38Chicken broth.
10:39The peas.
10:40It looks like it's actually steaming right now.
10:45So I am going to put the rice over it.
10:48I always like to add some broth over the rice.
10:52It smells already really good.
10:54So it's been about 20 minutes and it looks really good to me.
10:58So I'm going to flip the plate.
11:00All right.
11:01One, two, three.
11:10I know I messed it up.
11:11But it's the charm of having traditional food where nothing is perfect.
11:16Looks fantastic for me.
11:20Oh la la.
11:21So good.
11:24I'm going to cook Ris alla Malta.
11:27It's a dessert that we make from rice porridge.
11:31Rice is not a very common grain in Sweden.
11:36We don't grow rice ourselves.
11:38So of course bringing it in in the early 1700s it's a luxury item.
11:44So what we are starting with is to make the rice porridge.
11:48We use short grain rice.
11:51Soak it just for a few minutes to get a little bit of the starchiness out.
11:56You strain off all the water.
11:58And then I like to use half part of water.
12:02Milk.
12:03And then we flavor it with whole cinnamon stick.
12:08Sugar.
12:09A little bit of salt.
12:11Brings up all the flavors.
12:13And everything is better with butter.
12:17And now you cook it on medium.
12:20The way you stir it it becomes creamier.
12:24Perfect.
12:26So we put it in a bowl.
12:30Here is the chilled rice porridge.
12:33Take the cinnamon stick.
12:35We don't need that anymore.
12:37I whipped some heavy cream with vanilla beans.
12:42And a little bit of vanilla extract.
12:45And the rice is absorbing some of the heavy cream.
12:49You want the kind of creamy texture to it.
12:52Then we are going to garnish with some fresh clementine.
12:56Blackcurrant syrup or sauce.
12:59Okay.
13:00Here we go.
13:01Rinsala Malta.
13:02Mmm.
13:03The rice is cooked perfectly.
13:04Nice and soft.
13:05You will like it.
13:06Today we are making chicken rice.
13:08Rice pilav is all around Turkey, especially on the street.
13:12We are using baldo rice.
13:13It is a medium grain rice.
13:14A little more starchy than basmati.
13:15In Turkey pilav is cooked with orzo.
13:16Which is actually a wheat product.
13:17I am using orzo made of rye.
13:18In Turkey I have never seen rice without orzo.
13:19Okay.
13:20Now I am going to add butter.
13:21Rice now.
13:22This rice is washed.
13:23In Turkey we do not cook the rice al dente.
13:24It should be thoroughly cooked.
13:25But it shouldn't be sticky.
13:26The goal is to keep the pieces separate.
13:27Toast this rice until it is kind of translucent.
13:28And then it is a little more starchy.
13:29It is a little more starchy than basmati.
13:30In Turkey pilav is cooked with orzo.
13:31Which is actually a wheat product.
13:32I am using orzo made of rye.
13:33In Turkey I have never seen rice without orzo.
13:34Okay.
13:35Now I am going to add butter.
13:36Rice now.
13:37This rice is washed.
13:38In Turkey we do not cook the rice al dente.
13:39It should be thoroughly cooked.
13:40But it shouldn't be sticky.
13:41The goal is to keep the pieces separate.
13:46Toast this rice until it is kind of translucent.
13:52Now I am adding the chicken broth.
13:54This broth is warm.
13:55Put these chicken pieces.
13:57We are going to wait about 20 minutes for it to cook.
13:59In as low heat as possible.
14:01The rice is almost ready.
14:03I am going to add chickpeas to this.
14:05Because I have never had chicken rice on the street without chickpeas.
14:10If the bottom gets a little sticky and brown.
14:13That is actually very good.
14:14That is probably going to be the most delicious part.
14:17It is very common in the household to eat the rice with yogurt.
14:21Yogurt gives a really nice little acidity and a little freshness.
14:26It is such a savory flavor.
14:28It is so good.
14:29My mama would be proud.
14:31The quintessential American rice dish for me is rice and gravy.
14:37I think in the US you are going to first find rice and gravy to be in the south.
14:42It has worked its way up to the north because there are multiple soul food restaurants.
14:47The rice is supposed to be tiny bit tender.
14:50Have a little bit of that kind of like bite to it.
14:53So I like to use the long grain parboiled rice.
14:57Often times you need to rinse the rice off because it can get very sticky.
15:01With parboiled you don't have to do that.
15:03It's literally dump it in the pot.
15:05I like to take my garlic clove and stick it right inside the water and that will infuse into the rice.
15:11Okay, so now my grandmother told me you do not mess with rice.
15:14Okay?
15:15Do not play with it.
15:16You let it do its thing.
15:18Now our rice is finished.
15:20You see how it's like separating and fluffy and tender and I'll just like try to bowl it.
15:25Mmm.
15:26Oh, the garlic is nice in there.
15:28While the rice was cooking up, I made sure that I took care of my gravy.
15:33The parts of my gravy are chicken broth, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary.
15:39Sometimes I want to throw the parsley in there just because it makes it look pretty.
15:45That rice is definitely the star of the show.
15:48Just in texture alone, it is making sure that it holds everything together.
15:53Not bad, Shawnee.
15:55So today I'm making a rice dish called yetimatim ruz, which is an Ethiopian word.
16:02It means tomato rice.
16:04It's spicy, very flavorful, and has a lot of juiciness to it.
16:08Rice is really not that common in Ethiopia because we're very proud of our teff.
16:13You know, it's home to Ethiopia and that's the reason.
16:15We make a bread called injera.
16:17Injera is our staple.
16:18We eat everything with injera.
16:20It's our utensils, it's our rice, it's our bread.
16:22So we're going to throw in a little bit of oil and then a little bit of the diced onion, diced tomato.
16:29I'm going to add berberre.
16:31Berberre is an Ethiopian spice consisting of 30 different spices.
16:36Every household makes it different.
16:38I like to save time and then get a pre-washed long grain of rice so that I can saute it with the rest of the stuff so that it takes all that flavor.
16:46And then later I'm going to add some water.
16:49Once the water absorbs, the rice is ready.
16:52Before it's fully cooked, I'm going to add the diced carrots and the peas.
16:56So our yaruz timati is ready.
16:59The rice took in all the flavors from all the spices.
17:06It's a little al dente.
17:08Let me see it's so good.
17:10Guys, try it.
17:11I nailed it.
17:12That is delicious.
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