Emma Miller
Not everyone knows how to cook rice properly, although side dishes made of these grains are popular in many families.
The porridge itself is tasteless. Salt (which must be added, otherwise you will get a lean dish, which at best will be stuck in the throat), oil (at the very end of cooking), and spices will help to improve the taste of rice.
How to improve the taste of rice
- Saffron gives the rice a honeyed smell, a bitter and spicy flavor, coloring it a golden color. The spice is very rich and does not tolerate other seasonings. It combines olive oil, beans, sea salt, and seafood. Rice has changed from an everyday dish into a delicious side dish from sunny Spain.
- The basil infuses the rice with the tangy scent of lemon and cinnamon. Some herbs smell like bay leaf or tea. Can be added in combination with olive oil, nuts, peppers, and parmesan cheese.
- Herb Butter. Can be used as a light sauce with rice. To make it, add rosemary, thyme, and lemon zest to the oil (to taste) and heat it all in the microwave.
- Cloves. Be very careful with this spice, as cloves have a pungent taste and smell strong. To avoid ruining the dish, try to leave the caps and remove the petioles. If you want to get a subtle smell, you should add the spice while the rice is still boiling, in other cases – at the end.
- Curry is suitable for recipes of Oriental cuisine. It is a very spicy blend of different spices, including mildly spicy and bitter turmeric. It’s much easier to find on the shelves than saffron, and the price is affordable. It purifies the blood and normalizes the function of the liver.
- Ginger by itself is sweet, but in combination with other spices, it enriches its scent. In dry form, it can be added to sauces – while boiling rice.
- Cilantro and parsley. This spice is better added to already-cooked boiled rice. Parsley will saturate rice with a pleasant “summer” smell – cooked young potatoes with sour cream and ripe cucumbers. Cilantro removes toxins from the body and helps the entire gastrointestinal tract.
- Promotes digestion. Fennel has a sweet and spicy taste and spicy flavor. Feel free to add the greens to the rice in the porridge, but at the end of cooking.
- Black pepper. A universal spice on the shelf of every caring housewife. To the rice, black pepper (in any form) will do. The spice will hide your culinary mistakes – especially if the dish turned out a little dry (or vice versa “dough-like”). Goes well with other types of peppers. It is best to grind peppers by hand – then get the most intense flavor (in the version of the ground store – all the smell “stays in the package”).
- Garlic. Suitable for almost all types of dishes, rice is no exception. Garlic spice will soften the combination of lemon zest, badjan, and other spices. Good for eastern pilaf.
- Barberry. In a dish, it may show itself sweet or brackish depending on other ingredients. It combines well with ginger and turmeric. Barberry leaves have a taste reminiscent of sorrel. But berries can be a wonderful decoration for your cooked pilaf!
Spices should be added at the end of cooking so that the taste of the rice is bright and rich.
Chefs suggest adding broth (beef/chicken broth; veggie broth for vegetarians) to rice when cooking instead of water. A tip for rice is to fry the rice before cooking: then the side dish will be saturated with the delicate flavor of nuts.
Another trick is rice and tea bags.
Why use tea bags when cooking rice
Tea bags will improve the flavor of the rice, and the garnish will have many important micronutrients (including potassium and phosphorus).
How do you cook rice with tea bags? Put two black tea bags in a deep bowl and pour 0.5 liters of boiling water over them. After a few minutes, remove the tea bags, and use the tea-soaked liquid to cook the rice.
Rice with Tea
Another option is to use tea, this time green tea, to soak the cereal in antioxidants. Add a 50:50 ratio of brewed green tea to the pure water prepared for the rice.
Cook the grits over low heat, making sure you get the right proportions of tea “broth” and rice, otherwise the dish will be either too dry or too liquid.
