Rice Varieties

[anil]

Rice as we all know is so vared and subtlly different in asia that many cultures have many names to distinguish it.

The region, time of the year harvest; length of the grain; colour, and on and on...

This not to even mention about cooking styles...

We indians in the US tend to eat mostly basmati rice,a dehraduni if possible. In Thailand and Indonesia its different than in places north east as in Vietnam, China etc... NOt to talk about Korea and Japan.

It would be nice if we could all start to list a few of our favourites, and where to taste them and how ?

[torakris]

Living in Japan, I now eat rice for dinner probably 5 to 7 days a week, and have about 5 to 7 varieties in the house at most times.

My 2 favorites are Japanese regular (short grain, though sometimes referred to as medium grain in the US) and Thai jasmine rice. I use different rices depending on what I am cooking.

I have finally found black and red rices in Japan (htough extremely expensive) and can't wait to give them a try.

[tissue]

I like purple rice. Very good, a bit nutty and stickier in texture.

[Jinmyo]

I like gohan best of all. Most calrose varities are great.

I also like Lundberg Farm's organic short grain brown and their Japonica black short grain.

Thai sticky rice.

Long grain white.

I've never had a basmati I've really liked. I find it waxy and dry.

[Pan]

I always liked red and black rice when I was in Malaysia, and of course, there's wild rice. I don't think any of those are actually closely related to common rice (which can be brown with the husk on and white with it off). Arborio rice is really good for risotto, of course.

[snowangel]

Thai jasmine rice. When I buy my 50 lb. sacks, I make them slit the bag -- towards the bottom -- so I can check for percentage of broken kernals. And, I will reject a bag with too many brokens. They cringe when I come to buy rice.

And, my rice is always cooked in my circa 1970 National Rice cooker.

[Jinmyo]

Pan reminds me of risotto rice. Carnaroli.

[Adam Balic]

At the moment in the cupboard I have:

-Jasmine rice, both good stuff and 'broken rice'.

-several different types of risotto rice, I prefer Carnaroli though.

- French Carmague Red rice. No idea what it tastes like.

-Short grained Sushi rice.

-Basmati rice. Which I like, but have been unable to find a type that I like in the UK.

[tissue]

Has anyone ever tasted Akai rice?

[anil]

I always liked red and black rice when I was in Malaysia......

Damn ! I wonder where in NYC (I mean which restaurant) one could have it ? I do not recollect Rice on Mott St. serving this

[tonkichi]

There is also glutinous rice. Very short-grained, and whiter than Jasmine rice. Has a high precentage of starch, and sticks together after cooking. Used in making Zhong-je. the pyramidal dumplings stuffed either with meats or a sweet bean paste. Or in dim-sum restaurants, sometimes used in lotus-leaf glutinous rice. A popular breakfast item is glutinous rice fried with shallots, shitake, chinese sausage and garnished with roasted peanuts.

[DavidJS]

I personally prefer organic short grain brown rice it's healthier for you. Not for everyone of course.

[Jinmyo]

David, Lundberg Farms in the U.S. makes an extraordinary organic short grain brown. Just wonderful. Sometimes I'll mix it with a Korean short grain sticky rice.

[weinoo]

Vialone nano - for seafood risottos and carnaroli for all other risottos.

Japanese "sushi" rice.

Lundberg Jubilee mix of 7 brown rices.

Calasparra for paella.

Jasmine or Thai rice.

Basmati - denradun and patna.

Goya - medium grain.

Wow - didn't know I had that many!

Great book - Seductions of Rice by Alford & Duguid - wonderful resource for how to cook all types of rice, as well as what to eat with them.

I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker that now sits in the back of a closet, as I find it just takes up too much space on my meager kitchen counters. A good 3 quart heavy-duty saucepan is really all you need.

[tissue]

Purple rice!

[Stone]

I like purple rice. Very good, a bit nutty and stickier in texture.

Are you referring to Bhutanese Red Rice? I've made this once or twice. It does have a great nutty flavor, with some fruit to it. As different from plain white rice as Basmati, but nothing like Basmati. It has an al dente texture similar to brown rice, however, which I don't particularly enjoy.

But if you put it on a plate, your guests will coo and caa like you've invented sliced bread. (I don't recall it being particularly expensive.)

[Jinmyo]

Great book - Seductions of Rice by Alford & Duguid - wonderful resource for how to cook all types of rice, as well as what to eat with them.

Agreed. Hear, hear.

[tissue]

I like purple rice. Very good, a bit nutty and stickier in texture.

Are you referring to Bhutanese Red Rice? I've made this once or twice. It does have a great nutty flavor, with some fruit to it. As different from plain white rice as Basmati, but nothing like Basmati. It has an al dente texture similar to brown rice, however, which I don't particularly enjoy.

But if you put it on a plate, your guests will coo and caa like you've invented sliced bread. (I don't recall it being particularly expensive.)

No purple rice is dark purple, like eggplant. And it is more like glutinous rice than regular rice.

Chinese people like to use it in desserts. But in Japan I've had it in sushi. Yum.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

There's a great co out of Arkansas--I forget the name--that makes the best wild rice in the world. This stuff doesn't taste like your run of the mill crud--you know the Uncle Ben's meets a tub of ten year old Earl Grey kind of stuff. When it cooks it perfumes like basmati but the great thing about it is it's close to impossible to over cook. Jose Gutierrez at Chez Philippe hipped me to it. I think I'll give him a ring....

[DavidJS]

Anyone tried Persian rice with sum berries it's quite tasty. Second favorite it goes really well with kabobs.

[weinoo]

Allright, I'll bite, what are sum berries (this could sound like an abbott & costello routine).

[DavidJS]

It's called ZERFAPOLO a tangy Iranian berries mixed with basmati or saffron rice.

Edited April 11, 2003 by DavidJS (log)

[torakris]

I like purple rice. Very good, a bit nutty and stickier in texture.

Are you referring to Bhutanese Red Rice? I've made this once or twice. It does have a great nutty flavor, with some fruit to it. As different from plain white rice as Basmati, but nothing like Basmati. It has an al dente texture similar to brown rice, however, which I don't particularly enjoy.

But if you put it on a plate, your guests will coo and caa like you've invented sliced bread. (I don't recall it being particularly expensive.)

No purple rice is dark purple, like eggplant. And it is more like glutinous rice than regular rice.

Chinese people like to use it in desserts. But in Japan I've had it in sushi. Yum.

Purple rice is sushi?

Wow I really need to get out more!

I too agree with the recommendations of the Seductions of Rice book, absolutely wonderful, but then again I own all 3 of their books and love them all!

[indiagirl]

Hey, I went to a rice tasting hosted by Lotus Foods and Marie Simmons (who wrote a book on rice which I have not read but whose talk last night I was not at all impressed with).

I learned about sticky starch (in sushi and risotto type rice) and non-sticky starch (in basmati) and about how some esters are what makes some rice aromatic and how typically short grain rice comes from cold climates.

She also kept saying rices - is that the plural of rice?

Lotus foods is trying to bring in hierloom variety rice from various countries to the US. I tasted the following:

Bhutanese Red Rice

Grown at very high altitudes, nutty flavor, smallish grains.

Forbidden Black Rice

Chinese, Purplish black, again nutty and fairly chewy when cooked. I liked the flvor. Short grains. It is supposed to be rich in iron and is called Tribute rice in China because it was used to pay tribute to the Emperor. Is this the purple rice that has been referred to on this thread?

Kalijira Rice

Bangladesh. Gorgeous. Little fine small grains of rice that are the size of cumin seeds. The name means Black Cumin. A yellowish white in color. Nice flavor. Fairly aromatic but not like basmati. I really liked this one.

Organic White Jasmine Rice

Lowell farms, El Campo Texas. This was not as aromatic as I would have expected. Nice flavor. A little chewier than I liked.

The whole thing was a lot of fun.

[indiagirl]

Pictures of the Rice varieties in my post