Topic: Batch cooking pilau rice...

[curryhell]

  .  From your picture TB i can't work out whether the rice is over cooked or undercooked.  I use a  glass casserole dish with lid as opposed   a metal one used by Natterjak.  But we still get the same results.  Nothing wrong with the brand of rice you're using. I've used it for years. I have found that rice from my latest bag only needs cooking for 12 mins as opposed to 15 though.  I don't think your cooking capabilities are at fault here, it's more about not being able to set the tools to do the job.  Setting the oven temp seems a bit hit and miss.  You can't really afford this when cooking rice .
A new casserole dish may not be the answer given your settings problem but there is an easy solution to retrieve the situation.
I arrived at this method because i was forced to use an electric hob, which does not lend itself in the slightest to cooking rice by absorbtion, which IMO is the best methiod, hence the oven coming into play.  It was derived from cooking perfect rice on a gas hob, whether for 2 people or for twenty plus.

I know you have  a gas hob so use that.  Use Natterjacks measurements

Oil in saucepan and heat
Add whole spice and fry till aroma given off
Boil kettle of water
Add rice and stir for a min till heated and all coated with oil
Add suggested water volume to rice (Unlike Natterjak i don't use measurments for cooking rice.  As long as there's a 1/3 inch of liquid above the rice, it will turn out just fine, big pot or little pot  ;D )
Bring back to boil, add salt and stir.
Turn to lowest setting possible where gas is just about on.
Cover top of pan with foil, put on lid and crimp foil to keep steam in.
Cook at lowest temperature for 15 minutes.
Turn off and leave undisturbed for five minutes - DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO PEEK
Remove lid and foil, take out whole spices and add colouring .
Lid and foil back on and leave for fifteen minutes to fix colouring
Remove lid and fork over then replace lid again

This can then be transfered to a warm oven if use is very soon or left to go cold and reheated as required
That should sort out your rice issue
Let us know how you get on

[Peripatetic Phil]

My final take on this is that it didn't work for me.  I don't know where I went wrong, I went for gas mark 4 of which I understand is 175c.  Infact I only have real success when P/C rice.  Never mind, a new casserole dish may be the way forward!

Sorry to learn of your disaster, Tommy.  All I can say by way of consolation is that having tried all possible ways of cooking pulao rice, I now use the microwave oven method 100% of the time with 99.5% success rate; all of the other methods have had a far higher failure rate.  Indeed, I have recently been enjoying my home-made pulao so much that I was thinking of starting a thread entitled "The Joys of Pulao Rice", because it is just so enjoyable in its own right.  I think I posted my microwave recipe recently, but just in case it's not easy to find, I repeat it below.  Did you ever get down to See Woo, by the way, and did they have all that you were looking for ?

** Phil
--------

Pulao Rice the Microwave Oven Way

Put some ghee in the bottom of a Pyrex casserole (with lid), cook on full power for five minutes, remove from the microwave oven and add your pulao spices : star anise, cardamom (green), one or two cloves at most, some cassia bark, Indian bay (not European), torn into pieces (the tearing is important), kala jeera (black cumin), a little fennel, and any other whole spices that you think important.  Cook with lid on in a microwave oven for five minutes.  When the spices have been pre-cooked, add one cup of thoroughly washed (and then drained) good quality basmati rice.  Stir gently, then cook in the microwave oven for two minutes at full power.  Remove from the oven again and add 1 teaspoon of sea salt (or less, to taste) and sufficient water to cover the rice to a depth of 1/3".  Stir gently, replace the lid and cook in the microwave oven for 12 minutes on full power.  Remove from the oven and check.  It should be near-perfect : nearly dry, yet soft.  If it is not, compensate : cook for a minute or two longer if it is still too wet; add a little more boiling water and cook for a few more minutes if the grains are hard when chewed.  When it is perfect, fluff it gently, then add (very sparingly, and as far apart from each other as possible) two or three drops of green liquid food colouring, one drop of yellow, and a very small drop of red (or none at all : it is usually the red that spoils the appearance).  Place in a pre-warmed conventional oven at 80C for about 20 minutes to complete the drying and set the colours.  Remove from the oven, fluff gently to distribute the colouring and serve.

[Tommy Timebomb]

Thanks for the advice lads,
One thing I did regret at the time was instead of stiring the rice when It was added to the oil I gave it a mega stir when I added the 2 litre of water.
No problems, at least I live where things are cheap and cheerfull and readily available.
I am content with my two versions of P/C rice but am more than happy to try other recipes, thats why I'm on this forum.

I think I will have a go at the microwave method at some point but seeing I'm cooking for myself most of the time I really have no need to cook on mass. I had an afternoon at a barbecue yesterday and was in lager lout mode.

As for getting over to See Woo, as yet my other half has got her claws into me to decorate her flat so up untill thats acheived it's on hold. I know where it is as I used to use a Halfords over there , just on a 108 through the Blackwall tunnel.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, at this very minute I have c2g homestyle ginger chicken on the go.
Another Ruby Murrey Sunday!

[Onions]

As for getting over to See Woo, as yet my other half has got her claws into me to decorate her flat so up untill thats acheived it's on hold. I know where it is as I used to use a Halfords over there , just on a 108 through the Blackwall tunnel.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, at this very minute I have c2g homestyle ginger chicken on the go.
Another Ruby Murrey Sunday!

Remember when the 108 used to go to the Green Man