Is Anything Simpler than Rice?

Plain boiled rice (as the takeaway menu would have it) is in one way the simplest of things. It has nothing to it  but rice, water and perhaps salt. It is of course what a lot of the world's poor have to live on, and if that's all you have then the beauty of the thing which is enhanced by comparison with more complex foods will of course be reduced - survival is not sensual. But there are few things that, when done properly, taste as good. Austere, but in itself superb.

In Taipei many years ago I dined with a couple of guys from our local agent, and two Japanese executives from a company we were trying to sell to. The meal was not the fanciest banquet ever, but undoubtedly excellent. I was surprised at the end of it when the two Japanese men complimented the rice. I always thought until then rice was rice was rice. But they were right, it had a creamy texture while being light, and the clear starchy whiteness of the flavour was beautiful. 

On the other hand, achieving that perfection is far from simple. Rice is something I find very hard to cook just  as it should be. Which is why I was so pleased with our meal last night. Chili con carne (nothing special at all) but with plain boiled rice that for once was right. I had seconds and thirds of rice, but not of the meat and veg element. The rice came in a massive bag from the Asian section of our local supermarket, not the cheapest but not the dearest brand. It was washed thoroughly, covered plus half an inch with boiling water, and left in a covered pan on very low heat for 10 minutes, then with heat off steamed for 10 more. Simple, but it worked perfectly. 

Washing the rice by the way is not what you'd do if eating to survive. During the Indian Mutiny/First Indian War of Independence, depending on your standpoint, the British in a fort under siege were fed boiled rice, while the faithful Indians serving them just had the water in which it was washed. Many of the Brits got scurvy, their servants didn't. For me, by the way, those Brits who allowed (one wonders if it was allowed at the point of a gun) their servants to be kept to rice water while they ate the good stuff deserved to suffer illness.