Rice

Ingredients

• rice
• chicken stock
• water
• onion
• garlic
• lime
• cilantro

Method

Toast the rice in a dry pot over medium heat for two minutes, stirring constantly. This drives off surface moisture and deepens the flavour through rice-cooking Maillard reaction — you'll smell a faint nuttiness when it's done. Add diced onion and garlic to the same pot and cook for another minute until fragrant, then pour in your liquid (chicken stock is mandatory here; water produces a bland side dish). Use a 2:1 liquid-to-rice ratio by volume. The stock's gelatin and salt do the work that plain water cannot.

Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat uncovered — this takes four to six minutes. Watch for the first aggressive bubbles breaking the surface, then immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cover the pot tightly. The simmering gentle steam now does all the work; vigorous heat only drives off moisture unevenly and leaves you with crunchy grains near the edges and mush in the centre. Set a timer for fifteen to eighteen minutes — not twenty. At this point, lift the lid and test a grain. It should be tender but still hold its shape, and the liquid should have almost entirely evaporated. If liquid remains, cover again and check in two minutes.

For Mexican rice, finish by fluffing the grains with a fork — this separates them and lets steam escape. Stir through a generous handful of chopped cilantro and the juice of half a lime. Do this just before serving; cilantro loses its fresh cilantro bite when it sits in hot rice, and lime's acidity will fade quickly in the residual heat. Taste and adjust the lime — you want a whisper of acid that brightens the stock, not a sour dish. Serve immediately.