Rice

[Quest]

*clapclap*

[39degN]

嗯，这才是好孩子！

dont be angry, i was just kidding la!

[tara]

I've heard that right hand for everything above the navel, left hand for those below it. Is this true?

Yup, something like that. Its really rude to use your left hand to eat. But, I still do.....to break food apart....like fried fish.

[Ian_Lee]

Can you eat rice on a plate with only a pair of chopsticks?

It depends on what kind of rice you eat.

If you eat the short grain rice which is very sticky that Japanese and Koreans have as main staple, then you can eat rice on a plate with only a pair of chopsticks.

But if you eat the long grain rice that most southern Chinese eat which is not sticky at all, then you cannot.

[39degN]

a perfect interpretation!

and i m afraid the rice he mentioned is the suite with dishes, if so certainly they had soup with the rice, and then....

haha, why we talking about this so seriously?

[Ian_Lee]

Rice is a very serious topic.

In Japan, they attach importance to certain brand of rice grown in certain prefectures. Many eateries advertise by bragging that they serve certain brand of rice.

In Hong Kong, the government used to regulate and appoint about 50+ rice importers (such regulation was only lifted about two years ago). There are special rice shops (now gradually replaced by supermarkets) with dozen of big rice bins placed on the store front to display various brands of rice.

In every shop, there is a master who is in charge of mixing the rice staple (rice is best eaten with a mixture of different varieties).

Even in those readily packaged rice sold in the supermarket, the brands distinguish themselves by bragging that they are vacuum-packaged or grown in Thailand or Australia.

In fact, there is more than one Chinese character about rice. Raw rice and cooked rice are two different words while in English they are still rice.

Even I am really picky about how my wife cooks rice. The water volume that she uses in the rice pot (actually I prefer using chinaware to cook rice instead of electrical rice cooker) is not always up to my standard.

[Quest]

...is not always up to my standard.

do it yourself then >)

[tetsuo500]

Quote:

...is not always up to my standard.

do it yourself then >)

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to rice too. It can't be too hard or soft, wet or dry, or burnt. And you have to let it stand for a while before you serve it. I like to use an electric rice cooker, because I have my technique down, so I can get it pretty much how I like it everytime.

For Chinese dishes I usually use Koala Brand Long Grain Jasmine Rice (Australian brand). For Japanese and Korean I haven't really tried that many different brands but often just use a short grain rice that you can get in a plain plastic bag from a local Korean mini-market.

When cooking short grain rice, I usually cook a lot then wrap the rest up in portions in plastic wrap and store it in the freezer, then use it for making stuff like kimchi fried rice, curry, tonkatsu pork and furikake.

What does everyone think about leaving rice in the bowl? If I'm eating Japanese or Korean, I can't bring myself to leave any at all, no matter how full I am, and even eat other people's rice if they won't eat it, because I will feel bad for leaving it. When I'm eating Chinese, I sometimes leave a little bit though.... I'm not sure why...... I think someone told me once that it's polite to leave a little bit in your bowl to show your host that they have fed you enough, but I don't think that should apply to restaurants. Even so, I still leave some sometimes when I'm eating in restaurants hmmmm.... :?

[skylee]

What does everyone think about leaving rice in the bowl? If I'm eating Japanese or Korean, I can't bring myself to leave any at all, no matter how full I am, and even eat other people's rice if they won't eat it, because I will feel bad for leaving it. When I'm eating Chinese, I sometimes leave a little bit though.... I'm not sure why...... I think someone told me once that it's polite to leave a little bit in your bowl to show your host that they have fed you enough, but I don't think that should apply to restaurants. Even so, I still leave some sometimes when I'm eating in restaurants hmmmm.... :?

Well my family teaching (家教) is that you should not leave any rice in your bowl because "粒粒皆辛苦" (every grain is (the result of) toil).

I like home-made fried rice with eggs. The best fried rice, IMHO, has to be made of cooked rice left over from the night before and has been refrigerated so it is a bit hard and dry. First you beat some eggs, and then pour it into a hot wok with just a little bit of oil. When the egg is half cooked but still fluid, put in the rice and mix them together. Continue the mixing and stirring (put in some chopped spring onions if desired) until it all turns dry and golden and the grains start to jump up. Then you can serve it. That is delicious.

[Ian_Lee]

Actually no food is better than a small clay pot of cooked rice (preferably on top of charcoal fire) during the winter time.

When the rice is half cooked in the pot, put in some ingredients like Lup Cheong (Chinese sausage), or ground beef patty (preferably hand-chopped), or spare rib,...etc on top of the rice. Move the lid a little bit with a small gap to ventilate the hot air out so that it will not overflow. Then turn down the fire and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

When it is done, remove the lid and pour some homemade shoyu on top of the cooked rice with a raw egg.

The best part is at the end when you almost finish eating. The half-burned crunchy rice layer on the bottom of the clay pot is super delicious!

[Quest]

Well my family teaching (家教) is that you should not leave any rice in your bowl because "粒粒皆辛苦" (every grain is (the result of) toil).

same here.

I like home-made fried rice with eggs. The best fried rice, IMHO, has to be made of cooked rice left over from the night before and has been refrigerated so it is a bit hard and dry. First you beat some eggs, and then pour it into a hot wok with just a little bit of oil. When the egg is half cooked but still fluid, put in the rice and mix them together. Continue the mixing and stirring (put in some chopped spring onions if desired) until it all becomes dry and the grains start to jump up. Then you can serve it. That is delicious.

Many girls say that to their bfs, then later the guys find out that's the only home-made food they will ever eat

[skylee]

I like home-made fried rice with eggs. The best fried rice' date=' IMHO, has to be made of cooked rice left over from the night before and has been refrigerated so it is a bit hard and dry. First you beat some eggs, and then pour it into a hot wok with just a little bit of oil. When the egg is half cooked but still fluid, put in the rice and mix them together. Continue the mixing and stirring (put in some chopped spring onions if desired) until it all becomes dry and the grains start to jump up. Then you can serve it. That is delicious.

[/quote']

Many girls say that to their bfs, then later the guys find out that's the only home-made food they will ever eat

TRUE.

[tetsuo500]

I love eating dosot bi bim bab (Korean bi bim bab in a hot clay pot). The rice goes crunchy wherever it's touching the pot. It's so good!!!

I might even go so far to say that it's crunch-tastic!

[39degN]

Many girls say that to their bfs, then later the guys find out that's the only home-made food they will ever eat

agree, and many girl's "masterd" "traditional""chinese"food is fried eggs(sure in a chinese way)

in today's china more than half girls cant cook at all...the half of the other half ocationally cooking.

[Quest]

I love eating dosot bi bim bab (Korean bi bim bab in a hot clay pot). The rice goes crunchy wherever it's touching the pot. It's so good!!!

I might even go so far to say that it's crunch-tastic!

锅巴？

[39degN]

i guess that's 石锅拌饭

i m not so interested in korean food, most of them are cold and without any tastes, the only one l loved is 泡菜, i either dont like the way they eating cayenne, seems most of them were pickled, i like fried cayenne, especially through a Si Chuan way.

BTW, seems we back to chatting again, sorry, Roddy!

[skylee]

The tasty crunchy rice layer described by Ian and Tetsuo Kun is 鍋巴 in Putonghua and 飯焦 in Cantonese.

[Ian_Lee]

Bibimbap is actually quite a common dish on Korean menu.

It is served in clay pot (heated or unheated). The top layer is arranged beautifully with shredded beef, spinach, bean sprouts....etc around with an egg on the center.

Before eating, a kind of paste equivalent to Chinese Blue Bean Paste is added and mixed all ingredients and rice altogether.

It is a little bit different from 石锅拌饭.

When I was young in the poor old days, we had a habit of mixing residual rice on the bowl with hot tea if all the minuscle food on the dishes had gone.

Japan also has such habit of eating rice. They call it "Otyaatsuke". In Japanese supermarket, they even sell small packets of Otyaatsuke with ingredients like nori (seaweed) inside.

[tokyo_girl]

Just to clarify a couple of things.

The different brands of rice are often not so much

brands as much as different varieties of rice.

eg Akita's Komachi or Koshikari (Niigata) are rice varieties.

Also Akita's climate is in not comparable with Jilin's at all.

Akita's average Jan temp is 1 degree. The temperature

tends to hover between about -3 and 6 degrees.

Jilin is more like -16 degrees.

Hokkaido had very little rice cultivation until relatively

recently, despite hybridization the rice crop from Hokkaido

is considered inferior. Potatoes are much more common

in Hokkaido.

Aside from the temperature, my guess is that the

north of China would also not have the reliable rainfall

that is needed for rice cultivation.

In Jiangsu, Xuzhou seemed to be about the border

between rice and wheat cultivation.

Skylee my husband's family (Japanese) are also of the mind

that rice represnts toil so not a grain should be wasted.

I don't know how the expression goes in Japanese though -

probably the much the same as in Chinese.

there is a custom in Japan of, much like Ian Lee described

filling a rice bowl with tea (also really salted pickes) and

drinking the rice grains mixed with the tea. It's called ojazuke

and I think most city people wouldn't eat rice this way anymore.

[Quest]

锄禾日当午

汗滴禾下土

谁知盘中餐

粒粒皆辛苦