On Jul 11, 10:26*am, sf wrote:
>
> Don't a lot of people saute rice before cooking? *I know my
> grandmother did, so I assumed it was pretty common.
>
Sure, you find it in dishes from all around the world. It's a
standard way to achieve separate grains of rice rather than clumped
together if that's what you want. Sometimes it adds flavor if the oil
is flavored. And one-dish meals like paella or arroz con pollo or
zillions of others include stirring the rice around in oil before
adding the liquid. In the OP the error was simply not knowing what
Chinese-style fried rice is in the first place and therefore making an
invalid comparison.

Here's the best basmati rice: wash rice, then let it soak in clean
cold water for 30 minutes; drain it into a sieve or colander and let
it air dry for another 30 minutes; melt a bit of ghee or clarified
butter in a pot on medium heat and stir the rice around in it for a
minute or two; add water, bring to boil, turn heat to lowest simmer,
cover, cook about 20 minutes; leave covered, remove from heat for 10
minutes.

Or, simplest pilaf-type rice: gently cook a little bit of finely
chopped onion in butter or oil and butter combined; add rice and some
vermicelli broken into very short pieces; add hot chicken stock, bring
to boil; cover, simmer on lowest heat 17 minutes; remove from heat,
let sit 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork while adding some chopped
parsley. -aem