Simple Pineapple Rice

[UPDATE: This is a wonderful example of why you should never do anything that requires thought when you're in too much pain. Two days in a row I've written the wrong information. I hope I didn't ruin anyone's dinner. I am so sorry!]
On the heels of yesterday's plain white rice recipe, I would like to tell you about one of the yummiest, most alluring rice dishes I've come across...pineapple rice. Allergy Warning: if you are allergic to pineapple this recipe is NOT for you! Now, understand that I only discovered this gem of cookery very recently. I know it's been around for a long, long time; I, however, only tried it for the first time in June. In fact I served it with a massive mixed salad and barbecued pork chops. I am telling you that was one heck of a good meal! Even the children in attendance are still asking when I'm going to make it again. Yes, I am absolutely honking my own horn here. This recipe is also easy and pretty simple as well, but, like plain rice, does require your full attention. Note of Warning; this is one of those recipes that you really have to read completely before you begin. It's a bit confusing in spots and you may get bass-akwards if you try to just bulldoze through.

You Will Need

• a 1-cup measuring cup
• a 2-4 Qt pot with lid
• long-grained white rice
• a 398 ml can of pineapple bits or crushed pineapple
• salt
• a small amount of water, or extra pineapple juice
• sugar - optional (I never use it)
• and again, your stove

You absolutely can get a fresh pineapple and cut it down to size yourself, retaining as much of the juices as you're able. My guess is it would take this dish from really yummy to fabulously awesome. You'd only need about a cup and a half or two cups of actual pineapple for the recipe, though. You could juice the rest, because you do need some juice for this. You can buy extra pineapple juice if you want it very flavourful; I haven't tried this yet but I sure as heck am planning to. The recipe I originally got called for a couple of teaspoons of cane sugar - or it may have been a tablespoon - but I don't' use it in favour of a more pure pineapple taste. Okay, on-wards.

The Recipe

• 1 1/2 C rice
• 1 can of pineapple bits or crushed pineapple, drained & juice reserved
• 2 C fluid in all, including reserved pineapple juice, plus enough extra juice/water to make correct amount
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 tsp cane sugar if desired

Again, few ingredients and none of them are expensive. My wallet always appreciates this.

How To

Sorry if some of this is a bit confusing. Let me try to clear it up a bit by taking it one step at a time.

1. Place the rice in to the pot.
2. You do need the pineapple from the can and you also need the juice from it as well. However you need them separately. So drain the juice from the can of pineapple in to a small bowl  with a strainer. Slide the pineapple pieces back in to the can and place it in to the fridge to be used later.
3. Then pour the juice in to your measuring cup; it will probably come to about 3/4 of a cup. Add water or extra pineapple juice to fill the cup and pour in the pot, then add one more cup of fluid to come out to 2 cups even. (Remember that long-grain, white rice cooks best at a 2-1 ratio; 2 parts fluid to 1 part rice.)
4. Sprinkle a pinch of salt in to the fluid/rice mix. Add sugar if desired. Place lid on pot.
5. Place pot on burner and turn on to medium-high. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Boil for 5 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to minimum and simmer low for 12-15 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and turn burner off. Remove lid and gently agitate rice to fluff it up.
8. Retrieve pineapple from the fridge and add gently to the hot rice.
9. Serve hot or cold alone or with other items.

There it is. It's a bit more fussy than plain rice, but not a lot. And the extra few steps are SO worth it! Apparently you can use any number of juices to cook your rice in. I'll accept this as fact until it's proven otherwise. I can vouch that this is so dang good your taste buds will dance for joy. Well...mine did anyway.
This goes really well with barbecued pork as I said earlier, as well as pretty much anything that has a sweet and spicy flavour. It's also pretty delicious as-is for breakfast the next morning ... provided there are left-overs, which is unlikely unless you make enough on purpose.
Good luck and happy cooking.

Rice, and nothing else.

Back in May I posted an article on how to make herbed rice. This, however, is another response to a specific request; how to make plain, long-grain rice. A neighbour across the cul-de-sac was grumping yesterday morning. She loves rice, but she could only make the minute-type, which, let's face it, is kind of blech. "Oh," I replied, "I can teach you how!" She was thrilled that it was as easy as I assured her it is and her first pot turned out quite well. (I believe it went in to another recipe for her families dinner.) This really is quite an easy recipe. In truth it isn't that much harder than the minute-style "instant" rice, nor does it take much longer. Plus it tastes a whole lot better!

You'll need

• a 1 cup measuring cup
• a 2-4 qt pot, with lid
• long grained, white rice
• a couple of pinches of salt
• and, of course, your stove

That's it. Five little items is all it takes. I prefer to use Asian rice. I find it cooks better and comes out fluffier. This is a personal preference; if I only have no-name rice from a grocery store or the food bank, then that's what I use.

The Recipe

• 1 C of long-grain, white rice
• 2 C's of water
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1/2 tsp butter or margarine, optional

How To

Put everything in to the pot at once, place the lid on, and turn the burner on medium high. Bring to a boil, then turn down slightly and let boil for 5 (and ONLY 5) minutes. Lift the lid and gently stir the rice, then replace the lid. Next turn the burner down to minimum and simmer very low for 15 minutes (again ONLY 15).

Remove from the heat, take off the lid and move the rice around very conservatively with a fork or a rice paddle if you own one, then replace the lid and let stand for 4-5 minutes. Serve as is or in combination with what ever strikes your fancy, or use in another recipe. You're done.

As you can see it's easy, and it's simple. It is a little bit fussy. The timing really does seems to be critical, so use that timer! You cannot walk away from making rice and expect it's going to come out alright. It won't. If you wish to, you can rinse your rice in a sieve before putting it in the pot. It does tend to make it a bit less sticky, but only a bit. You probably noticed that I put butter/margarine as an optional part of the recipe. I only add it in the winter time. It may sound crazy, but it works better in winter, but tends to make the rice scorch in summer. There's probably some scientific reason for this, I just don't know it. If someone else does, I'd love to know so please post it in the comments below.

Remember, you do have 15 minutes while it's simmering to do what ever you have to do. There are a large number of quickie recipes you can whip up in 15 minutes. Or you could set the table, choose a movie, chat with a human of some nature or even, if you're really fast, take a shower.

Don't be surprised if this doesn't turn out perfectly the first time. That's as common as rainwater. Practice makes perfect with rice though, and it doesn't take that long. Soon you'll be the one saying "Oh, I can teach you how to make great rice!"

Happy cooking.

!UPDATE!

I realized while I was writing a related post, that I had failed to put in some fairly important information.

Long-grained white rice cooks at a 2-1 ratio, i.e. 2 parts fluid (water, juice, etc.) to one part rice. As a matter of fact it's almost always exactly that ratio. Hence you can use any container at all to measure out the rice and water, as long as you use the same container for both. So you can use a measuring cup, but you can also use a tin can, a coffee mug, or a plastic sour-cream container. As long as your pot is large enough, you're good to go. You will have to increase or decrease the salt depending on what you use to measure, of course. But since there really isn't much salt used in the first place that should be fairly easy to calculate. Sorry for letting this one slip. Hopefully there is no harm done.

HERBED RICE

This is my very basic recipe. It goes well with a lot of other dishes and is a nice alternative to plain white rice or potatoes. If you don't like the herbs I suggest here, use different ones. I have used paprika and cayenne pepper, as well as sage and a packet of chicken flavour powder. Both were just fine. You can serve this hot or cool it down and through in some bits of chicken or fish and eat as is.

• 1/2 small onion, very finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp basil
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• a generous pinch of salt
• 1 Cup long-grained white rice
• 2 Cups water

Heat your rice pot on Med-High, add oil and saute' onions and garlic until just beginning to turn colour. Add in oregano and basil and briefly heat to release flavours, then stir in rice, water and salt, and cover. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for another 10 minutes. Very gently separate rice with fork or bamboo rice paddle. Serve.
Enjoy!

!UPDATE!

As part of my film study, I have a vignette planned that chronicles the making of a dish of rice from putting the pot on the stove to eating it. If successful, or even relatively view-able, I will put it on YouTube and link it to my blog. Stay tuned... :)