Creole Boiled Rice Recipe
The kind of rice I enjoy with Gumbos, Red Beans, Etouffee, etc., a lot of NoLA Cuisine dishes, is Creole Boilied Rice. I like it because the grains stay seperate from one another, essentially, they let the main dish be the dish. Not that the rice is second fiddle, in fact, if your rice is terrible, it will ruin the whole dish. When I have a pot of Red Beans on the stove, my Rice is as important as my Beans, which means, Very important! I take Red Beans & Rice very seriously. Well, not too seriously, nothing should be too serious, but let’s just say I hold them in high esteem (more on Red Beans later). Anyway, this is a great, simple, Accompaniment Rice. Not great because it’s simple, just great! The simple water/rice ratio is:
1 quart of Boiling water / 1 cup of Rice
The goal here is not to absorb all of the liquid into the rice like most recipes. The goal is to make the rice tender, then drain the rice! Think Pasta. I use Uncle Ben’s Original Rice, you know the one, Converted Long Grain, it’s a great product. Here is my recipe!
Creole Boiled Rice
1 quart of Boiling Water
1 Cup Uncle Ben’s Rice
2 Fresh Bay Leaves (If you have to use dried, do so, but damn….. the fresh are so much better!)
1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter (Optional)
Bring the water to a boil with the Bay leaves. Add the salt. Add the rice, stir to make sure the rice doesn’t stick! Do Not Stir again! If you agitate the rice too much, it gets sticky! So give it a good stir, when it comes back to a boil, partially cover it. Cook for about 11 minutes, but taste it, don’t trust me! It should have some bite, but a crunch is bad, Call it Al Dente, like I said, think Pasta. When it’s tender, drain it, pluck out the bay leaves, and if desired, place it into a 400 degree oven with the butter patted on top for about 15 minutes; this helps dry the rice out.
Could brown rice be cooked this way?
Comment by Courtney — January 10, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
Even though this is a little late to comment, this is the only way that I cook rice. Last year I bought some Basmati from a local Indian grocery store. The directions had me make the rice this way. Their ratio was six cups water to 1 cup rice, however irrelevant. That was the best rice that I have had, outside of a Thai/Middle Eastern/Indian restaurant! I will not cook rice any other way now, even though my Grandmother would be very disappointed in me. As a bonus, the SMELL is incredible! Much stronger rice smell than when in a pot with a tight fitting lid.
Comment by mpabner — May 18, 2007 @ 10:26 am
I did use long-grain brown rice for this and it worked well. Figure on a much longer cooking time, though. After 15 minutes, I turned up the heat and fully closed the cover. After about ten more minutes, it was al dente. No stickiness at all.
Comment by Michael — July 18, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
When I first read this recipe I didn’t think I would ever use it because of the two step process of baking the rice to get the water out. The only rice I had was medium grain so I tried it. I do the Japanese rinse thing till the water runs clear, other then that I followed the recipe. It turns out perfect. Just a subtle bite and the right texture.
Comment by JahNayNay — December 20, 2007 @ 5:02 pm
I’ll have to try this method of cooking rice.
Something as simple as rice is really an art.
I rinse my rice a few times, untill the rinsing water is somewhat clear before I cook.
Do you?
Comment by Kazer — January 21, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Hi Danno,
I saw your comments on Mr. Lake’s Forum, and came over to visit. Your site is terrific, I’m going to enjoy exploring it.
I had to comment on the rice - that’s the way my mother and grandmother always cooked rice, with a couple of variations. We put it in boiling, salted water and once the water returns to a boil, we only leave it there about five minutes. We always rinse it in cold water, in a metal collander, after draining it. This takes out the sticky starch, and keeps the grains seperate.
Then we put the collander over a large pot of boiling water to steam a bit, ten to twenty minutes to cook it until it’s done.
Now, having said that, after Katrina I got a wild hair and bought a rice cooker. I’ve been using that ever since, just because it cuts down on the clean up.
Comment by Judib — February 23, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
I tried this recipe w/brown rice and it was very good — had to extend the simmering time from 11 minutes to 35 (and honestly my rice could have stood another 5-10 minutes); but the flavor and grain separation were great!
Excellent with the shrimp etoufee recipe — thank you very much, your site made my dinner.
Comment by Sarah — March 10, 2008 @ 1:36 am