a rice cooker follow this basic method for cooking rice. Choose a saucepan with a heavy base and allow ½ cup uncooked rice per person. This should be enough for four.
2 cups (400 g) long-grain rice, preferably Thai jasmine water to cover (see below)
Put the rice in the saucepan and cover it with cold water. Rub the rice with your hand for a few seconds, then pour out the cloudy water. Repeat this process two or three times until the water runs clear. This step is important as it removes any loose starch caused by the grains rubbing together during packing and transit, and helps make sure that your rice won't stick together in an unpalatable mess when cooked.
Add sufficient fresh water to the pan so that it comes up to the first joint of your forefinger when you set it on the surface of the rice. Cover the pan and bring the rice to the boil over high heat. Put the lid slightly to one side, lower the heat a little and continue boiling until all the liquid has been absorbed and you see small "craters" appearing on the surface of the rice; this will probably take around 5 minutes.
Lower the heat to the absolute minimum, cover the pan firmly and cook the rice for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, wipe off any moisture underneath, and fluff up the rice with a fork or chopstick. Cover the pan again, remove from the heat and stand 10 minutes, or up to I hour, before serving.
Basic Chicken or Pork Stock
This simple, lightly seasoned stock is the basis of countless soups and other dishes in Southeast Asia. Vietnamese cooks like to add a pinch of sugar; some cooks omit the peppercorns; others use either onion or spring onion, while some use both, and Lao cooks often add a whole fresh coriander plant (root, stems, and leaves). This is the recipe I normally use, taking care to keep the salt content low in case I want to season it with salty fish sauce later. I find it's worth making a double quantity and deep-freezing it in 2 cups (500 ml) portions for future use.
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, crushed and minced
2 chicken carcasses, chopped in half, any skin and fatty deposits discarded, or 1 kg meaty pork bones
10 cups (2.5 liters) water
1 medium onion, minced
2 spring onions, minced
4 thin slices ginger
10 black peppercorns
½ teaspoon salt
Put the oil in a very large saucepan and heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry over low heat until it turns golden brown. Lift out the garlic and discard, leaving the garlic-flavored oil in the pan. Add the chicken or pork and water. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface.
Add all other ingredients, cover the pan and simmer very gently for I hour. Remove the lid and continue simmering very gently until the stock is reduced by half, about another hour. It is important not to let the stock boil, or the result will be cloudy rather than clear. Strain the stock into a large bowl, cool, then refrigerate for several hours. Scrape off any fat that solidifies on the surface, then transfer the stock into a covered container. Refrigerate or deep-freeze.
Note: This basic stock can be transformed into a simple soup to serve with any rice-based meal. Season it with a little fish sauce, soy sauce or salt, a sprinkle of white or black pepper, then add a little of what you fancy: a few leafy greens; bean sprouts; diced bean curd; sliced fresh or soaked dried black mushrooms; a few fresh prawns or slivers of chicken or pork. Simmer until the ingredients are cooked, and serve piping hot.
snacks, starters, and soups
It's often said that Asians are always eating, munching throughout the day and on into the night, stopping to buy savory nibbles or sweet-meats from itinerant vendors or roadside stalls. And why not? There are just so many irresistible goodies out there.
Some of the snack and starter recipes included here are perfect for serving with drinks, such as slices of Spicy Dried Beef, or Crispy Rice Cakes that you can dunk into one of the dips you'll find in the chapter, A Little Something on the Side.
If you're looking for an impressive start to a meal, you can't do better than succulent satay made from beef (Sate Istimewa). Unless, of course, you decide to serve scrumptious Thai Prawn Satay. Then again, you would consider one of the wonderful palate-tickling recipes such as Leaf-wrapped Savory Nibbles or Tuna Carpaccio.
For party snacks, you could try various types of roll-ups, including ever-popular Vietnamese Deep-fried Spring Rolls, or the refreshingly different Tangy Marinated Fish Roll-ups. And for a really substantial snack which makes a great lunch, you won't find anything more satisfying than Vietnamese Happy Pancakes. Unless, of course, it's an Indochinese Sandwich, where French baguette meets Southeast Asian meats, salads, and spreads.
Many of these snacks and starters could also be served as part of a main meal with rice, especially the various types of satay as well as Cambodian Fragrant Grilled Chicken Wings, Thai Sweet Corn Fritters, and Deep-fried Prawn or Fish Cakes.
In Southeast Asia, soup is a liquid dish of broth or coconut milk containing vegetables, fruit, seafood, poultry, or meat, served together with rice, and rarely eaten as a separate course. When you get used to eating soup the Asian way, spooning some of the solids on to your rice, and either sipping the broth from the soup bowl or pouring a little directly over the rice, the logic of soup becomes apparent. Steamed rice on its own is dry. Add the liquid from your soup and it is just so much easier to eat. As many of the locals say, soup "helps the rice down."
You can cook just about anything in a soup. Your main protein for the meal might come in Vietnamese Bouncy Beef Ball Soup, Cambodian Chicken Soup with Lime, Chili & Basil, or Thai Chicken & Coconut Milk Soup. Put some of your vegetables into Creamy Pumpkin Soup, or make Indonesian Sour Mixed Vegetable Soup, or healthy Spinach Soup with Sweet Corn. And don't stop at vegetables. You can enjoy fruit in the Piquant Fish Soup with Pineapple & Bean Sprouts.
(Noodle soups are generally eaten alone, rather than served with rice, and are therefore included in a separate chapter.)
deep-fried spring rolls chogio
One of the things that makes these delightful Vietnamese spring rolls different to the Chinese variety is the wrapper of delicate rice paper. The filling is a lightly seasoned combination of pork, prawns, and transparent bean thread noodles, plus some crabmeat if you like. The coup de grace is the way they are eaten, tucked in a cool lettuce leaf with fragrant herbs and crunchy bean sprouts, then dipped in salty, sour, sweet, and hot Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip.
30 wedge-shaped rice papers, or 20-25 small round rice papers (5-6 in or 14-16 cm in diameter)
2-3 cups (500-750 ml) oil for deep frying
Accompaniment
lettuce leaves
1 cup mint sprigs
1 cup polygonum sprigs (long-stemmed Vietnamese mint or rau ram)
1 cup fresh coriander sprigs
1 cup (80 g) bean sprouts
1
