separate non-clinging grains. Western cuisines also prefer long-grain rice, probably because it is

aesthetically more appealing. Having forks as eating utensils make either type convenient to eat.

Glutinous rice, also called sweet or sticky rice, is not very familiar to North Americans.

This high-starch variety of rice is a staple in some parts of Asia, but other cooks also use it in

some preparations such as rice desserts, Japanese sushi and leaf-wrapped rice concoctions where

the high starch content and sticky quality are helpful in the preparation.

Food processors use glutinous rice in many commercial products as a binder in frozen

gravies, sauces and fillings in the form of rice starch and rice flour. Both are ideal for this

purpose because they resist breakdown in freezing and thawing, unlike starches derived from

other sources.

Aromatic rice, as the name implies, has a relatively high aromatic compound content that

gives off a detectable pleasing scent while cooking, some of which remains in the cooked rice as

a faint flavor. All rices include aromatic compounds in their complex chemical make-ups but

aromatic rice is especially high. Jasmine rice and basmati rice are the most popular of these

aromatic rices. Jasmine rice came originally from Thailand, but now U.S. rice farmers also grow

it. In late 1990s only Thailand and U.S. grew jasmine rice. Its price is quite reasonable, and it is

readily available in Asian markets, even in some supermarkets, in North America.

Basmati rice has become a trendy item during the 1990s. Because it only grows in a few

regions of India and Pakistan, demand exceeds supply and its price is relatively high. It has long,

slender grains and a pleasant, aromatic flavor that is unequalled by any other white rice. The

grains have the curious property of swelling mainly in the long direction of the grain during

cooking. This produces long, thin, pretty and elegant cooked rice.

Even though aromatic compounds barely affect flavor, our olfactory organs are so closely

tied to our taste buds, the pleasant aroma gives an additional tasting pleasure sensation. This is

true only when the food you serve with rice has a subtle flavor. If you serve an intensely-

flavored, strongly-scented spicy food over rice, like a South Indian curry or a Mexican piquant

mole, the spices completely overpower the more delicate aromatics of the rice. For such dishes

you might as well use a good plain rice.

TASTINGS Comparing rice nutrition

Vitamin B in rice

(in microgram per gram of rice)

Brown

3.69

0.50

Converted

Polished

0.60

0.25

Thiamine (vitamin B1)

Riboflavin (vitamin B2)

Niacin (vitamin B3)

2.57

0.36

39.8

53.8

18.1

Cooking techniques

A few failures can intimidate anyone, yet cooking rice to perfection, once you learn it, is

one of the easiest and most fool-proof kitchen tasks, next to boiling water. Remember one

thing—rice cooking leaves very little latitude for errors or carelessness. Learn a good rice

cooking technique, practice it and stick with it (pun unintended). You'll invariably end up with

fluffy, perfectly-cooked rice grains that are neither dry nor soggy or sticky. And if it is sticky rice

you are after, you will get the stickiest, gummiest rice that stays on your chopsticks in good-size

Serious Kitchen Play