I don't gravitate towards singular things being my favorite. I've learned that I need to fake an answer sometimes because it's expected that we have a "favorite." If I want to be authentic, I'm honest that I don't feel for favorites in my life. I never have. If I don't want to deal with that confused look, I just answer so we can move along.
If someone asks me who my favorite rock/pop artist is, I'll usually be Brandi Carlile, but I feel weird because Springsteen, Elton John, The Four Tops, The Spinners, and so many other artists I hold close to my heart.
What is my favorite food to cook and eat?
I love eating sushi and fried chicken, but I don't cook either of those things. I like cooking pasta sauce and salmon, but those are not my favorite foods to eat. It's interesting because when I think about this question, unlike most questions about favorites, there is a single answer that comes to mind: rice.
Let's start with the magic and wonder of cooking rice. This video by Adam Liaw lays out how to cook rice the best way.
There are two ways to cook rice, the rice cooker, and the stovetop method. I prefer doing it the stovetop way. However, there's nothing against using a rice cooker. Millions of Asian people worldwide use rice cookers for cooking steamed rice. Whichever method you choose, cooking rice starts with washing off the excess starch. I love doing this.
I remember the sound of the water falling out of the rice pot as my dad washed the rice, reaching in as a young child feeling the rice between my fingers, and seeing the water transform from cloudy to clear. Cleaning rice is like holding a baby. You need to do it with care, but there also needs to be some strength and purpose as you work. The sound of the water, the feeling of the rice, the water is becoming clear. It hits almost all of the senses.
Putting the rice in a rice cooker, walking away, and having the house filled with the smell of rice is all good. I prefer the stovetop. Why? Because it's magical. You don't have to use exact measurements, and the rice tells you what it needs. There's no measuring cup to determine how much water you put in the rice. Instead, you use the joint method, one of the most ubiquitous but seemingly magical Chinese secrets. As you let the evaporate, you see little holes and geysers form, which tell it's time to turn down the heat and cover the pot. Turn it down to low for thirteen minutes, and then five minutes with the heat off, fluff the rice gently, cover for another minute, and then you have the most perfect food.
I throw in a pinch of salt for seasoning, a tablespoon of coconut oil to lighten up the flavor of the rice, and a splash of vinegar to make the rice more fluffy. Sometimes I put in different kinds of seasoning like garlic powder or other types of fat like sesame oil. However, I don't want to add anything that will mask the flavor of the rice.
Cooking rice on the stove takes a careful eye, so you know when to turn it down to cover it, and it asks you to let go as it steams when it's covered. I love how cooking rice this way is not about precise measurements or times but about feelings, instincts, and experience.
Well-cooked steamed rice is magical. It's light but has body. It's sticky but is defined, and it has a beautiful flavor but also can take on and enhance other flavors.
Rice connects us to people worldwide as it is the most eaten food on the planet.
A bowl of steamed rice is the ultimate comfort food, and the process of cooking rice well reminds me of home, who I am, and where I come from.
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