The Pleasure of Rice

A bowl of rice in one hand, a pair of chopsticks in the other, this is probably the most typical image of a Chinese at table. Yes, rice (米, mi) has played an irreplaceable role in Chinese kitchen for god knows how many years. From the south to the farthest north, from the east to the most remote west, this grain appears to be one of the staples in greatest demand at table. But don't be fooled by its simple appearance. You might be shocked to learn all the things people can make out of it.

The Cantonese add a lot more water to their rice cooker, bring it to a boil, embellish it with a touch of minced meat, sliced fish, even thousand-year-old eggs chopped, or whatever you can or can't think of, and transform it into something soup-like called a congee (粥, zhou ). The creative southern people in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou modified their rice to a revolutionary level. They transformed it into noodles: round or flat, thin or thick, fried or for soups (米粉, mi fen, or 河粉, he fen)...

Rice can serve as an ingredient in dishes: for example, by steaming it with seasoned meat balls (粉蒸肉, fen zheng rou); and it can also become a dessert if you fill up a lotus root with it, boil it and sweeten it up with some honey (糖藕, tang ou)... not to mention all the different cookies or bonbons made of rice starch... You can make your spring rolls with a rice wrapper; you can also mix your rice with other ingredients such as meat, egg yolks, beans, etc., and wrap it in some special leaves. It can also have a certain cultural glamour and turn into 粽子, zongzi, a specialty for the Dragon Boat Festival in May or June.

And don't forget the liquid form of this magic grain: rice wine. In many southern regions it remains a tradition for people to bury a pot of good rice wine in their garden near their house when they become parents of a new born girl. They don’t dig it up until it is time for a special celebration: their daughter’s wedding day.

But in my opinion the greatest invention in the kitchen before the dishwasher was fried rice. It rescues desperate housewives who are struggling with time or running out of ideas for new recipes for meals. You just heat up your wok, break in an egg, throw in the leftover rice from the past night and any other leftovers you have in your fridge. Spice it a bit, and top it off with whatever green herbs are around. Voilà, a successful meal is almost guaranteed.

This practice is so popular that we even have an expression that derives from it: to fry cold rice, 炒冷饭, chao leng fan, means to rehash old ideas without being innovative. While writing this text, my stomach started crying out in hunger. I, too, must quickly check what leftovers I still have for my fried rice. So talk to you later!