* The Cooking of Rice *

Listen, this is how rice should be cooked and once and for all remember what you are told.

First of all, you need the so called "fragrant" rice in plastic bag, unbranded that you (can) buy in Vietnamese (or Asian) food shops.

This rice must be washed. Even more reason to wash the rice with a brand name that is well packed and praised on TV. It must be washed several times, rub fine in your hands and under water to remove the rest of the dust that surrounds it and also to get rid of the smell of jute bag - the smell of cargo - which is that of oil.

Smell the rice washed and smell the unwashed rice, you will see the difference.
Wash the rice between four and seven times to be sure.

To cook the rice do as follows:

Put the washed rice in cold water using the following unchangeable (holy) measures: 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. For 4 centiliters of rice, put eight cl of cold water: It's all there (meaning: we can start now).

Boil the rice and then put it on your smallest burner using a heat diffuser. Cover the pan hermetically.

Check the rice after a few minutes, if it's too dry add a bit of cold water, stir,  even out and let it cook again.

It's very fast. A total of five minutes or maybe less. In Indochina is done in clay pots. The pots are not touched during cooking. A sort of burnt rice cake will form at the bottom of the pot, that children eat with molasses.

Another tip: Avoid to buy frozen rice.