January 2019

The best rice ever is hkaka rice. I leant this recipe from my father in law, who was born in the Middle East and lived there for the first 45 years of his life.

You will need:

A small but deep saucepan

2 cups of basmati rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

Knob of butter

Method:

Rinse dry rice until the water runs clear then cover and soak in water for 30 minutes.

Rinse again and put in the pan, cover with water, boil for about 5 minutes, needs to be firm still. Drain again, in a sieve.

Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil, until quite hot.

Add the drained rice and leave on a high heat for several minutes, without touching it.

Put a few ‘dots’ of butter on top of the rice.

Keep an eye on the rice as you do not want it to burn but you want to start to form a nice crust on the bottom of the pan.

As soon as you see steam rising from the top of the rice, turn the heat down to the lowest setting you have and cover.

Cook for a minimum of 1 hour and 30 minutes, checking constantly that it isn’t burning on the bottom. You can do this by removing the lid and smelling the steam. You will smell if it is burning.

When cooked, turn out onto a large plate or serving dish.