Adding Flavor to Rice

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I hope my Asian friends will forgive me for saying this but, on its own, rice can be pretty boring stuff. I like to improve it a little.

I don’t quite go to the extremes of adding whole chilis like the hill tribes people of Burma, but red or yellow bell pepper improves both the look and the flavor. It helps with the texture too. You just chop it up and chuck it in the cooking liquid along with the rice.

Cooking rice in stock also helps things along, while adding cardamom seeds gives a really exotic touch. To get at the seeds you just crack open the dry pods by hitting them with the flat of a knife blade. Discard the pod shell or use it to flavor stock.

You can add any flavor you like to rice in this way, including such things as cinnamon, ground coriander seeds, ground ginger, fennel, caraway seeds, turmeric, saffron and chopped shallot.