Recipe: Yellow Rice

Lately I've been craving turmeric.  I'm not really sure why.  I don't think it's a pregnancy-related craving - I haven't been getting those, fortunately, and turmeric is a spice that I enjoy in sufficient quantities to justify buying very large quantities.  I recently made something, I can't even remember which previously-posted dish it was, that had turmeric in it and something about the smell and taste made me very happy indeed.  As a result, I've been looking for things to cook that have turmeric in them. 

I made another dish recently that specifically recommended being served with yellow rice.  I'm not sure what ilk of yellow rice would have suited, that wasn't specified.  I thought about it.  I could have very easily just added yellow food coloring to the cooking process, but that wouldn't have added any flavor at all.  Saffron would have been effective, but saffron is expensive and I was concerned that the flavor would be drowned out by the stronger flavors of the dish I made this to accompany.  Right.  Turmeric it was.

It seems kind of lame to be writing this up as a recipe, but I figured what the heck.  After all, it worked better than I could have expected.  Not only did the rice cook up in a simply stunning shade of yellow, it also gave me exactly what I was craving: turmeric.  There wasn't too much turmeric, there wasn't too little.  It was just right. 

Turmeric Rice (serves 4; approx. $0.23/serving)

1 cup basmati rice

1 generous teaspoon turmeric

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch kosher salt

Boiling water

Equipment:

• Fine strainer
• Saucepan with a lid

1. Start your water boiling.  It's hard to give an exact quantity.  You want enough to cover the rice in the pan by a good inch or so.
2. Wash the rice by whatever means you usually do so.  I usually put it in a fine mesh strainer and rinse it until the water runs clear.  This probably seems like an unnecessary step if you're used to the boil-in-bag variety, but even the highest-quality basmati rice has a lot of excess starch on it.  That starch will become a vile glop when cooking if not removed, your rice will stick together unpleasantly and you will be filled with shame.  Besides, you have to do something while waiting for the water to boil, right?  (For the record, I'm not denigrating the boil-in-bag variety of rice.  It's a great timesaver on a weeknight, and I ate a LOT of it growing up.) 
3. Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat. 
4. Add the turmeric and mix very well.  There should be no little yellow lumps.
5. Add the rice and saute until the rice is very well coated with the pan mixture.  The turmeric makes it easy to tell when this has happened!
6. Add boiling water to cover to 1/2".  Bring the rice up to a boil, then cover, lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and let stand 30 minutes, covered.
8. Serve. 

Comments

[Jeff]

Tumeric I feel guilty because I never use a lot of it. I mostly just throw it in a dish out of guilt.

Reminds me of most good Chinese restaurants around here that have the perfect yellow rice thanks to tumeric.