3 Techniques to Instantly Upgrade Your Rice

Summary

The video shows three rice dish recipes that go beyond basic sides to become flavorful main courses. The first is a rice pilaf made nutty and toasty by frying pasta and rice in butter before simmering in stock. The second is a vibrant Sofrito rice, packed with onions, peppers, and cilantro, baked to impart richness. The third is an Iranian crispy saffron rice, soaked and parboiled before being fried into a crunchy golden brown dome with intense popcorn-like texture and flavor.

Takeaways

• 😋 Makes 3 rice dishes - rice pilaf, Sofrito rice, Persian tadig
• 🧅 Uses lots of aromatics like onions, garlic, cilantro to add flavor
• 🍚 Rices include Jasmine, angel hair pasta, Basmati
• 🌾 Rinsing rice removes excess starch for better texture
• 🍲 Frying raw rice in fat helps separate grains
• 🥘 Sofrito rice gets flavor from fresh salsa-like mixture
• 🔥 Bakes Sofrito rice for added flavor
• 🌷 Saffron gives great flavor and color to tadig
• 🧺 Boiling and brining helps make tadig rice sturdy
• 🍿 Flipping and frying makes crispy tadig

Q & A

What are the three rice dish recipes presented in the video?

The three rice dish recipes are rice pilaf, Sofrito rice, and Persian tadig.

Why does the recipe boil the rice like pasta before making the tadig?

Boiling the rice like pasta before making the tadig helps hydrate the rice grains so they can stand up to being stirred and fried when cooking the tadig.

What gives the rice pilaf most of its signature nutty flavor?

Frying the angel hair pasta in butter toasts the starch inside, which gives the pilaf most of its signature nutty flavor.

What does the recipe use instead of a food processor if you don't have one?

If you don't have a food processor, you can use a knife to break down the Sofrito ingredients. It will take about 5 minutes of elbow grease but can be done.

Why does the recipe soak the rice in salt water before cooking the tadig?

Soaking the rice in salt water helps achieve the proper texture for the tadig. The brine also removes the brownish tint from the raw rice.

Why is evenly browning the tadig crucial when cooking it?

Evenly browning the tadig is crucial to prevent burnt or undercooked spots. You must move the pan every 3-5 minutes while cooking.

What kitchen tools are best for cooking these rice dishes?

A heavy-bottomed pot like a Dutch oven transfers heat slowly and evenly, which is best. Non-stick pans are also useful for getting crispy textures.

How does baking the Sofrito rice in the oven impact flavor?

Baking imparts nice roasty, Maillard browning flavors into the Sofrito rice that you can't get from just stovetop cooking.

Why squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice over the finished rice dishes?

The acid from citrus juices brings brightness and lifts the flavor of the rice, cutting through the richness.

What role does butter play in cooking these tasty rice dishes?

Butter adds rich flavor and allows you to fry or toast the rice and other ingredients, developing deeper nutty tastes.

Outlines

00:00

🍚 Making rice pilaf with toasted pasta for nutty flavor

The first paragraph describes making rice pilaf by grating onion and garlic, frying angel hair pasta in butter to toast it, adding rinsed rice to fry, then adding chicken stock. This process gives a nutty flavor and chewy rice texture. Lemon and parsley finish it.

05:03

🌶️ Cooking Sofrito rice with aromatic veggies and tomatoes

The second paragraph makes Sofrito rice by processing onion, poblano, garlic, cilantro and cumin. This is fried with rice then tomato paste, chicken stock and tomato sauce are added to simmer and bake, developing rich flavor. Lime and cilantro finish it.

10:03

🍿 Crispy Persian tadig rice with saffron and fried crust

The third paragraph makes tadig rice by brining and boiling basmati rice with saffron. This is fried in olive oil and butter to create a crispy crust in a pan on the stove. The result has a texture like popcorn with robust saffron flavor.

Keywords

💡rice

Rice is the main ingredient used in all three recipes in the video. It provides the base that the other ingredients and techniques build upon to create flavorful rice dishes. Different types like jasmine, basmati, and medium grain are used.

💡technique

Unique techniques like brining, boiling, frying, and baking are applied to the rice to radically transform its texture and flavor. For example, brining and boiling the rice for the tadig gives it very strong, separate grains.

💡aromatics

Aromatics like onions, garlic, peppers, cilantro etc. are added to the rice dishes to provide background flavor. They are often finely grated or processed to a paste-like texture.

💡crispy

Crispiness is a desired texture in dishes like the tadig. Frying techniques are used to achieve a crispy browned exterior while keeping the interior rice flakes tender.

💡flavor base

Better than Bouillon products are used to quickly add savory flavor to the cooking liquid. Bases provide deep chicken, beef or other flavor when broths may lack intensity.

💡texture

The recipes aim to create rice with an exceptionally toothsome, chewy texture with separate, intact grains.

💡cook times

Specific cook times are provided for steps like simmering, baking, and frying the rice to ensure properly swollen, tender grains.

💡saffron

Saffron provides intensely floral, herbal flavor notes to the tadig. It is bloomed in hot water then folded into par-cooked rice for maximum flavor.

💡starchy

Excess starch on the rice can lead to gluey, mushy results. Rinsing and soaking helps remove starch for nicely separated whole grains.

💡steam

Controlling steam is key for the crispy tadig crust to form. Holes poked in the rice allow steam to escape rather than re-wetting the surface.

Highlights

Recipe for rice pilaf that redefines how good rice can taste

Frying rice in fat pre-gelatinizes starch for more separate, chewy grains

Puerto Rican Sofrito rice uses lots of fresh aromatics and cilantro

Baking Sofrito rice adds nice roasty Maillard browning

Persian tadig rice has crazy crispy texture like saffron popcorn

Soaking and boiling rice hydrates grains to stand up to frying

Blooming saffron intensifies flavor and color

Frying tadig rice low and slow develops texture and flavor

Wrapping pan lid in towel absorbs steam for crispy tadig

Pan choice and movement are critical for evenly crisped tadig

Rice pilaf has signature nutty flavor from fried pasta

Sofrito base is quick way to add flavorful broth

New culinary flavors expand better than bouillon range

Brining rice before tadig improves texture

Recipes and techniques to inspire cooking rice at home

Transcripts

what's up today I'm going to show you

three well-tested recipes for perfectly

cooked delicious rice dishes that aren't

just sides but are the main event the

last of which has both the craziest

texture and the deepest flavor of any

rice dish I've ever had oh baby look at

that

it smells like movie theater popcorn too

first up is a deceptively simple rice

dish that will redefine how good you

thought rice could be I'm talking about

rice pilaf to get started I'll grab a

whole peeled onion and then grate it on

the largest whole sides of my box grater

this gives the onions a super small form

factor that essentially melts them into

the background of the dish next I'll

grab four to five large garlic cloves

and then smash those through my garlic

press these should have just about the

same meltable texture as the onions and

in total I need 100 grams of onion and

20 grams of garlic next I'll need some

pasta I've got angel hair here because

it's cook time is roughly equal to that

of the rice you could go for spaghetti

as well but you'll need a touch more

liquid and maybe a couple extra minutes

of cook time now I'm going to take 75

grams of this angel hair and snap it in

a roughly one inch pieces the pasta part

of this pilaf is surprisingly what gives

this dish most of its signature nutty

flavor mainly because of how it's cooked

but more on that in just a second once

I've got all 75 gram terms of this pasta

snapped down I'll grab the main event

the rice for peel off I prefer a classic

Jasmine style rice because it's fragrant

it Cooks evenly and it Cooks in a

predictable amount of time now to prep

this rice for the pot I'll rinse it

thoroughly with cold water to remove as

much of the excessive starch on the

outside as possible for this dish extra

starch is mucho bad it will lead to a

gluey mushy result and once the water is

running clear like this I'm good to go

now let's cook this thing my cooking

vessel of choice for this dish is a

heavy bottom pot I'm using a six and a

half quart dutch oven here but anything

that transfers heat slowly and evenly to

food will work totally fine and once

it's hot it goes 75 grams of butter I'll

let that melt then in goes my broken

angel hair pasta from here I'll fry it

in the butter for about two to three

minutes over medium heat I'm looking to

toast the starch inside this pasta until

it's taken on a light chestnut color

this toasted pasta and lightly browned

butter are going to team up to provide

the backbone of flavor for this dish

next I'll add in all of my rinsed rice

then stir to combine and Fry this for

another two to three minutes making sure

not to take this pasta from deliciously

Brown to burnt and bitter by the way

frying the raw rice in fat like this pre

gelatinizes some of the exterior starch

that gives us more individualized rice

grains that stand out in the final dish

and have a denser slightly chewier

texture now once this rice is fried

until translucent I'll add in my onions

and garlic 12 grams of salt and then

I'll jump in and give everything a quick

stir to get things cooking from here

I'll give these aromatics another three

to four minutes to soften them over a

gentle medium heat now once these onions

are sweat like this I'll come back and

add in 20 grams of better than bouillon

roasted chicken base because the 650

grams of store-bought chicken stock that

I'm adding in right now doesn't have

very much chicken flavor at all it's

mainly useful as a vegetable stock it's

kind of like a mirepoix flavored tea

next I'll bring things up to a gentle

simmer then turn the heat down to low

pop on a lid and then set a timer for 15

minutes and after a 15 minute simmer

over low heat I'll come back kill the

Heat and set a timer for 10 more minutes

at this point do not open the lid once

the lid is down it needs to stay down to

allow the rice to swell slowly and

evenly and after 25 minutes of cook time

I'll come back and take a quick look oh

my God that smells so good now I'll just

flip this rice a little bit so that I

can cool it off and slow down the

cooking then I'll finish by adding in a

long squeezer of fresh lemon juice then

a couple dashes of chopped fresh parsley

finally I'll just fold all that together

gently making sure not to smush up this

perfectly cooked rice it's tender but

too some and just a little bit chewy

it's so toasty and nutty but it's still

bright you got the parsley and a little

bit of lemon in there and dude it's just

shockingly delicious tasting rice it's

perfect

um okay up next is a vibrant sharp edged

Puerto Rican dish that uses a ton of

fresh aromatics and cilantro it's called

Sofrito rice to make it I'll grab my

food processor and combine 250 grams of

very roughly chopped onion 75 grams of

chunked up poblano pepper 20 grams of

garlic 20 grams of cilantro and then 5

grams of cumin next I'll just spin that

up for about 20 to 30 seconds or until

the veggies are chopped down into a

small but coarse texture it should look

almost like a fresh salsa but bruh I

don't have a food processor what the

heck bro well you could definitely use a

knife to break this down it will take

about five minutes of elbow grease in

you can do it now once my Sofrito is all

chopped up I'll grab 400 grams of rice

for this dish I'm using a chunky medium

grain rice because I really like its

creamy starchy texture I find it absorbs

the tomatoey cooking liquid a lot better

than longer thinner rice that stuff gets

kind of brittle and breaks down when

cooked in a thicker broth like we are

for this dish next same as before I'll

just give this rice a quick rinse to

remove any excessive starch now to cook

this thing I'll grab my Dutch oven yet

again and drop it over medium heat once

it's hot it goes 50 grams of olive oil

then all 400 grams of my rinsed rice now

for the same reason as I did for the

pilaf I'm going to fry this rice in the

fat to help establish separate singular

grains that stand out texturally from

one another in the final dish this is

especially important for this starchy

medium grain rice it can get a little

bit clumpy next in goes all of my

chopped Sofrito and then 12 grams of

salt from here I'll stir in the Sofrito

and then cook it down for five to six

minutes I want to soften the onions and

peppers here and cook off some of the

raw edge of the herb and garlic I also

want to cook off excessive onion water

because there's a lot of it and that

will make our rice soggy and overcooked

next in goes 30 grams of tomato paste

I'll stir that in and then fry it with

the aromatic so that I can open up its

flavor that'll take about 2-3 mins it

and once the paste has reached this

beautiful Rusty color I'll add in 550

grams of chicken stock then one small

can or 225 grams of tomato sauce of

course if you don't want to make your

own fresh Sofrito from scratch you can

sub in this Sofrito base from the

sponsor of this video better than

bouillon you guys I've been using better

than bouillon products in my recipes on

this channel for forever basically

better than bouillon better than better

than bouillon better than better than

bouillon beef paste aside from this

delicious and cool Sofrito base better

than bouillon's roasted chicken and

roasted beef bases are my favorite

products to make a quick flavorful broth

but you can also use them as a general

flavor enhancer as I've done many many

times on this channel recently better

than bouillon has added the culinary

collection into the mix with four new

and might I say fun flavors that are

super delicious and just as easy to use

they've got Italian herb Smoky Chipotle

adobo and the Sofrito base that I

mentioned earlier you can find all the

the major flavors of better than

bouillon in the soup aisle of most

grocery stores but go to better than

bouillon.com and you'll have access to

all of the hot specialty flavors they

got mushroom base sauteed onion base and

lobster base to try these things head to

better than bouillon.com and use my

promo code Brian at checkout for free

shipping again that's code Brian for

free shipping back at the stove I'm

gonna bring this stock and tomato sauce

up to a simmer then I'll pop on a lid

lower the pot into a 350f oven and bake

it for 20 minutes the oven is going to

impart some nice roasty my art Browning

into this rice dish that you just can't

get when you're cooking on the stovetop

and after 20 minutes I'll pull this pot

out of the oven and let it sit no don't

open the lid bro just let it sit cover

it for 15 minutes so the rice can finish

cooking and after 35 minutes of total

time I'll pop the lid and take a look oh

as you can see this rice has a beautiful

dark reddish orange color the grains are

distinctly separate and aren't broken or

most at all to finish I'll drizzle in a

little squeezer of fresh lime juice then

I'll add in roughly 10 grams of chopped

fresh cilantro the acid and the herbs

here are going to bring some brightness

and Life to an otherwise pretty dark and

very intense dish and there we go this

may look like a humble Latin rice dish

but this stuff is sharp spicy and has an

intensity to it that you rarely see in

rice dishes

you can taste every single granule of

rice it's tomatoey and it's also a

little bit spicy and is way better than

anything you've had at Taco Bell or a

Mexican restaurant it's so fresh

now the last rice recipe uses some

pretty weird techniques that I've

actually never used before and the final

result is texturally the most

interesting rice dish I've ever eaten oh

my God that is so crispy of course I'm

talking about the Persian dish tadig

this dish starts with 400 grams of long

grain Basmati style rice bonus points if

you go to the international grocery

store and get some of the imported

Iranian stuff that's what I have here

and it's what I call extra long grain

rice once it's cooked it holds itself

together really well for being so skinny

now to start I'll give this long grain

rice a quick rinse to remove the

excessive starch then I'll cover it with

a fresh layer of water about a liters

Worth or a thousand grams then I'll add

in 10 grams of salt and stir everything

to combine and then I'll brine this rice

for one hour that's right I said brine

rice that's something that I've actually

never done before but I found out that

it's essential for getting the texture

of this rice right you'll see why in

just a second one hour later this rice

has absorbed some of that brown line and

now it's white not that brownish tint

that we started with next I'll drain off

all that starchy salt water then grab a

large pot of water and drop it on the

stove to bring it up to a boil while

that comes up I'll prepare the main

seasoning ingredient for this dish

saffron I'm a huge fan of the earthy

sweet delicate floral pretty flavor of

saffron yes that's a lot of adjectives

but saffron is freaking complicated and

it needs all of them to get started here

I'm going to grab the better part of a

gram and then drop it into a mortar and

pestle from here I'll grind that down

into a saffron powder this is going to

open up the aroma and help it dissolve

into the hot water that we add in just a

second over at the stove this water is

up to a ripping simmer so to bloom out

this saffron I'll scoop about 100 grams

or about a half cup of water right out

of the pot and then drop it into the

mortar I'll let this Bloom out for about

five minutes while I cook my rice now

over at the pot of water I'm gonna add

in a lot of salt I want this water to

taste pretty freaking salty like not

quite ocean salty but like the level of

salty that your wife gets when you

accidentally drop chocolate on the couch

and then smush it in with your butt once

salted in goes all of my brined rice

from here I'll boil this rice like pasta

for three minutes boiling this combined

with the soak hydrates this rice in a

way that gives us super strong grains

that can stand up to being stirred and

fried now after three minutes of boiling

this rice like pasta I'll drain off all

of the water then flip the rice into a

medium bowl from there I'll add in my

saffron water and then gently fold all

of that together at this point the rice

is like 95 percent cooked and is

saturated with that beautiful vibrant

saffron Flavor now to crisp it up I'll

grab a 10 inch non-stick pan and drop it

on the stove over medium heat once

that's hot in goes a long squiggle of

olive oil then 75 grams of butter next

in goes all of my saffron rice I'll come

back and spread that out in the pan

making sure to get that Rice spread as

flat as possible once the rice is all

spread out I'll come back and poke it

with the button of my spatula to make

about 10 three quarters of an inch holes

these allow steam to escape and helps

keep this rice from overcooking and

getting mushy once I'm all poked up I'm

going to take the lid of this saute pan

and wrap it tightly with a tea towel

this is going to help keep the rice from

drying out and it's going to absorb the

steam that comes off the rice so it

doesn't drip back into the pan ruining

the crispiness so once I got this tea

towel secured like this I'll drop the

towel lid on the pan then lower the heat

to low and Fry this rice for 25 to 30

minutes crucially every three to five

minutes you need to come back and move

the pan so that you can get even

Browning I learned this the hard way

more than once you gotta keep it moving

you guys also if you're wondering hey

Bry can I do this in a heavy bottom pot

like a dutch oven yes you can

technically but it's much harder to get

right I did this three times in a dutch

oven and two of them did not work

ah if that's all you got though give it

a shot and after 30 minutes of slowly

patiently moving the saute pan around my

stove it's time to check on the rice I

like to determine doneness here mainly

by smelling the rice should have a

distinct toasty smell that is verging on

popcorn also the edges should have

separated from the pan a little bit and

you should be able to see some Browning

there that's also a good barometer now

we go for the Moment of Truth to see if

I did this correctly the third time I'm

going to put something flat over the pan

here and then I'm going to press it down

as hard as I can and flip this over

keeping that pressure the whole time so

that it doesn't fall apart be really

careful for this part

okay it flipped out cleanly oh baby okay

I'm so nervous did I get it right is it

brown but not burnt oh

yeah and that's a beauty of a rice dish

you guys we've got a crispy Dome and

some nice golden brown color

oh my God

that is so crispy it tastes like

saffroni movie theater popcorn and the

crunch is actually very similar to like

a partially popped popcorn kernel I've

spent the better part of a day figuring

out this recipe so I'm very confident in

this technique I tried three other ways

that didn't work super great this is the

way anyone can make this and it's so

delicious so that's three very good

tasting rice dishes along with some

special techniques that I hope give you

the confidence to make great tasting

rice let me know in the comments which

one of these dishes you're gonna make

sometime soon and if you want to see

another video packed with tested recipes

and interesting techniques check out

this video for pan sauces it'll really

change the way you think about cooking

fancy dinner at home see you there