How rice is cooked in different countries is more than a technique; it steams into people’s cultures, traditions, and palettes.
Behind corn, rice is the second-most eaten staple food in the world. There are more than 90,000 varieties of rice, and just under half are cultivated for consumption. Small wonder there is a cornucopia of rice-based dishes and cooking techniques.
Thanks to this diversity, nations and regions have developed their own rice preferences and styles over the centuries. Whether you use chopsticks, a fork, or your hands to eat rice, tuck into this appetizing feast about worldwide rice dishes and cooking techniques.
How Rice Is Cooked in Different Countries: The Harvest
First, what is rice? Well, this fantastic plant is a grass on which half the world’s population is dependent. We eat about 95% of all the rice grown worldwide, either as a starchy, edible grain or milled into flour.
The grass grows well in submerged land, like river deltas. Humans have created their own deltas with paddy fields, famous in many pictures of Asian rural life. First, seedlings grow and are then transplanted to submerged lands after 25-50 days. After optimal growth, farmers drain the fields and harvest the grass.
The rice grains, known as the grass’s fruits, grow inside a cluster of spikes at the plant’s head. The grain’s husk is then removed to leave the rice we recognize.
China is the world’s largest rice producer, followed by India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.
What Are the 10 Most Popular Categories of Rice?
The Top 10 common types of rice you’ll see in stores include:
- Multi-purpose long-grain rice
- Easy cook rice, which has gone through a steaming process to reduce the chances of overcooking
- Risotto or arborio rice
- Basmati rice, a long grain rice whose name means fragrant
- Brown rice, or wholegrain rice, a minimally milled rice with extra fiber and vitamins
- Jasmine rice from Thailand with a soft and sticky texture
- Multi-colored Japonica rice that’s moist and popular in Japanese cooking and the U.S.
- Bomba rice, which features in Spain’s famous paella dish
- Short grain rice whose almost circular shape endears it to puddings
- Originario Italian rice, which absorbs fluids easily, making it perfect for soups, rice puddings, and oven-baked dishes
What Are the Primary Rice-Cooking Techniques?
Some cooks want light and fluffy rice, others crunchy and crispy, or maybe even a sticky finish.
Preparation usually includes washing the rice grains thoroughly until the water runs clear. Less washing results in more starch and increases the cooked rice’s stickiness. Some rice needs soaking for 10-30 minutes before cooking.
The rice cooker is ubiquitous in Asian kitchens. Simply add the required rice, water, and salt, and let the machine prepare perfect rice every time.
Boiling on the stove replicates this technique. Check each rice’s cooking instructions, but, in general, add two cups of salted water to each cup of rice and mix. Bring to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes, covering the pot partially with a lid. Remove from the heat and leave for 5-10 minutes. Add olive oil or butter to taste and fluff with a fork.
Pro tip: Many Filipinos use a time-honored trick to measure the water-to-rice ratio. Add the washed rice to a pot. Place your index finger on top of the rice and perpendicular to it. Add water until the water reaches the first line, or joint, on the finger.
Oven-cooked rice requires the oven to be preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Boil water (using the appropriate rice/water ratio), add the rice, then transfer the water and rice to a baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes, leave to rest for 10 minutes, fluff the rice, and serve.
Some people steam their rice, placing rice in water-filled bowls. These bowls sit covered for 20 minutes on a steaming rack over boiling water, plus five more minutes in the same position but without any heat. Serve immediately.
You can also cook rice in microwaves and instant pots.
Pilaf rice is a cooking technique where the rice is sautéed with seasonings and aromatics before cooking. Pilaf rice may be browned in oil or broth, to which vegetables or meat are added later.
How Rice Is Cooked in Different Countries: Recipes
From the Middle East to Europe to Asia to Canada, rice is vital to many people’s diets. These are some of the most popular and famous rice dishes from around the world.
Chinese Congee and Stir-Fried Rice
China’s rice repertoire is endless, with stir-fried rice perhaps its most famous export. Shrimp paste fried rice (Khao kluk kapi) is one of the tastiest available.
Another classic dish is congee or Chinese rice porridge. This usually savory recipe comes from cooking rice in copious amounts of water until the rice decomposes and makes a thick pudding-like paste. Congee accompanies many meat, fish, and spiced dishes and occasionally comes as a sweet. It’s very popular for breakfast and given to people recovering from illness.
Qǐng màn yòng, as the Chinese say, for bon appetit!
Japan’s Love Affair with Rice
Saki, Japan’s famous rice wine, rice vinegar, and sushi, shows the country’s appetite for rice-based food and drink. Most meals feature rice.
Sushi bars serve dishes using sumeshi rice, while the famous Japanese dessert mochi consists of slightly sweet-tasting mochigome rice. The country’s most popular rice is a sticky short-grain rice called koshihikari rice that graces sushi, onigiri (white rice balls wrapped in nori), and other foods.
Itadakimasu! Or “I humbly receive” is the phrase to say when served food in Japan.
Thailand’s Fragrant Jasmine and Sticky Rice
Jasmine rice, cooked with one-and-half cups of water to every cup of rice, forms the backbone of the Thai culinary experience, available as a side dish to almost everything.
Tellingly, jasmine rice is a short-grain glutinous rice; that means it’s sticky when cooked. The fabulous mango sticky rice pudding uses jasmine rice steamed with coconut milk and mangoes. Such texture takes time. The white rice soaks overnight in water before steaming.
Wild Canadians and Their Wild Rice
Canada may not be the first place that leaps into the mind when thinking about countries with rice traditions. But zizania rice, better known as wild rice, grows aplenty in Canadian lakes and streams as the country’s only native grain species.
Wild rice grains vary in color, from black to white and everything in between. Canadian rice is usually a side dish throughout Canuck country.
Sweet and Savoury Rice in the Philippines
The national dish in the Philippines is adobo. Meat marinated in soy sauce, black peppercorns, garlic, and vinegar is served alongside white rice. What Filipinos also do well is a sweet rice called champorado. This rice porridge sees boiled sticky rice mixed with sugar and milk to create a delicious snack, doubling as a breakfast or dessert.
Risotto Rice: Shaken and Not Stirred?
The Italians are famous for their risottos, with many choosing the firm grain and high starch content of Carnaroli rice as their base. Once the rice is added to the dish’s base, cooks must regularly add broth to the rice during the cooking process.
Food is a hot topic in Italy. People can talk for hours about the relative merits of their cooking techniques, and risotto is no different. Some chefs add all the water at once and leave the ingredients to do their magic, saying that not stirring protects the rice’s integrity.
Risotto alla Milanese from Lombardy in northern Italy is a classic featuring beef broth, shallots, saffron, and white wine. Many cooks will use arborio short-grain rice. Buon appetito!
Iranians Love Burnt Rice
Have you ever overcooked your meal? Maybe Iran is the place for you as rice is a little different there.
The holy grail of Persian cooking is tahdig, which translates as “bottom of the pot.” Basmati rice combines with saffron and oil and is steamed until it burns underneath. Enthusiasts want to taste saffron’s musky aroma alongside that crunch. Some people add potatoes, raw eggs, or yogurt to achieve the perfect result.
West Africa’s One-Pot Jollof Rice
Jollof rice comes in many guises across its West Africa heartland. Jollof rice is a punchy rice dish cooked in a single pot.
Cooks blend basmati or jasmine rice with tomatoes, spices, onions, and vegetables. Fish or meat, including goat, beef, or chicken, add to its hearty nature. Shito sauce adds a spicy kick to jollof, cooked in one pot, sometimes in the oven or over a smoking fire for extra flavor.
Senegal chefs make thieboudienne, fish, rice, and tomato sauce. Don’t be fooled; its apparent simplicity belies its deliciousness.
Rice and Hamburgers? That’ll Be Hawaii
Contemporary Hawaiian cuisine likes to push boundaries, no more so than with its Loco Moco dish.
A bed of white rice lies underneath a hamburger and a fried egg, slathered in a meat-based gravy. It may sound a little basic, but its popularity suggests it’s a winner-winner, white-rice dinner.
Bibimbap: Korean Rice Dish Explained
Bap means cooked rice in Korean, while bibim translates to mixing, giving us mixed rice. Fortunately, bibimbap is straightforward to make and a staple food in Korea.
A bowl of white rice comes with vegetables, soy sauce, a red chili paste called gochujang, and a grass-type vegetable called namul. Beef or a fried egg may also find its way into the bowl, which is then mixed and enjoyed.
India’s Oven-Cooked Biryani Dishes
Indians love rice: white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, rice pudding. Rice is one of India’s most important staple foods.
Basmati rice grows in the Indian north, at the foothills of the Himalayas, whose mountain breezes perhaps explain basmati’s fragrant nature. This rice is famous for not sticking and clumping.
One of the most popular Indian dishes is biryani, where flavored basmati rice combines with meat or fish and vegetables and is cooked in an oven. The rice absorbs the different flavors to produce a mouthwatering meal. Eggs and potatoes may also be added.
Indian rice pudding is hugely popular with raisins, pistachios, almonds, and cardamom.
Denmark and Its Christmas Rice Pudding
Not to be outdone, the Danes have their own rice pudding called risengrød. Traditionally served around Christmas, people often make large batches to last the festive period.
White rice is boiled with milk and salt and then sweetened with sugar, butter, and cinnamon.
Risengrød later becomes risalamande, a delicious Christmas pudding. Vanilla, whipped cream, and almonds are added to risengrød to make the risalamande.
What’s the National Dish of Indonesia?
Indonesians love nasi goreng, a fried rice dish set apart from other nations’ versions thanks to its sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) and Indonesian shrimp paste base (terasi).
Rice takes on a dark, caramelized hue thanks to the kecap manis, and people fry in meat, vegetables, and sauces. A fried egg goes atop a nasi goreng with an accompanying tomato and cucumber salad.
Good taste rarely has boundaries: you’ll also find nasi goreng in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.
Valencia’s Proud Paella Traditions Explained
One of the most famous rice dishes in the world is paella, considered by some to be Spain’s national dish.
Paella means pan, and the cooking pot’s shape is as essential to the dish as the bomba rice grown locally and used in paella. A large, shallow paella pan, traditionally heated over a wood fire, starts the process.
Bomba rice cooks alongside saffron and paprika. Every paellera has their own recipe; some add seafood, while others may feature chicken, rabbit, and white and runner beans. What is most highly prized is the socorrat, a crunchy, slightly burned crust that develops at the base of the pan.
Some Spaniards are relaxed about what goes into a paella, calling it arroz con cosas or “rice with things.” But beware! British chef Jamie Oliver caused a national outcry when he put another Spanish delicacy, chorizo, into a paella, with accusations of committing a crime. However you cook it, buen provecho!
Why Is Spanish Rice from Mexico?
Mexicans make a beautiful side dish called arroz rojo, or red rice. Sautéed tomatoes, garlic, and onion are added to white rice along with chicken broth. The resulting colorful and tasty plate comes as a side in many Mexican restaurants.
There are two myths to dispel with this red rice. First, arroz rojo is not Spanish or called Spanish rice. Spanish rice comes from incorrectly attributing a Spanish-language dish to Mexico. And secondly, no, they don’t put arroz rojo in burritos in Mexico. Burritos are a Tex-Mex thing.
Rice Isn’t Just Nice – It Ties Us All Together
The humble rice grain, a reliable staple food, is not the most glamorous of cereals at first sight. Luckily, humans are ingenious and have learned many ways to turn rice into something delicious and delightful.
How rice is cooked in different countries shapes cultures, habits, and the dining experience. You could order the same food from the same chef in contrasting countries and be left with opposite experiences. How ever you enjoy this enduring food, it’s something that ties us all together.
All that’s left is to try rice in as many forms as possible. Bon appetit!
Brought to you by amigoenergy
All images licensed from Adobe Stock.