Putting It Together
Cooking Skills: Rice 2
Chapter 9 · Putting It Together
Skill goal
Plan, scale and time a multi-dish rice supper for guests, working backwards from serving time.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Cooking a single dish is a skill; cooking several for a table, all ready at about the same time, is another. This chapter is about planning. You will work backwards from the time you want to eat, choose dishes that don't all need the hob at once, do the cold things in advance, and give each rice dish its resting time.
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Work backwards from serving time | Rice needs rests built in, so plan them as steps |
| Choose different cooking methods | One sealed pot, one assembled by hand, one made ahead |
| Do the cold dishes first | Raita, salads and marinades improve and need no attention |
| Never hold rice warm for more than an hour | Serve it, or cool and refrigerate it (the cooked-rice rules from Rice 1) |
| Ask about allergies and diets | Shellfish, nuts, dairy and raw fish are common concerns for guests |
| Don't serve raw fish to vulnerable guests | Pregnant women, children under 5, people aged 65 and over, and anyone with a weakened immune system |
Try it
The menu is a four-dish supper for four, using recipes from this course: hand rolls to start, chicken biryani with raita and tomato salad as the main course, and coconut rice with mango to finish.
Course 1 · Starter
Hand rolls for four
A starter that cooks nothing at the last minute and keeps everyone busy. The rice is made ahead, seasoned and kept covered (see the timetable below).
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 130 g short-grain sushi rice, cooked and seasoned as in chapter 1, with the dressing made from 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar and ½ tsp salt
- 4 nori sheets, each cut in half
- 10 cm cucumber, cut into thin sticks
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 120 g hot-smoked salmon, in strips
- 4 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce, for dipping
- 1 tbsp wasabi and pickled ginger
- Lay out the rice, nori, fillings, soy sauce, wasabi and ginger in bowls on the table.
- Show your guests how to spread about 40 g of rice on a half-sheet of nori, add fillings, and roll into a cone (chapter 2).
- Eat at once. Throw away any sushi rice left after 1 hour at room temperature.
Course 2 · Main
Chicken biryani for four
The recipe from chapter 5, doubled. Use a very wide heavy casserole (26 to 28 cm) with a tight lid so the rice stays in a layer no more than 5 cm deep.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 300 g basmati rice
- 500 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3 cm pieces
- 200 g natural yoghurt
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp chilli powder or paprika
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 2.5 litres water, with 2 tsp salt, 6 cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves and 1 cinnamon stick, for par-boiling
- 4 tbsp chopped coriander
- 4 tbsp chopped mint
- 6 tbsp warm milk with a pinch of saffron (or ½ tsp turmeric)
- Marinate the chicken with the yoghurt, spices, ginger, garlic, lemon and salt in the fridge for at least 1 hour, up to 24 hours.
- Rinse and soak the rice for 20 minutes. Fry the onions in the oil for 12 to 15 minutes until golden, taking out a third for the top. Add the chicken and marinade and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, until nearly cooked through.
- Boil the rice in the spiced, salted water for 5 minutes and drain. Layer it over the chicken, then the onions, herbs and saffron milk.
- Seal with foil and the lid and cook on the lowest heat for 30 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes. Check the thickest piece of chicken is cooked through and white all over before serving.
Course 2 · Side
Raita and tomato salad
Cool, fresh dishes to balance a hot biryani. Both keep well in the fridge for a few hours.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 300 g natural yoghurt
- 10 cm cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
- 2 tbsp chopped mint
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ lemon, juiced
- Make the raita as in chapter 5 with the yoghurt, cucumber, mint and cumin; chill.
- Toss the tomatoes, onion and lemon juice with a pinch of salt in a bowl; chill.
Course 3 · Pudding
Coconut rice with mango for four
The sweet coconut rice from Cooking Skills: Rice 1, chapter 8, scaled up.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 240 g jasmine rice
- 480 ml light coconut milk
- 240 ml water
- 2 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 ripe mangoes, sliced
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- Rinse and drain the rice. Put it with the coconut milk, water, sugar and salt in a medium pan with a tight lid.
- Bring to the boil, stir once, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes with the lid on.
- Serve warm with the mango and a squeeze of lime.
The timetable
These times assume dinner at about 8 pm, and every one is adjustable. The aim is to see how the dishes fit together.
| Time | What to do |
|---|---|
| Morning | Marinate the chicken. Make the raita and tomato salad and chill them. |
| 5:45 pm | Rinse the sushi rice and soak for 30 minutes. |
| 6:15 pm | Cook the sushi rice (12 minutes), then rest for 10 minutes. |
| 6:40 pm | Season the rice with the vinegar dressing, fan it, and cover with a damp tea towel. It must be used by 7:40 pm. |
| 6:45 pm | Cut the cucumber, avocado and salmon and lay out the nori, soy sauce, wasabi and ginger. |
| 6:55 pm | Rinse and soak the basmati for 20 minutes. |
| 7:00 pm | Start the biryani: fry the onions (12 to 15 minutes), then add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes. |
| 7:20 pm | Par-boil the basmati (5 minutes), drain, layer, seal and cook on the lowest heat for 30 minutes. |
| 7:25 pm | Put the sushi on the table and serve the hand rolls as a starter, while the biryani steams. |
| 7:50 pm | Turn off the biryani and let it rest for 5 minutes. Start the coconut rice (15 minutes plus 10 resting). |
| 8:00 pm | Serve the biryani with the raita and tomato salad. |
| 8:25 pm | Serve the coconut rice and mango. |
Experiments
Experiment
Timing the dishes
Do a trial run before the guests arrive.
- Cook a one-person version of the supper (a quarter of each recipe) following the timetable.
- Write down the times that were wrong, and what you forgot to do.
- Adjust the timetable before you cook for real.
Look for: Which steps took longer than you expected? The usual culprits are soaking, chopping and washing up.
Experiment
Fresh or reheated biryani
Is biryani made ahead any good?
- Make a half-quantity of chicken biryani. Serve half at once.
- Cool the rest quickly, refrigerate within the hour, and reheat the next day with a splash of water, covered, until steaming hot all through.
Look for: Reheated biryani is slightly drier, but the flavours are often stronger. Eat reheated rice only once, and don't reheat it again.
Experiment
Your own fusion bowl
Combine two traditions.
- Choose a rice from one chapter and a topping, spice or sauce from another (for example, jollof rice with a fried egg, or sushi rice with a tomato-and-pepper sauce).
- Make it, taste it, and change one thing.
- Write the final version into your house recipes.
Look for: Which combinations surprise you? A good fusion keeps one idea from each tradition and not everything.
Your skills
| Skill | Chapter | I can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Cook and season sushi rice, and shape onigiri | 1 | ☐ |
| Roll hand rolls and maki, and make chirashi | 2 | ☐ |
| Make congee at the thickness I like | 3 | ☐ |
| Make a paella with a crust | 4 | ☐ |
| Par-boil and layer a biryani | 5 | ☐ |
| Make jollof with a thick, cooked-down base | 6 | ☐ |
| Cook rice with beans or lentils | 7 | ☐ |
| Stuff, roll and shape rice | 8 | ☐ |
| Plan a multi-dish meal around rice | 9 | ☐ |
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand rolls for four | ||||
| Chicken biryani for four | ||||
| Raita and tomato salad | ||||
| Coconut rice with mango | ||||
| Trial run | ||||
| Fresh vs reheated biryani | ||||
| My fusion bowl |
My house recipes
| My house recipe | Rice and method | Flavours and extras | How long | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| My sushi or rice-ball filling | ||||
| My one-pot rice | ||||
| My rice and beans | ||||
| My leftover rice dish | ||||
| My supper for guests |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Everything is ready at the wrong time | No timetable | Work backwards from serving; add the rests as steps |
| Sushi rice goes hard | Chilled or left too long | Make it last, and use it within the hour |
| Biryani is dry | Seal leaked or par-boil too short | Seal with foil; add a splash of hot water before the rest |
| Hob is too busy | Too many pan dishes | Choose a cold starter and a make-ahead side |
| Not enough food | Recipes were for 2 | Scale and use a larger pan, not a thicker rice layer |
| Leftovers pile up | Rice left out while eating | Pack leftover rice into the fridge within an hour |
Food safety: cooking for guests
Serve rice dishes within an hour of cooking, and refrigerate leftovers within an hour of serving, not the next morning. Keep cold dishes cold until serving. Check chicken is cooked through. Keep raw fish, if you use it, in the fridge until the last minute, and don't serve it to the vulnerable groups listed above.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can plan a multi-dish meal backwards from the serving time.
- I can scale a recipe up for four without ruining it.
- I can combine hot, cold and make-ahead dishes.
- I have a note of my own fusion ideas.
- I have written down my house recipes.
Next chapter
That's the end of Cooking Skills: Rice 2. Rice 1 and Rice 2 together cover the methods and the dishes. The next course in the series is up to you.