The format of this blog has changed, as things tend to do, after a while. Life gets in the way. I get too ambitious; then the guilt of my inability to keep up with myself kicks in, and I find myself meandering through my kitchen, tapping jars of lentils and peering into containers of grains and feeling rather dejected.The funny thing about cooking--as with life--is that nobody really teaches you the simple things. I can't describe how many times I've articulated frustration that I don't know how to cook different types of rice, because though I've eaten basmati more times than I can count, I still have no idea how to make it properly. There's that embarrassment, too, of not wanting to admit that as much as you consider yourself to be a good cook--that you still don't know how to make something as simple as rice. The self-deprecating thoughts "but-you-should-know-this, it's just RICE, for heaven's sake" soon ensue, and before you know it, your plans to make a delicious biryani, or a mushroom risotto, or even just a midnight snack of plain rice are completely shattered. You end up reaching for a packet of crispbread, rather resentfully.
I feel the same way about my heart sometimes. Nobody teaches you how to manage your emotions, how to calm that fear that bubbles up in the middle of the night, how to preserve the sacredness of your soul. Those are the simple things, the building blocks of our emotional and psychological well-being. I am talented and skilled with words; adept at research; competent at math, gym, and so on. I've been taught well. But I wish that I had learned the simple things. I wish that there had been classes for how to love yourself, how to remember that you are more than grades in a report card, how to look in the mirror and feel content, how to deal with hurtful words, how to contain fear, how to contain happiness, how to just BE in the world.
So, back to the rice. I just attempted to make some basmati. It didn't turn out as I had expected it to, though I followed the directions. But that's life.
I am learning, though. Grains of love and all.
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hi sweetie- it's your fellow shortie here. for basmati rice, rinse in cold water thoroughly until the water runs clear and soak in cold water for 45 minutes- rinse again in cold once or twice as necessary and make sure your amount of water is accurate in the pot for the recipe. it's hard to get in and out of the pot when wet, so we put it in the pot before boiling, bring it to a boil, turn it off and leave it for 20-30 minutes covered- DO NOT LIFT THE LID. I could be wrong about the amount of time to leave it in so I would say double check- but that's the way we make it and it's an amazing rice. <3
ReplyDeleteI loooove basmati! Though Jasmine is, of course, a close second.
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