# Soy sauce steamed rice?



## Tinybu88les8 (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm making Teriyaki Cornish game hens for dinner tonight.  Im Going to steam basmati rice on the side in my rice cooker. My question is is if I put soy sauce, mirin, and Ginger  in the water before turning on the rice cooker would it absorb into the rice giving it flavor? Also, I was considering pouring in a little bit of egg whites into the rice after it is cooked to give it a fried
Rice feel. What do you guys think?


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## Andy M. (Mar 8, 2011)

Not sure about the egg but the others should serve to flavor the rice.


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## Selkie (Mar 8, 2011)

Personally, I follow 3,000 years of tradition and add sauces after the rice is cooked, but that's just me. I figure if adding sauces to the water the rice is steamed in was a successful recipe, 1,000,000,000 Chinese and other Asians, and another 1,000,000,000 Indians would also be doing it, but they don't. However, other cultures, Latin Americans for instance, do it successfully for dishes such as Spanish Rice.

Steamed rice has a softer and wet feel to it, unlike fried rice which is fluffier and a chewier, drier texture with a nutty flavor. Egg white added to steamed rice might just turn into a soggy mess... but trying it is the only way you'll know for certain.


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## jacky77 (Mar 8, 2011)

hmm, never tried it, but you can always try and see what happens. I wouldn't add the egg whites, it sounds mushy..if you want to do a fried rice  you may just want to make the rice plain and then fry it with the soy,mirin,  ginger and some egg whites. that will probably come out better.


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## Rocklobster (Mar 8, 2011)

When I've seen fried rice cooked, the egg is always added first and fried up before the rice was added. Adding egg to warm rice will just coagulate and coat things and you will wind up with a sticky clumpy rice.


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## spork (Mar 8, 2011)

Provisionally, yes you can.  First, it depends on your rice cooker, whether it's approved for use with liquids other than water.  And that usually depends on the vent system.  Older, simpler cookers without a vent at all, I wouldn't recommend it, in part because your mirin will burn on the bottom.  Or, a rice cooker with an enclosed venting system, again, I wouldn't recommend it because you don't want steamed soy sauce trapped and dried inside it.  Otherwise, go ahead, don't put too much of your three flavor components and you'll have a tasty teriyaki flavored rice.  And you can cook, chop up, and toss egg whites into it for extra pizzaz.

But that begs my question and suggestion.  Why same flavor for both bird and rice.  I think dinner would have a better taste balance if you left the rice plain.  JMO.


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## sashak (Jul 21, 2011)

While I tend to err on the side of tradition when cooking as antiquated  of a staple of human life as rice, I give you credit for recognizing the  flavoring potential inherent to its steaming process - it's often  overlooked in my experience.

While there are no rules in cooking as far as I know, besides maybe  respectfully representing your ingredients, you'll find that the  traditions for flavoring steamed rice all adhere to universal principles  of maximizing flavor, texture and last (and probably least) plate  appeal.

My all-time favorite rice dish with certain Chinese, South-East Asian  and Caribbean meat dishes is coconut rice. If you were to make this by  adding liquid coconut flavorings to cooked rice, you would not only  alter the texture of the rice, but these flavors would not be given the  opportunity or time to permeate the rice.

This is similar to the age-old, "yesterday's tastes better" story -  herb, meat and vegetable flavors seep into the broth of soup or stew,  spices further aromatize rice pudding and so on. 

The quintessential example of a rice dish that requires flavors to  permeate rice is risotto. I haven't had day old risotto but I can  guarantee you that the flavor will be all there and then some. (It's not  such a great reheater I don't think.)

And besides my mom, from Kuwait, where rice is a fairly diurnal form of  sustenance, says never add liquid (besides maybe some oil or an acid) to  rice after it's cooked or it'll become soggy, so there! (I feel like  Adam Sandler's character in that college football movie he did.)

When I make coconut rice, I steam the rice with coconut milk and water,  and fold in coconut butter and fresh grated toasted coconut just before  serving to embolden the coconut flavor and add a textural as well as  visual counter-point respectively. If I added these ingredients before  cooking this wouldn't be possible.

When my Mom makes biryani, she adds slivered almonds, raisins and fried onions but as a dressing for cooked rice. 

All cultures, including my Mom's, also understand the importance of  accentuating flavors in ingredients and this is why you see (or hear)  rice dishes that start with a sizzle at the bottom of a rice pot, where a  flavor base is built.

In the case of Chinese fried rice, this occurs after the steaming  because the flavoring elements are not just there to flavor the rice,  but are components of the dish unto themselves, that look better, taste  better and have better palate feel when flash fried, rather than  steamed.

Many Arabic, Indian and Caribbean rice dishes steam rice with whole  spices, such as cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon to infuse the rice with  flavor not dissimilar to the way you infuse water with flavor when you  make tea. That said, they are not then served with a dish that only  contains these flavors, so to not have the two dishes clash. I agree  with Spork that you'd be better off serving naked white rice than using  teriyaki flavoring in it, if that is also what you're serving on your  birds.

While a steamer is handy when you are serving a crowd, I adhere to the  tradition of cooking my rice over the stove so I can have every  opportunity to build a flavor base or steam it with liquids other than  water. If I'm in a hurry I break with tradition with a pressure cooker.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jul 21, 2011)

I frequently add flavors to my rice.  But I too cook my rice in a sauce pan, on top of the stove.  Brown or White rice can be enhanced with chicken soup base added to the cooking water, along with a little five-spice flavor to compliment your birds.  Onion and garlic can also be added, but not so as to taste them, just to affect the final flavor of the rice.  Celery is also useful for the same thing.  Adding wild rice to the white or brown rice also gives the final grain interesting color and textural contrast. 

These ideas are better utilized by cooking your rice on top of the stove.  I hope tonight's meal is an unqualified success.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## Timothy (Jul 22, 2011)

Just a thought that occurred to me while reading this thread; how about if rice was soaked first in a flavored liquid, and then dehydrated to dry again? 

I wonder if this would flavor the rice and let the rice cook just as normal rice is in a steamer. That would incorporate the flavor into the rice itself, and not in the water while steaming.

I think I'll try it and find out. (Unless someone else has done so and found it to fail).


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## roadfix (Jul 22, 2011)

I prefer plain rice especially with a teriyaki entre.  
As for flavoring the rice, I prefer to add flavors after the rice is cooked.


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## spork (Jul 22, 2011)

I have a cookbook with about two dozen different recipes for Japanese _takikomi gohan _(cook-add rice) for electric rice cooker, some of which are very traditional, including _sekihan_ (red beans) which is made for celebratory events and _matsutake gohan _(dashi, soy, sake, salt & marinated mushrooms).  Not much info in the entry, but here's the wiki...

Takikomi gohan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Fabiabi (Jul 24, 2011)

Give it a try, the result might be good. Even if you are going against traditions. Maybe you're the first one brave enough to try it! No harm in that is there


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## EatLoveMove (Jul 25, 2011)

I say do it!! And when you've done it, let me know. If it works I would definitely be a big fan of this dish. It sounds great! 

One suggestion though, maybe fold the egg whites through the rice 5 mins before the end of steaming.


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## ChocolateFrosting (Jul 25, 2011)

I always used to cook my rice on a stove but recently found that you can cook a really amazing steamed rice in the microwave. Glass bowl, add rice (having washed it a few times until the waters pretty much clear), add double rice of boiling water and pop in the micro wave for 10mins. Voila! Light, fluffy rice. 

Egg fried rice is a big fav in our house. We'd normally fry off the rice with eggs, chicken stock, a variety of veg (cabbage, spring onion, spinach, carrots peas etc) a tblspn of oyster sauce and a generous helping of soya sauce. 

Even better, if you use red cabbage, you can turn the whole thing pink/purple/blue. Makes it really entertaining for little'ns


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