I called this blog "Goes with rice" because it's something my M-I-L says a lot about tasty dishes that she likes and thinks go particularly well with rice. She normally says it in Chinese first "Tsa Fan" and then repeats it in English for my benefit.
In fact, most dishes go with rice (even noodles!) and my In-Laws talk about how they miss rice if they haven't had it for a few days esp. when on holiday. Even I'm getting to the stage where I can be known to say that I miss rice after awhile and I wasn't brought up on rice at all.
It's become clear to me how much of a staple it is and how important it is to many cultures, especially in East and South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. I'm often guilty of taking rice for granted but it actually requires a very labour-intensive process to cultivate rice and the availability of rice can mean the difference between life and death for many people.
When I went to Tokyo, I was surprised by how many rice fields I saw and the small spaces they could be squeezed into e.g. along railway tracks, small backyards and rooftops. It really can be grown anywhere!
I can be known to gently tease my family for their obsession with rice but as a Westerner I've grown to love it and the dishes that go with it. The rice cooker is one of the most used appliances in our household and we always have a 20 kilo sack of it in the cupboard.
Long live long grain rice!
...and short grain rice and wild rice and brown rice and basmati rice......
