Rice is perfect medium for bowl of gumbo (with rice pudding recipe) (2024)

Gumbo without rice is, well, soup. Here's a quick and easy way to make rice without all the fuss. (Press-Register file photo)

No one will argue that a lot of time and effort goes into in making the perfectly seasoned and simmered bowl of gumbo.

From picking the crabs just so to cooking the okra just long enough to remove the slime factor, there is a lot to it. Not to mention, it can also get very expensive.

Indeed, a well-crafted cauldron of gumbo is a thing of beauty forever.

But it occurred to me last week that there is another part of the gumbo offering that gets short shrift, overlooked often in the whole flavorful saga that is gumbo.

It’s that white, fluffy stuff that goes into the bowl before the gumbo — rice — that is the unsung hero of the dish. Without rice, gumbo would be, well, soup.

Making a pot of rice can be one of the more daunting kitchen tasks, especially for kitchen novices. It easy to mess up, and there is a bit of math involved, but I’m going to teach you a quick, easy, no-fuss way to make perfect rice every time.

But before we do that, let’s first talk about rice a bit. There are several varieties of rice available at the grocery store and selecting the best one for your kitchen application can be unsettling.

Indeed, rice comes in may forms. You can buy everything from rough rice and brown rice, to plain white rice and black rice. There is red rice, sweet rice, arborio rice and basmati rice. There is even such a thing as wild rice, which isn’t rice at all.

For purposes of this discussion, we will limit our focus to plain old polished white rice. Even then, it comes in different sizes — short, long and medium grain.

I prefer medium grain rice in a gumbo, because the grains puff up, the perfect medium for a gumbo. The thick gumbo juice sticks to the grains just right.

Let’s stop right here for a second. If you own an electric rice cooker (and why don’t you?) then making perfect rice every time is easy. Add rice and water according to directions and you’re set. (We own three of them, and they are indispensable; they also make a great Father’s Day gift — hint, hint.)

If you don’t have one, don’t fret. Making rice on the stove like cooks have done for centuries isn’t that difficult. It’s just water, rice and that’s it.

The biggest pitfall for novice rice cooks is ending up with gummy rice, rice that looks like wallpaper paste.

Rest assured, gummy rice won’t kill you, it’s just not nearly as good as fluffy rice. I’ve eaten more than my share of the gummy kind over the years, and I’m still here.

Here’s the 1-2-3 method of rice-making that I learned several years ago. I’m not sure of the source, but it was probably from somebody in the rice industry. Makes sense.

Repeat after me: One cup of rice, mixed with two cups of water, produces three cups of cooked rice. I know, it’s amazingly simple.

Using the 1-2-3, add rice and water to a 3-quart saucepan. Bring water to a boil, and stir once or twice. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Remove lid, fluff rice with a fork and serve. It’s that simple. (If, by chance, not all the liquid is absorbed, cook 2-3 minutes more.)

This method works with long-grain, short-grain or medium-grain. Whatever, it works.

Now, brown rice is a whole other ball of confusion.

Brown rice, as described by the folks at the USA Rice Council, “has the outer hull removed, but still retains the bran layers that give it a tan color, chewy texture and nut-like flavor.”

Since it retains the bran layer, brown rice is a 100 percent whole grain food, which make it desirable for folks who are into whole grains and such. I like it because I prefer the flavor to white rice, even though it is a pain to cook.

It won’t work for the 1-2-3 method as described above. It’s close, but not the same.

For each 1 cup of rice, add 2½ cups of water and the cooking time is much longer. In fact, it can take up to 45 minutes. Follow the same steps — add water and rice, bring to a boil, stir, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and leave it alone.

Trust me, it’s worth the extra effort and it’s better for you. That, and as I said, I prefer the flavor.

If, perchance, you don’t need all of the rice for your gumbo, here’s a classic Southern way to get the kids to eat rice. It comes from the USA Rice Council.

Creamy Rice Pudding

6 servings

3 cups cooked rice

3 cups milk

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine rice, milk, sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring often.

Add vanilla. Pour into serving dish and serve hot or cold.