Recipes for Dummies

Gao, or long grain, rice is the daily staple of all South-east Asian cooking. Often delicately scented, such as fragrant jasmine rice, the grains should be dry, thin, firm and translucent when raw. Once steamed the tender grains should still retain some bite and turn white and fluff up easily with a fork. Whether polished or unpolished, aromatic or nutty, long grain rice is used throughout Vietnam and Cambodia as the absorbent bed for many fish and meat curries and stews. The Vietnamese prefer the long grain jasmine variety (gao thom), cooked using the absorption method.