Famous Butter Rice Recipe - Lauren's Latest (2024)

FAQs

What does adding butter to rice do? ›

In the same way toasting nuts deepens their flavor, toasting rice in a little bit of oil or butter before cooking it in liquid adds a warm, toasty flavor to plain rice. The addition of butter or oil adds even more richness.

How butter enhances rice. Only good things come when cooking with butter, and that goes for rice too. Depending on what type of butter you use, the rice may take on characteristics of tangy, salty, and sweet notes, per Taste of Home, but overall, the rice will be enhanced with rich and buttery flavors.

I learned about this dish from a Japanese anthology TV series called Midnight Diner (深夜食堂, Shinya shokudō). Butter Rice was introduces in Season 1 Episode 5. The original recipe only has 3 ingredients: rice, butter, and soy sauce.

Basics of Cooking Rice

Combine 1 cup rice, liquid (see chart below), 1 teaspoon salt (optional), and 1 tablespoon butter or margarine (optional) in a 2 to 3-quart saucepan. Heat to boiling; stir once or twice as it begins to boil. Lower heat to a simmer; cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Butter Makes Your Fried Rice Taste Richer But Also Increases Fat Content. Since cooking with butter infuses food with a richer flavor and texture in general, you might find that frying leftover rice in oil leaves it bland in comparison.

The secret to this foolproof method is adding long-grain rice (and salt) to a measured amount of boiling water, as opposed to starting the rice in a cold pot. This technique keeps the grains intact, so you can say goodbye to mushy, stuck-together clumps.

Imagine a dish that's as comforting as it is simple, where each grain of rice gleams with a golden touch of butter, creating a harmony of flavors that's both subtle and profound. That's the magic of Japanese butter rice, a dish that has quietly charmed its way into the hearts of food lovers around the globe.

That's one of the major differences between how Chinese and Japanese restaurants prepare fried rice. Whereas the former only uses oil, the latter cooks leftover grains with butter (plus soy sauce).

The Inuit ate no rice at all. In fact, for all practical purposes, they were carnivores — they ate no plant-derived food at all, with the exception of a few berries in the summer.

China. China has the distinction of being the world's biggest producer and consumer of rice on an annual basis. Rice consumption behaviour varies across different regions of China.

How do I make rice taste like a restaurant? ›

Use Stock Instead of Water

“Instead of water, use either vegetable or chicken stock. Homemade is ideal, but plenty of premade boxed stocks exist for convenience. Add stock to the hot pan with vegetables and toasted rice.” He explains that toasting the rice first adds a layer of nutty flavor and creates more depth.

Similarly, stirring your rice while it cooks will activate the starches and leave you with clumpy, mushy rice. Your rice only needs a quick fluff with a fork once it's finished cooking. Constant stirring gives risotto its cherished creaminess—a trait not desirable when cooking plain rice.

But I could really make it better by playing the proactive game before the rice gets stuck: “Adding a little oil or butter at the beginning of cooking will coat the grains, which will help keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot without making it mushy,” Rich says.

Fatty foods are often more flavorful because many flavors dissolve in fats. Butter works very well as a flavor carrier for spices, vanilla and other fat soluble ingredients. When you sauté an onion in butter before adding the base ingredients, all the flavor from the onions will be carried by the butter into the dish.

You can season your rice with a variety of herbs, spices, broths, milks or sauces. If you prefer a Mediterranean flavor profile, cook your rice using chicken broth, lemon juice, garlic and onion. For a rich and creamy rice dish with a kick, cook the rice in coconut milk infused with spicy peppers.

Add extra seasoning: cooking brown rice with salt is essential for flavorful grains, but you can also infuse more flavor by adding olive oil and butter, swapping in garlic salt, or adding spices such as cayenne, ground ginger or cumin.