Less than A$1.77 - carrot pilau
Sunday, June 17th, 2018 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fred_mouse posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
weekly_food_challengeQuantities approximated. Prices also very approximate, so my barely scraping under the line might be erroneous. But this is the rice dish for six people (along with microwaved potatoes and stir fried greens with cashews, so approximately 1/3 of the meal). And I've used sushi rice which is more expensive than standard. So I'm calling it as fine.
500 g sushi rice, bought in bulk @ $2.50/kg = $1.25
300 g carrots (grated), $1/kg = 30c
2-3 g cardamom pods (crushed), say 20c (local online price says $8.50/100g, but not sure what I paid for them)
cooking oil (pantry staple) [enough to cover the bottom of the pan]
4 cups boiling water (staple...)
= $1.75
Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan (high heat). When you start to see movement in the oil, add the cardamom. Stir gently. For people with average sense of smell, the next step happens when you can start to smell the heated cardamom. Otherwise, approximately 30s? Add all the grated carrot, turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the carrot gets either paler or softer. Add the rice, stir it through to warm it.
The next step is adding the water, and depending on how your pot holds heat, you have to be very careful. I pour it in slowly, over as much of the area as possible, stopping to stir it through if needed.
Once the water is added, keeping stirring until it is obvious that nothing has stuck to the bottom. You can either put a lid on, go away and hope (my preferred way) or stick around, leave the lid off, stir it regularly, as you might if you were making risotto (what I did this time). At some point the rice will either be soft, have absorbed all the water, or better yet, both.
500 g sushi rice, bought in bulk @ $2.50/kg = $1.25
300 g carrots (grated), $1/kg = 30c
2-3 g cardamom pods (crushed), say 20c (local online price says $8.50/100g, but not sure what I paid for them)
cooking oil (pantry staple) [enough to cover the bottom of the pan]
4 cups boiling water (staple...)
= $1.75
Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan (high heat). When you start to see movement in the oil, add the cardamom. Stir gently. For people with average sense of smell, the next step happens when you can start to smell the heated cardamom. Otherwise, approximately 30s? Add all the grated carrot, turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the carrot gets either paler or softer. Add the rice, stir it through to warm it.
The next step is adding the water, and depending on how your pot holds heat, you have to be very careful. I pour it in slowly, over as much of the area as possible, stopping to stir it through if needed.
Once the water is added, keeping stirring until it is obvious that nothing has stuck to the bottom. You can either put a lid on, go away and hope (my preferred way) or stick around, leave the lid off, stir it regularly, as you might if you were making risotto (what I did this time). At some point the rice will either be soft, have absorbed all the water, or better yet, both.