‘In the West, rice is an afterthought’: Ping Coombes’ guide to getting it right every time

Rice may be one of the world’s most basic ingredients, yet few home cooks treat it with much respect. Ping Coombes disagrees. The Malaysian-born chef and MasterChef winner talks texture, technique and why badly cooked rice undermines even the best dishes

Ping Coombes has built an entire cookbook around rice, a reminder that the simplest dishes often demand the most care (Sam Folan)

It’s been a decade since MasterChef 2014 winner Ping Coombes published her debut cookbook – and now she’s back with her long-awaited second.

As the first Malaysian-born winner of the prestigious BBC One cooking show, she planned to introduce Malaysian food to home cooks, a cuisine that was much less well known at the time.

She had only entered the competition because she was made redundant and “had nothing else to do”. These days, the mum-of-two runs Ping’s Masak Club cookery school and Ping’s Makan Club, a supper club, and collaborates with chefs in restaurants around the country, but aside from improved recipe writing skills, she says she’s the same cook we watched on TV some 12 years ago.

“I always cook the same way as I did 10 years before, I only have one very simple rule – I only cook what I love to eat,” says the 44-year-old.

This time it’s rice – with her latest book simply titled Rice – something that might sound simple but really is an art form, as well as being an integral part of many cultural traditions.

“In the West, rice is an afterthought. Cook something, and you would say, ‘Should I have pasta or potatoes, or rice, microwavable rice and just bang it on,” says Coombes. “Whereas in the East, we do it every day.

“I also have rice withdrawal symptoms,” she laughs, if she doesn’t eat enough, or if she’s on holiday. “Don’t get me wrong, I love other food other than rice. But we went to Spain for 10 days and five days in, I started to feel like I can’t deal with another jamon, or another plate of patatas bravas. So in Seville, I had to run into a Chinese restaurant to order rice. And it was the best bowl of fried rice and prawns I remember that I ever, ever tasted.”

Growing up in Ipoh, Malaysia, she remembers being four or five and her grandmother chasing her and her brother around the house trying to feed them before school, while her mum and dad were at work. “We would have rice for at least two meals a day.”

“She’s running around scooping this communal bowl of rice with meat and veggies or whatever, because it’s easier to just have one bowl of rice and feed both of us.”

She grew up with an understanding of how important rice is.

‘Rice’, Coombes’ latest book, turns a supposedly humble staple into the centrepiece of the meal (Murdoch Books)

“Rice is precious and growing up I’d see paddy fields and how people grow rice – it’s back-breaking work.

“A few years ago, I showed my children the work that goes into implanting it and harvesting it. Of course, there are machines now, but there are still many parts in Malaysia up in the mountains where the machines can’t go, and are still being planted by hand. And you think that so fleetingly you would throw away a bowl – it takes so much work to have that bowl of rice.

“I see rice as holding everything together. You think that your main dish is important, of course. If you’re cooking an amazing stir of rice with some expensive beef, and you cook the most incredible dish ever, if your rice is undercooked and all mushy, you will ruin your entire meal.”

So how do we do justice to this simple grain, the backbone of so many Asian cuisines?

Master the absorption method

Coombes’ latest book is full of helpful tips and tricks but she always starts by washing the rice.

“I’ve always cooked rice on the hop with the absorption method. And my go-to rice is jasmine rice, because I grew up with it,” she notes.

“As a rule, it’s one to one-and-a-half. Or, if you’re putting in a microwave, one to one, so 300 grams of water, 300 grams of rice. Putting too much water in [or] not putting enough water in”, is a common mistake home cooks make.

“Some grains require a little bit more water, but by and large, it should be fine. The hardest rice to cook is brown. It has more fibre so it requires a lot more water and patience.”

Never drain it

A few years ago, I showed my children the work that goes into implanting it and harvesting it. There are still many parts of Malaysia where the machines can’t go, and where they’re still planted by hand. So fleetingly you would throw away a bowl – it takes so much work to have that bowl of rice

“For me, it’s a definite no-no,” says Coombes. “Because you [drain] all the nutrients away. The rice, when it cooks, the starch releases. If you cook it with a lot of water and then drain it, you’re wasting all that goodness in your rice. So the absorption method is much better, that you contain all of that in your rice.”

Let it rest

You might be used to letting a steak rest, but if you’re eating your rice straight away, you’re missing a trick. A major mistake is “not letting it rest or steam”, says Coombes, “usually for about 20 to 30 minutes.”

Letting the rice sit after cooking will help it soften, she says. “Also, digestion-wise, it’s better to eat slightly warm rice than hot rice. You taste everything more when the rice is warm and it’s just the right temperature. I will never serve rice super hot straight out of the rice cooker or pan.

“I always recommend doing your rice first before you start anything else, then let your rice steam while you chop.”

Freeze extra

“I highly recommend making more rice than you think you need, and then chill it and freeze it. I have a rice drawer. Every time I make a certain type of rice, I make five times the amount.”

It’s a good way to replace those instant packets of rice, with a perfectly home-cooked version you already made. “I freeze it in 150-gram portions, I wrap it in cling film and then I put each individual packet inside a larger bag. And I name it, like ‘sushi rice’, or whatever.

“All I have to do when I need rice is bring out the bag, open it, sprinkle some water and [put it] in the microwave for three minutes and you’ll have instant rice.”

Learn how to store safely

“There’s a bacteria that forms with rice, it’s a high-risk food,” notes Coombes, but one of the ways to mitigate any risk associated with reheating rice is to “chill down your rice” before popping it in the fridge.

“I make my rice, I eat my dinner and by the time I’ve finished my dinner, that rice will be cool enough to pack away straight into the fridge. Of course, if you leave it out the whole day in room temperature, or if I forget and leave it in a rice cooker, and the next morning I come down and [wondered] ‘Should I use this?’ The answer is no.”

Read the packet

Like anything else, rice varies in quality. “So for jasmine rice, ‘triple A’ is your best one – [the grains] are longer, they are plumper.

“But the most expensive ones aren’t always the best. It’s a little bit of, you never know until you try it, but I always look for triple A jasmine rice from Thailand – it’s really good – and basmati from Pakistan or from India.

The longer the basmati grain, the higher the quality, she notes. “They’re the luxurious ones.”

Baked honey and soy chicken rice

A one-pan proof of Coombes’ philosophy – properly cooked rice doing as much work as the chicken itself (Sam Folan)

“Welcome to your new favourite one-pot rice dish!” says Coombes. “I have been looking at ways to add more fibre into my rice dishes to make them more balanced. What I ended up with is a dish that has flavour, texture and fibre from the lentils and sweetcorn.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

5 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter

2 garlic cloves, crushed

300g jasmine or basmati rice

1 tbsp chicken stockpowder

380ml water

160g canned sweetcorn

340g canned green lentils

20g chives, chopped, to garnish

For the marinade:

3 tbsp pineapple juice

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1½ tsp dark soy sauce

½ tsp sesame oil

½ tsp five spice powder

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp salt

Method:

1. Score the top of the chicken thighs a couple of times so that the marinade penetrates deeper into the chicken and place in a bowl. Add all the marinade ingredients and marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan or gas 6.

3. In a large ovenproof pan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the chicken thighs to the pan, skin-side down, and fry for five minutes to brown the skin. Flip the chicken over and pour over the marinade in the bowl. Cook for two to three minutes to reduce the marinade a little, then remove the chicken to a plate.

4. Add the butter, garlic and rice to the pan and give it a good stir, then add the chicken stock powder, water, sweetcorn and lentils. Stir again to distribute the ingredients evenly in one layer. Nestle the chicken thighs into the rice mixture, cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and let it stand for five minutes before serving.

6. Sprinkle some chives on top, fluff up the rice and serve.

Crispy Bangkok eggs

Crisp edges, soft yolks and rice underneath – the kind of dish that depends entirely on texture (Sam Folan)

“I took the family to Bangkok two years ago. We went to this highly recommended restaurant and one of the dishes the girls raved about was fried eggs in a sweet and spicy sauce,” says Coombes. “They could not get enough of this, so I set out to recreate it. The secret to the crispy edges on eggs is the amount of oil you use.”

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

6-7 tbsp vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tbsp crispy shallots (homemade or store-bought)

For the sauce:

3 bird’s-eye chillies, finely chopped

3 tbsp tamarind concentrate

3 tbsp granulated white sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp kecap manis

For the crispy shallots:

400g shallots

500ml vegetable oil

Method:

1. For the crispy shallots (if making): Peel and cut each shallot in half, then slice thinly. Heat the oil in a wok or a medium, deep saucepan to 180C (160C/gas mark 4) over a medium–high heat. To test the oil, you can use drop a little piece of shallot into the oil – it should sizzle immediately.

2. Gently lower the sliced shallots into the hot oil and stir with a wooden or metal spoon to distribute them evenly. Reduce the heat to medium and fry for 15 minutes. Swirl the shallots from time to time to ensure they cook evenly. After this time, if not all the shallots are brown, turn the heat down a little, give it another swirl and cook for a further two to three minutes.

3. Drain through a fine sieve set over a mixing bowl. Let the shallots cool in the sieve. As they cool, they will crisp up further. Keep the shallots in an airtight container and the oil in a bottle or jar for future use. They can both be kept at room temperature for up to two weeks.

4. Place all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.

5. In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Crack two eggs into the pan and fry sunny-side up, spooning some of the hot oil onto the eggs to help cook the whites. Fry until the eggs have crispy and bubbly edges but the yolks are still runny. Remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

6. Drizzle four to five tablespoons of the tamarind sauce all over the eggs and sprinkle with the crispy shallots. Any leftover sauce can be kept in the refrigerator for five days.

Sweet-and-sour pork with pineapples and kiwi

Sweet, sharp and unapologetically nostalgic – exactly the sort of bold flavours rice was made to carry (Sam Folan)

“I always sneered at people ordering sweet-and-sour pork in a Chinese restaurant or takeaway,” says Coombes. “I would think they were being boring, going for the most obvious choice. I now realise that, done right, it is a killer combo with rice!”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

400g whole pork shoulder, cut into 2cm cubes

400ml vegetable oil

120g cornflour

1 small onion, quartered and separated into individual pieces

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 kiwi, peeled and cut into 1cm dice

100g pineapple, cut into 2cm dice

For the marinade:

1½ tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 egg white

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the sauce:

120ml water

3 tbsp ketchup

3 tbsp orange juice

1½ tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp cornflour

¼ tsp rice wine vinegar

Method:

1. Mix together the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl and add the pork pieces, turning to coat. Cover and marinate the pork for at least two hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and set aside.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or deep saucepan over a medium-high heat. To test whether the oil is hot enough, drop a little cornflour into the oil – it should sizzle and float immediately.

4. Place the cornflour on a shallow plate and add the marinated pork pieces. Turn to make sure all sides are covered, then give the pieces a shake to remove the excess flour. Set aside on a separate plate.

5. Fry the pork in the hot oil in batches for two to three minutes until crisp and golden brown. Flip the pork from time to time to ensure even cooking.

6. Remove the pork to a wire rack set over a tray lined with paper towels to crisp up further. Repeat until all the pork is fried.

7. In a separate wok or large frying pan, add one tablespoon of the frying oil used for the pork and heat over a high heat. Fry the onion and garlic for 30 seconds, then add the kiwi and pineapple along with the sauce and bring to the boil. Reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency. It should only take about three to four minutes.

8. Add the crispy pork pieces to the sauce and coat well. Cook for a further minute.

9. Serve immediately with plenty of rice.

‘Rice’ by Ping Coombes (Murdoch Books, £26).