Most of us don’t really care how our rice turns out. It’s staple food in Singapore and nobody cares if the grains are broken or it’s lumpy and sticky (starchy). While convenience is what we’re after most of the time, that simply won’t do if you’re eating rice at a top end North Indian/Persian restaurant. By the way, a lot of North Indian dishes are of Persian origin. Whether it’s Persian pilaf or Kashmiri Pulao, the grains of the rice have to be whole and the rice must be very fluffy – something you can’t get in an electric rice cooker if you’ve added the right amount of water.

What can I say about Uncle Roger? Well, he’s an arrogant bastard. You may watch him only for entertainment purposes, but he’s not as knowledgeable as some might think he is. I’m sure most of you have already watched his famous video mocking a British cook for cooking rice the “wrong” way. Uncle Roger obviously doesn’t know this, but the rice cooking method demonstrated in the video he was mocking is actually standard pilaf or pulao rice cooking method.

The rice is first boiled in plenty of water until the grains are half-cooked. The half-cooked rice is then drained and washed (yes, washed) to remove excess starch. It is then steamed until it’s fully cooked. The results? Perfect soft and fluffy Persian or North Indian rice. Fried rice cooked this way will certainly be different, but I’m sure it will not be as disastrous as Uncle Roger would think.