Mahanandi

14 comments for Rosematta Rice »

1. Hai Ms Indira

   can u please tell how to cook the rosematta rice, since i heard it is good for health. Thanh you

   regards suba

   Comment by SUBA — October 29, 2006 @ 6:12 pm

2. Indira,

   We use the same kind of rice in Sri lanka. Infact, i encountered raw rice as part of daily diet only in India. But, later in Hawaii I got hooked up on Jasmine Rice. 😉 It’s ability to stay soft for a long time compared to Basmati & long grain rice and also the fragrance lured me in. My room-mates and I used to get the 50 lb bags from Costco. I have to tell something to you here. Whenever we have some problems – natural calamities or man-made problems like dock strike would send us in droves to the grocery stores. The first few items to vanish from the shelves would be toilet paper, rice and soy souce. [We(hawaiians – me too..) were able to relate to Russell Crowe when he made a special trip to get soy souce in the middle of dinner – The Insider].

   My move to MTL, made me go back to the good old par-boiled rice. I saw my relatives do the following trick. They get the unpolished (or maximum unpolished par-boiled rice) and mix it with the regular par-boiled rice. The ratio most used would be 1:2 or 2:3, I too started out that way but nowadays i go for the 1:1 ratio. This makes only serving a day rice more flavor-full.

   Whenever I make some far-east dishes, like stir-fries or thai curries or rendag, I relunctantly use the Jasmine rice.[Will Wonders Never Cease?! The same me used to clamour for chances to eat at my friend’s place in Chennai. ;)].

   The health benefits of par-boiled rice are endless. isnt it Indira.

   I started this comment with the intention of talking about the method to prepare par-boiled rice used in Srilanka. I was lucky enough to witness this during my last year of stay in Pungudutheevu. Will comeback later and write it as a seperate comment.

   [Note: I dont know why, but I seem to write comments the size of posts but masquarading as ‘comments’ only in your blog Indira. Do you have any cure for it? ;)]

   Nice to see you blogging from Seattle.

   -Mathy

   Comment by Mathy Kandasamy — October 29, 2006 @ 11:18 pm

3. Hi Indira,
   This rice is used in Mangalore on a daily basis. The people there swears by it as the most healthiest form of rice. My mom being a Mangalorean also says that it cools down ur body since its very hot in coastal Karnataka. I think its called kochchalakki in Kannada. It tastes very good with horsegram saru(sambar). It also tastes heavenly with Basale leaves sambar(in kannada…dont know what its called in other languages)
   thanks

   Comment by Rashmi — October 30, 2006 @ 6:01 am

4. I love this rice!

   Thanks for the reminder. I have it in my pantry but don’t make it often enough…

   Comment by Diane — October 30, 2006 @ 7:59 am

5. I would also like to know the recipe….Thanks..
   Nidhi.

   Comment by Nidhi — October 30, 2006 @ 9:06 am

6. I have never heard of this kind of rice, interesting.

   Comment by krista — October 30, 2006 @ 10:37 am

7. We eat this rice at least 5 days a week. I cook this in a pasta cooker(same as this one). I fill the pasta cooker with water, and when it boils, I add the rice(washed) on the top vessel. Once it comes to a boil, I simmer it. Takes long time to cook…about 1 1/2 hours. When it is ready, I just lift the top vessel and drain the water.

   Comment by RP — October 30, 2006 @ 12:01 pm

8. Dear Mathy: You know how much I like it when you write a detailed comment, particularly on things I don’t know. Your comments are always informative and this one on rosematta rice is no exception. Thanks for sharing!

   Rashmi: Nice to know that this rice is a regular preparation in Mangalorean Cooking.

   Hi RP: I am also planning to prepare it atleast once a week. You steamcook the rice, glad to know that and thanks for sharing the method.

   Comment by Indira — October 30, 2006 @ 2:23 pm

9. Thanks Indira. 🙂 I too learn a lot from your blog. And it’s been an inspiration for conscious cooking.

   As I said more on the rice.

   One year, my mom planted paddy on our fields. It was mostly because it’s was requested that the people in Northern Sri Lanka cultivate food to become self-sufficient. My mom also wanted to show us how they used to farm the land. Not all our fields were farmed. I cannot say for sure, how many hectaires were used. But, for me it seemed quite a bit.

   We learnt a lot during those months. To make the long story short. The field was prepared. Natural fertilizers were used. The kids had a nice time going around gathering fresh and old cow dung. I’ve written about it in my Tamil blog. [Link – ???????? ???????? ?????????,,, – http://mathy.kandasamy.net/musings/2006/10/01/539%5D. Anyways, had a nice time tasting the very young rice-milk. driving away the parrots trying to feast on the young paddy grains.

   Once the paddy has matured it’s reaped. Then seperated and spread out in the sun and dried, and then stored in sacks.

   Whenever you need, one sack is opened. A huge fire is built in the backyard. Special anda(vessels to cook paddy in). is prepared and filled half way with water. And the paddy is cooked or puzhunga vaippathu – hence the name puzhungal arisi). The paddy after being cooked for an hour or two – am not sure how long. Then the paddy is drained and dried under the sun.

   Once dried, the paddy could be sent to the professionals with machines to seperate the husk from the rice. I have never accompanied my grand mother on these trips and I highly regret it now. She returns with three seperate bags. One holds the semi-polished rice. The other holds the husk. This would be burned in the back=yard and kari would be prepared. this mixed with some sea-salt would be used to brush teeth. We were told to brush out teeth with this mixture on the week-ends. It was very new to us when we moved home from Colombo. Our mouth would be all black and we have to use our fingers to brush. 🙂 Only now i realise the environmentally wise ways of our ancesters.
   The last bag would hold the thavidu(Sorry the name in english escapes me). Thavidu would be very colorfull in nice reddish pink. Thavidu would be mixed with the kanji and fed to cows, who lap it up. Sometimes, dried coconut[forgot the tamil/english words], left out after making coconut oil, would be mixed too.

   Ok. I’m stopping here.

   I know the exact person to approach reg. the history of this kind of rice. Hope he would be free to write something for us. I’m eagerly waiting for more information myself.

   Thanks Indira.

   -Mathy

   Indira replies:
   Oh Mathy, thank you for this trip along the memory lane. You have made me teary eyed. I also have similar childhood experiences in mycase at my grandparents home and the rice they grew was sona masuri. I remember brushing teeth with rice pottu. My grandparents would mix little bit of sugar and salt in this rice pottu to make it more palatable for us children. It tastes so good, I used to swallow a lot instead of brushing.:) Now with my grandfather passed away, children (my aunts and uncles) doing city jobs, the few acres in our family, they have given them to some other ritus(farmers) for a low rate “gutta” (others do the farming and pay the farm owner small yearly commission either in money form or rice bags.)
   It’s getting tough to hold on to these memories, they seem so long ago, so faraway!
   Many thanks for your interest and it would be my pleasure to publish information about this rice on Mahanandi. Thanks Mathy!

   Comment by Mathy Kandasamy — October 30, 2006 @ 4:32 pm

10. Good to know about rosematta rice, a healthy variety.

    Comment by Manju Bansal — October 30, 2006 @ 9:50 pm

11. Hi Indira,

    Thanks for posting on such a nutritious variety of Rice. I have heard about this but have not tried it. My husband and me have been wanting to switch to Brown Rice for health reasons. And I keep postponing making the switch… I just dont take easily to change…
    But now I will for sure. By the time my next bag of Sona Masoori is over I will try to get a hold of this. Not sure if it is available in our Indian store.
    The rice and rasam look so inviting. Nothing like comfort food 🙂
    Cheers
    Latha

    Comment by Latha — October 31, 2006 @ 7:46 am

12. Hello Indira,

    I had written to you long back for the recipe of Ragi Roti.anyway,with the thousands of comments that you get on your blog,I don;t think you will remember me.Well,I just love the way you present your recipes.This type of rice is also consumed in Orissa.People who eat it cannot digest normal polished rice.It is extremely nutritious.

    By the way,Here in London,you can find this type of rice,although I never knew its name until I saw your post today.I hade bought this rice once, and found that it tastes very good.Now I think I will buy it oftener.

    I have finally got the time now to write my own blog,here is the URL:

    http://www.passion-for-food.blogspot.com

    Please srite what you think of it.Thanks.

    Comment by Vinaya — October 31, 2006 @ 8:33 am

13. RP (comment #7) has mentioned about using pasta cooker to cook the rice. Which brand are you using? With most brands I have seen the sieve hole seems large; concerned that rice grains might fall through.

    Comment by Chandra — March 2, 2007 @ 12:17 pm

14. Dear Indira,

    Can you tell me how to cook red rice ? I got this from the chinese store and not sure how I coould use it ?

    Thanks,
    Tej

    Comment by Tej — December 24, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

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