The straining method

This was the method I grew up with. It was a two-parent job. Mother watched the pan, summoning my father away from the news to strain the heavy, boiling vat of terror. Accident and emergency stood poised. Most Indian families will have some relative with an elaborate burn scar from a rice-straining injury. But don’t let me put you off. In the East, where one eye is always fixed on the blood sugar level, the straining method is believed best for diabetics. And every Indian family likes to boast at least one of those, too.