Chinese Rice

Rice is very precious to the Chinese, and except at great banquets, is served throughout Chinese meals. It is so precious, indeed, that little Chinese boys are purportedly warned that for each grain left in their rice bowl a pock mark will appear on the face of their future bride.

A long-established manner of cooking rice in China is to steam it gently in a bamboo basket steamer which is placed over a pan of boiling water. Rice prepared in this way has an unusually loose and pleasant texture.