A bamboo basket is heaped with white rice with a wooden scoop leaning on its rim, a blue-and-white bowl beside it holds steaming cooked rice, sliced rice cakes lie on a wooden board, and a tied sheaf of rice ears lies alongside.
Rice, the staple
Introduction
Rice as a grain, its main kinds, and the plain rice and congee cooked from it.
Rice means the grain and its processed forms, usually grouped into indica, japonica and glutinous rice, each suited to different dishes. It is mostly boiled into rice or simmered into congee, and glutinous rice is also made into rice cakes and glutinous dumplings. Rice from the Shangshan site in Zhejiang differs from wild rice and shows that people there were already cultivating rice more than ten thousand years ago. Rice as a grain belongs here, while rice noodles belong to Noodles, rice treats that are not noodles to Rice Snacks, and congee as a way of serving to Congee and Thick Soups.