The Little Rice Book

My cousin and her husband recently gave me a neat little cookbook. It's all about rice and different recipes for it. The books contains every kind of recipe from savory to sweet. All different kinds of rices are also used, from basmati to arborio from long grain to short. For a rice fanatic like myself this book is a dream come true,


The books is simply called Rice and Risotto and was compiled by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen. The author herself has written numerous cookbooks from Jewish to French cuisine along with interesting books on Southern cooking and a slew of recipe books just on desserts. Her paean to rice is amazing. There are my favourites in here, the widely popular Risotto Milanese to the little known peas and arborio dish risi bisi. In between Wolf-Cohen also adds in easy risottos as well as pilafs and gumbos along with rice stuffing. There are Vietnamese dishes that call for rice flour wrappers and Mexican dishes that require rice mixed with broken pasta. Every corner of the globe is covered here with special emphasis on risotto dishes. There are so many of them here ranging from seafood to vegetarian wild mushroom to easy to classic.

Another aspect of the book that's appealed to me. is the variety of the dessert dishes. There are variations on the classic rice pudding, from a sinful dark chocolate one to a a creme brulee type with a glazed top. There's also a flan influenced Spanish style rice pudding that looks heavenly. Other sweet rice treats include rice pancakes, New Orleans fried rice cakes (a take on the famed beignet ) and shortbread made with a combo of rice and wheat flour.

Rice & Risotto is the book to get if you're a rice enthusiasts. There are so many different recipes you'll never get bored with them. They're tasty for any part of lunch or dinner.