Kitchen skill 3 of 15

Cooking choka

Choka: plain rice

Choka is plain rice, the first thing on a Bhatia lunch plate. It is usually cooked by the draining method: boiled in plenty of water, the extra water poured off, then left to finish gently. In the days of cooking on coal and wood, cooks kept a pot of boiling water, under, ready for just this.

How to do it

Wash the rice and soak it in water for about an hour.
Boil it in a toap (pot) with plenty of water and some salt.
When the grains are soft, drain off the extra water.
Set the toap on a tawa over a low flame and let it finish for about 10 minutes, then stir in a little ghee.

You’ll know it’s right when

A grain pressed between your fingers is soft all the way through.
The grains stay separate and fluffy.

Watch out for

Stirring hard while it boils breaks the grains.
Skipping the rest on the tawa leaves the rice wet.

Tips

Two drops of lemon juice in the cooking water keep the grains separate and fluffy.
Bay leaves kept with the raw rice keep insects out and make it fragrant.