Khao Daeng (Red Rice)

Red rice is an unpolished or lightly milled rice whose bran carries a red pigment, grown in the rice-growing regions of mainland Southeast Asia alongside the plain white and sticky varieties that make up the greater part of the harvest. Alford and Duguid treat rice as the foundation of the table in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and the red grain belongs to the same household tradition of rice cooked simply and eaten with strongly flavoured dishes. Its producing places are the paddy districts of Thailand, where it is grown by farming families as a smaller crop beside jasmine and sticky rice.

Khao daeng, red rice, is the whole or part-milled grain of Oryza sativa whose bran layer is coloured red and left on the kernel. The grain is firmer and more resistant to the tooth than polished white rice, with a nutty, earthy character and a russet to brick-red colour once cooked. It is washed and cooked in the same manner as other plain rice, either in a pot or in a rice cooker, and it needs rather more water and a longer time than polished jasmine because the bran slows the absorption. The cooked grains stay separate and slightly chewy.

Red rice is eaten with the dishes that define the Thai table: curries, chilli relishes, grilled fish and salted or fermented seasonings. Its firm texture and nutty flavour hold up against heavy, salty and sour accompaniments without disappearing under them. The rice is the quiet centre of the meal, absorbing sauce while its bran gives enough bite to balance soft, wet dishes. Water or a light, unsweetened drink is the natural companion, since the meal already carries its own sharpness and heat.