Rice, Twelve Ways Trivia Quiz

Before vegetarian and vegan cuisine became more prominent in the west, there tended to be limited non-meat dishes available on restaurant menus; even back then, it was a sure-fire bet that a mushroom risotto would be available for our vegetarian friends!

Risotto (short grain rice, typically arborio, cooked in stock and lovingly stirred) is not just for the vegetarians amongst us, with the versatile dish able to accept seemingly endless combinations of ingredients. A particular favourite of mine is chicken and leek risotto - a classic meat and vegetable combination that is made all the better by the addition of liberal sprinklings of parmesan cheese. If you are feeling fancy, you could top the dish with a parmesan tuile.

Maki is amongst the simpler variants of sushi, but simple things are often difficult to execute perfectly. This Japanese offering consists of a small amount of filling rolled in sushi rice and then encased in a thin layer of seaweed (nori). In this example, the filling is raw salmon but raw tuna, avocado or cucumber are also often used.

Sushi rice is seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt.

Rice is usually associated with savoury recipes, but most regions of the world have some variation on the theme of sweetened rice. A fresh, vibrant example from the southeast of Asia is mango sticky rice; as the name suggests, this dessert consists of sticky rice (in coconut milk) served with slices of juicy mango. Palm sugar or jaggery (a cane sugar) is also added to the glutinous rice and coconut milk mix to enhance the sweetness.

Tteokbokki are Korean rice cakes, typically cylindrical, served in a sauce which can be either spicy (gochujang) or a somewhat less ferocious soy-based flavour profile. The sauce used in the picture has a thick consistency that nicely coats the rice cakes and the dish is finished with half a hard-boiled egg.

Arancini are a tasty street food offering from the Italian island of Sicily. They are balls (or cones) of rice coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried until the breadcrumbs present with a beautiful orange-golden colour. A popular variant is known in Italy as arancini al ragł, which incorporates a meaty tomato sauce (ragu) and mozzarella into the basic recipe.

Paella is one of the icons of Spanish cuisine and is a rice-based dish that takes its name from the vessel in which it is cooked - a shallow dish (with an often impressively large diameter) that sits nicely atop an open fire. The rice that forms the base of the dish is often coloured and flavoured with saffron.

The example in the photo is a seafood paella with prawns and clams taking pride of place. Paella is an example of a dish where "surf and turf" can actually work, through combining high quality seafood with smoky chorizo to create a distinctly Spanish flavour.

The burrito is one of many well-known Mexican dishes that have been exported across the globe. A "dry" burrito is made up of a variety of fillings tightly wrapped up inside a tortilla; the fillings include meats, beans, rice, avocado, salad ingredients, cheeses and sauces. Given such versatility, it is no surprise to see the "build your own" approach to burritos being deployed by retailers. No additional points for working out that a "wet" burrito is one that is covered in sauce!

Rice pudding - a simple offering of rice and milk with sweeteners including sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg - can be cooked in many different ways. In the United Kingdom, a rice pudding is usually made one of two ways, the first being in a saucepan on the hob and the second being baked in the oven. With the latter method, the milk on the surface may form an edible "skin" or crust which certainly divides the crowd.

The basic recipe can be enhanced in many ways including - as in this case - through the addition of a dollop of jam. If I were to be critical, the rice pudding in the picture - whilst nicely presented - looks a little dry!

Not sure what to cook and have some random ingredients in your fridge? Well, look no further than egg fried rice! The key to a successful fried rice dish is to use leftover rice, or at the very least to allow freshly cooked rice to go cold before adding it to the wok for frying. Beyond the inclusion of egg, what else to add is left largely up to you and what you have to hand.

In this picture, the cook has opted for peas, sweetcorn and diced bell peppers.

Puffed rice forms one of the mainstays of the breakfast cereal market with the most famous offering being Rice Krispies by Kellog's. Rice Krispies is associated with the strapline, "snap, crackle and pop", which pithily captures the sound puffed rice makes when exposed to milk.

Breakfast cereal manufacturers have come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years for the high sugar content of their products. Rice Krispies is not however one of the worst offenders but given that the product is almost exclusively made of rice, it is unsurprisingly very high in carbohydrates - not great for the waistline!

A biryani can take many forms but the basis of this South Asian dish is indisputably spiced rice - fluffy, basmati rice. A biryani can be vegetable base but can also be made with a wide variety of meats including goat, lamb and chicken. The dish itself contains a tasty gravy but leans towards the drier side; it is typically accompanied by side dishes such as raita (cucumber yoghurt) and fragrant curry sauces.

Pho is a splendid use of rice; this Vietnamese dish takes the form of rice noodles submerged in a deep, savoury bone broth. Beef is usually sliced thinly and added to the hot broth before a selection of aromatic herbs and spices are gently stirred into to complete the flavour development. There are a number of variations of pho that make use of different meats and vegetables.