Randall Organic Rice ~ environmental stewards and innovators

30 August 2017

In 2011, after twenty-two years of farming rice organically in Murrami, in the Murrumbidgee irrigation area of New South Wales, the Randall family sold their first bag of rice; grown, milled and packed on their farm – a dream long held by Peter Randall who began farming in the property in 1989. Up until 2006, the rice industry had been highly regulated by the Rice Marketing Board, which meant that they were unable to sell the rice that they grew themselves and received a lesser return on their product as a result. It was in this same period that the area experienced devastating drought and the family grew just one crop of organic rice, instead drawing their main income from the raising and selling of dorper lambs.

Grown, milled and packed on the farm, Randall Organic Rice is produced with very little inputs and therefore has a low carbon footprint. As organic growers, the cultivation of soil life to generate healthy crops is central to their practises — each year planting cover crops of clover to return nitrogen to the soil to feed following crops, improve soil tilth and minimise erosion and weeds.

Their commitment to environmental stewardship and passion for producing the highest quality rice is reflected in the flavour and texture of their product, and each of the four varieties they grow — including Jasmine, Doongara, Long Grain and Koshihikari — are cause enough to perfect your rice cooking skills so as to highlight these qualities.

The Randall family continue to innovate on the farm – just last year crowd funding rice cake machines, enabling them to create value-added products from their rice. The small amount of rice needed to create rice cakes means that they can produce product at a reasonable margin in years where the crop yield is low. Staying true to their entrepreneurial spirit, they plan to upgrade their milling system to achieve a purer finished product, expand the farm’s packing facility, incorporate more renewable energy and permaculture systems and build a straw bale education centre.

We deal directly with Peter and Jenny Randall, who drop off stock when they visit Victorian farmers markets. We stock all four varieties of rice grown on the Randall farm, which you’ll find in the grain section of our website.

Randall’s Koshihikari Rice, cooked in the Japanese tradition

Randall’s Koshihikari Rice is a short-grain sticky rice that has an incredible texture and flavour that lends beautifully to Japanese cooking.

This recipe is scalable depending on how many servings you need to make, and produces a rice that is fragrant and sticky, yet firm. Using the correct ratio of water to grain is paramount to producing the right flavour and texture. Don’t be discouraged by the various stages, which may seem unwarranted for something as simple as cooking rice. We assure you that it really is very simple and comes naturally after you’ve made it once or twice. And anyway, the fuss is totally worth it.

Ingredients

Randall’s Koshihikari Rice

Filtered Water

Ration of Water to Rice

If measured by weight (g) — 1.3 times weight of rice

If measured by volume (ml) — 1.1 times volume of rice

Method

Measure out rice into an appropriate sized saucepan and rinse it in cold water, repeating until the water is clear. This is best achieved by filling saucepan with water, then gently swishing the water around with your hand, polishing the grains with your fingertips, then draining and repeating (about 3 repeats). Time permitting, let the rice drain in a fine sieve for 30 minutes.

Soak the rice in water, measured according to the above guide, for a minimum 20 to 30 minutes — or soak overnight.

With the lid on, turn your burner to the highest possible heat setting until the pot reaches boiling point and you notice steam trying to escape, at which point, turn the burner down to the lowest heat setting and cook for exactly 5 minutes.

Set the pot aside for 10 to 20 minutes, allowing the rice to steam a little further and become firm. It’s important that throughout cooking and steaming process that the lid is never lifted from the pot, as this steam helps to cook the grains perfectly, slightly sticky in texture.

Thank you to Chika (who hails from Tokyo) for teaching us this most-satisfying staple recipe. She lovingly describes foods that go well together as being friends (“Miso and rice are best friends!”) and we really resonate with that.

Randall Organic Rice ~ environmental stewards and innovators

Randall’s Koshihikari Rice, cooked in the Japanese tradition

Ingredients

Ration of Water to Rice

Method

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