Charleston Red Rice

Charleston red rice is a Lowcountry South Carolina dish with roots in West African cooking traditions brought to the region by enslaved people. It bears close family resemblance to jollof rice and Spanish arroz rojo, reflecting the complex cultural exchanges of the Atlantic world. The dish is made by cooking long-grain rice in a mixture of tomato, onion, bell pepper, celery and smoked pork until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and the base develops a slight crust. Carolina gold rice, the heritage variety at the heart of this dish, was a staple crop of the Lowcountry for two centuries before nearly disappearing in the twentieth century. Its revival by farmers and chefs has restored a key ingredient to the Southern table. The rice has a slightly nutty, buttery flavour and a natural stickiness ideal for dishes requiring cohesion. At home, the key to a good red rice is patience: once the tomato mixture has been cooked down to a thick paste and the rice added, resist the urge to stir. Let the rice steam undisturbed in a covered pot so it can develop the signature crust at the base. As Rhoda's dish showed, the red rice template is versatile enough to carry global flavours, including a Southeast Asian red curry treatment.