An Evening with Tilda and Jo Pratt

I was delighted to be recently asked by Wildcard to an evening with Jo Pratt, who would be demonstrating the new range of Tilda stir fry rices.   A large group of bloggers arrived one boiling hot summer’s evening at the rather wonderful Food at 52 which is situated in a rather lovely street of Georgian townhouses near King’s Cross.   Here we were greeted by the Wildcard team, Jo and Camilla from Tilda who was going to talk us through the range.

We sat down in the gorgeous sitting room and had delicious drinks and chicken toasts (just like prawn toasts but possibly better) and Camilla told us all about the history of Tilda and basmati rice.    As all I knew about basmati rice at this point was that I liked it immensely and it tastes far better than other rice, I found Camilla’s talk very interesting.    Basmati rice is highly prized and will improve with age (in much the same way as wine).  Many families will keep some rice to age it and then serve it when an honoured guest comes for dinner (at this point several bloggers nodded their heads and said they could remember their mother doing the same thing).  Tilda basmati is special as they ensure that only whole unbroken grains are sold – when cooked broken grains leak starch which is what makes some cooked rice stodgy and sticky – with no broken grains the Tilda basmati should be perfect everytime.   Tilda sort their rice by laser and any broken grains are removed by a miracle of modern technology to be used as animal feed.

Chatting to Camilla later I also discovered that Tilda ensure all their rice is 100% basmati by DNA testing the grains.   Also Tilda do not own farms in India but are committed to providing farmers with a fair price for the rice by buying from them at open auction.   In addition Tilda supply farmers with free rice seed (with no obligation to sell their crop to Tilda) and a free telephone advice line.     As CSR and sustainability is very important to me I was also please to discover that Tilda has helped local communities by helping to establish a school and has rebuilt a local temple that had fallen into disrepair.

Camilla then bought out the new stir fry rices; up until this point I had not grasped that these were ready cooked and seasoned in a packet rices,  I had been slightly puzzled at how stir fry rice was going to be any different from any other sort of dried rice.    I have to admit that my first thought was a skeptical “I cook.   From scratch. Why do I want ready cooked rice?”  Happily I was proved very wrong when I got to use and taste the product.

We moved on to the kitchen to see Jo demonstrate the product.  Despite the heat and fearsome gas burners Jo looked as cool as a cucumber as she prepared some delicious dishes for us.

She started with a Thai rice prawn soup a simple stock with soy, ginger,  garlic, chilli, spring onions, coriander,  prawns and a packet of the Tilda Green Thai rice.   It was utterly delicious.  Perfectly flavoured with perfectly seasoned rice.

Using the Tilda stir fry rices Jo then went on to make a lamb stir fry and some crispy duck pancakes – which also contained rice – a clever way to make then more substantial.   She also told us that the utterly delicious chicken toasts we had had earlier (and which Kavey and I had polished a plate off) during the demonstration were also made with the rice, by blending chicken and rice in the food processor.

We were then let loose in the kitchen to conjure up our own dishes using the rices.

I could not resist the king prawns (I may have eaten some and rearranged my plate so as not to appear too greedy here)

Enjoying our rice creations outside in the garden.

I really like this product.    I do not think that is something that I will be using once a week; but I certainly will keep a couple of packets in the cupboard and use it as an alternative to calling for a takeaway when I am tired, late home, just back from holiday.    It certainly will be far cheaper than a takeaway and barely any effort to make a quick stir fry with a packet of the rice and some frozen seafood and whatever vegetables that are in the fridge or freezer.      I am certain that it will taste far better and be better for me too as there are no artificial colourings, preservatives or the dreaded MSG in the rices.

For the non confident or time pressed cook I think that the rices are a great idea.    There is the perfect amount for two adults or one adult and a couple of children.   You can have them as plain or as jazzed up as you like (perfect for using up leftovers).

The rices come in 4 flavours; Peking,  Kung Po and Thai Red & Green.   Each 240g packet costs £1.79 from Waitrose or Ocado.  All 4 rices are vegetarian and gluten free and a couple of them are vegan.

Many thanks to Tilda and Wildcard for a lovely evening.  I am greatly looking forward to working my way through Jo’s book – In the Mood for Entertaining!

I attended the event as a guest of Tilda.