For so many people, rice is uniquely comforting. Its position at the heart of so many South East Asian meals makes it unique in people's associations with home and heritage.

Chef Ping Coombes describes rice as the sun around which all other dishes orbit in Malaysian cuisine. For hordes of us around the world, it's synonymous with bowl food of the most comforting kind and is therefore a staple at the dinner table. It can be its own hero dish, or it can accompany myriad others. It absorbs flavours, is filling and can be savoury or sweet. It's truly a unique ingredient with huge cultural significance.

Ping opens up a world of rice in this beautiful homage, full of both recipes and insights: to wash or not to wash rice; ways to cook rice; when rice is not rice (rice cakes and rolls!); how to elevate your rice-eating experience. And 100 recipes that will transform the way you cook and eat rice.