# Cooking Rice



## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

Yes I Know - it's been discussed many times before......

How do you cook rice perfectly. Tonight I rinced the rice, measured the rice and water, stireed once, and once again ended up with rice pudding....

Why, oh why oh why?

What am I doing wrong?

Very frustrated (and really goinf off rice in a big fashion!)

Barry


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

You can see I'm frustrated - even my typos seem to multiply!


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## Alix (Apr 18, 2006)

2 cups of cold water, bring to a boil. Add one cup (rinsed if you like) rice and turn element to LOW. Cover and time for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5. Fluff with a fork and serve.

General rice formula is 2:1 water to rice. The trick is to boil water first, then put in the rice and turn to low. Then you must leave the lid on. Do not be tempted to lift the lid to "check" the rice. Set the timer and walk away.


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## mish (Apr 18, 2006)

What kind of rice are you using/preparing? I go by the directions on the box/package.  Re rinsing the rice -- need more info as to what kind of rice etc.


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

Wholemeal rice is what I was preparing - it's in the bin now!


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

So Alix,

Don't add the rice until the water is boiling?

Barry


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## Alix (Apr 18, 2006)

You got it Barry. And DON'T lift the lid after you cover the rice.


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

Oh and I boiled it on the smallest gas ring I have - on the lowest setting!
Ans mish I'm sure I followed the packet instructions. Maybe Alix's idea of not adding until the water is boiling might help


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

Oh go on Alix - lifting the lid makes it all go puddingy? Wow!
It was only a small peak - alright, I might have peaked more than once...

The problem is once you've failed at cooking rice, the need to look at it cooking is amplified.

Why does not raising the lid make such a difference?

Barry


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## Alix (Apr 18, 2006)

I am not terribly technical, but my understanding is that the rice needs to absorb the liquid and if you keep peeking at it then the temp drops in there and it doesn't absorb all the liquid and you get gummy rice.


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## Yakuta (Apr 18, 2006)

The method of cooking rice depends on the type of rice and what texture you are expecting.  

Short grained rice have more starch and cook up mushier than whole grain (jasmine or basmati) rice.

I am a big fan of long grain rice but here is another basic method to get any kind of rice cooked fluffy and not mushy.

2 cups of rice in a saute pan.  Rinse it with cold water.  I do mine like ten times.  You add water to the pan, stir in the rice almost massage it and then drain the water.  Do this approx 10 times. 

Now add 4 cups of water to the rice (same pan).  Add a tiny bit of oil (1 tsp) or you can add some butter and bring it to a boil.  Don't cover it initially until it comes to a boil.  Throw in a pinch of salt.  Stir the rice once, reduce the heat to low, Cover and let it steam for 20 minutes or so.  Rice will be done


Another way to cook rice is using the method you do with pasta.  I like to make pilaus which are layered with chicken or veggies and this method is my favorite to cook basmati rice. 

You wash the rice (2 cups or however much) once or twice, rinse and reserve.

In a large pot, add 10 cups of water and bring it to a boil.  Hit the water with some salt.  Add the rinsed rice and let the rice cook rapidly in boiling water.  In 10 minutes, check the grain of the rice to ensure it's cooked.  Drain the water along with the rice in a colander. 

The rice that will be left in the colander will be nice and fluffy and every strand will be seperate. I normally season this rice with some butter, garlic and whole cumin seeds and serve it with dahl or curry.


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## barrythurgood (Apr 18, 2006)

Alix

You are too cool for school - but you already know that - don't you?

Many Thanks

Barry


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## Alix (Apr 18, 2006)

Anytime Barry. Let me know if it works out for you. It hasn't failed for me yet.


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## Robo410 (Apr 18, 2006)

whole meal rice??? brown rice?? perhaps?? takes 40-45 minutes, same method as above.


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## bethzaring (Apr 18, 2006)

The only way I can cook a decent pot of rice is to cook it in a pressure cooker, turns out perfect every time.

I use long grain brown rice.  Rinse rice in a strainer, dump in pressure cooker.  Use 1 1/2 cups water for every 1 cup of rice.  Add water to pot and a bit of oil, cover and lock lid, heat to pressure, cook 15 minutes, turn off heat. Let pressure drop naturally.  Obviously, you can not peek with this method!  The rice turns out perfect.

One cup of dry rice makes about 2 cups cooked.  I was reminded in another post, to use meat broth instead of water when cooking rice.


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## masteraznchefjr (Apr 18, 2006)

hmm get a rice cooker? follow directions lol xD... 
well when u get a rice cooker like this, http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/techno/rice/images/toshiba01.jpg wash rice --> put rice in the rice cooker container here's the ratio for every 4/3 cups of rice add 2 cups of water in the container. add in 2/3 cup of water at the bottom of the rice cooker. place container of rice in and click the rice cooker on. once it clicks off its done. this works for mostly all rices.


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## vyapti (Apr 18, 2006)

My wife makes fine rice.  I make paste.  We do exactly the same thing.  I can't tell you why.

I finally admitted defeat and bought a rice cooker.  I've also boiled it in a big pot, like spaghetti.  This works fine for long grain rice, like basmatti or jasmine, especially for something like fried rice, where you don't want your rice at all sticky--Because it's not.


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## Robo410 (Apr 18, 2006)

the rice fairy doesn't like you!


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## mish (Apr 18, 2006)

Robo410 said:
			
		

> the rice fairy doesn't like you!


 
   Robo

You're not alone.  Years ago, I made brown rice in the microwave - it took about 40 mins? & came out a goopy, starchy mess.


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## masteraznchefjr (Apr 18, 2006)

goopy eh lol turn that to chinese rice gruel , add some preserved 1000 year old eggs and cilantro and little porc bits and theres a meal there and don't forget a little soy sauce paste.


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## jpmcgrew (Apr 19, 2006)

Another way to cook rice is to put rice in a baking pan pour in boiling water cover tightly with foil and bake in a preheated oven 350 degrees Im not sure how long I think it's 45 minutes.
Also consider that when you rinse rice with water you need to cut back the cooking liquid a little  that you add to rice as it has a certain amount liquid on the rice after you rinsed it,so it may have more moisture then you want possibly making it gummy.


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## BrianMorin (Apr 20, 2006)

barrythurgood said:
			
		

> Oh go on Alix - lifting the lid makes it all go puddingy? Wow!
> It was only a small peak - alright, I might have peaked more than once...
> 
> The problem is once you've failed at cooking rice, the need to look at it cooking is amplified.
> ...



I don't know if you have the same type of mesuring cups as I do, but I have a 2 cup /500 ml mesuring cup. I one side you see the fraction of a cup that you have and on the other side you have milliliters. So using a ration of 2:1 as my base I mesure out 2 cups of water. Then I mesure out 250 ml of rice, rince and drain. Wait for the water to boil. Through in rice, put on cover. Turn down heat to low simmer (not too low, the setting is about 2½ on the dial, although I don't have gas... Excuse me, I have gas from time to time, but my stove doen't).

Now the reason I went to the trouble of explaining the cups and metric mesurments is that 2 cups if slighty shy of 500 ml, which brings down the ratio of water to rice by a smigin (this is a very high tech mesurement that most people know nothing about   ). I find that this helps a lot in assuring that my rice comes out nice and light. I use basmati white usually.


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## BrianMorin (Apr 20, 2006)

Yakuta said:
			
		

> The method of cooking rice depends on the type of rice and what texture you are expecting.
> 
> Short grained rice have more starch and cook up mushier than whole grain (jasmine or basmati) rice.
> 
> ...




Thanks, that's a keeper


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## BrianMorin (Apr 20, 2006)

masteraznchefjr said:
			
		

> goopy eh lol turn that to chinese rice gruel , add some preserved 1000 year old eggs and cilantro and little porc bits and theres a meal there and don't forget a little soy sauce paste.




I think you call that a congi or something like that. I believe it is a thine oriental soup???


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## Gretchen (Apr 22, 2006)

What is "wholemeal rice". Use Uncle Ben's. 2 1/2C water to 1C rice. Put rice in boiling water, mix, cover and cook 20 minutes. Otherwise follow the directions on the rice you are using.


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## Diane1415 (Apr 23, 2006)

I just made some rice yesterday and I eat only brown rice
2 and 1/4 cups of water brought to a boil add 1 cup of rinsed brown rice bring to a boil again (you can stir it until it boils) lower the heat cover it and simmer it for 45 minutes, remove from the heat still covered set it rest covered for 10 minutes, uncover and stir, dump it into a bowl and voila.perfect.


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## fireweaver (Apr 23, 2006)

i absolutely can not get "minute" style rice to work - always ended up in that mushy soggy mess eeeew.  so first tip for rice is always use good rice.

the suggestion to get a rice cooker is A+++.  i totally love mine, and it was a cheap-o from walmart, so it didn't set me back any more than $25, and it's held up great for about 7 years now.  came with a little book from "yan can cook" that i promptly never used.  all i have to do with the cooker, which i've found to work great with any kind of rice including packaged mixes, is toss in the rice (rinse a couple times for plain rices) and add water to about 1.5cm more than top of rice level.  push button, don't peek, walk away.  poof, perfect rice.  the only consequence if i boo-boo on water level is having to get the baked-on bits off the bottom of the pot.


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