Best way to cook rice?

[becki1701]

She's something of an oddball isn't she

How......very....roood

 

[Cid]

I use a small plastic disposable cup for measuring, it's just right.

Anyway, the method is this:

1/2 a cup of rice for each person.

Put some cold water straight in the pan with it and swirl it around thoroughly with your hand to wash the starch off. Drain (you should just be able to tilt the pan and gently let the water out) and repeat.

Now add 1 cup of cold water per person and a pinch of salt.

Put the lid on the pan. Fully sealed, no gap left by a tilted lid.

Full heat until boiling.

Low heat to simmer.

DO NOT TOUCH IT UNTIL IT'S READY

This will take about 8-10 minutes. It is allowed to take a few grains of the top to test for done-ness.

When done, remove from the heat, remove the lid, and stir through ONCE with a fork. Leave to rest and cool for a minute or two.

Serve.

This method consistently gives me light fluffy rice with little stickiness. Some grains will stick to the bottom of the pan, but they can be scraped off with a spatula and are quite edible.

^^ this. Works for most types of rice too... I use less water for basmati (1.5) though. Overcooked rice shouldn't be much of a problem if you're doing it right, it sort of looks after itself.

 

[chico enrico]

As an alternative to splashing out on one of those expensive, high end rice makers, just get a japanese girl to move into your flat.

They can make excellent rice no matter how crap the rice-maker.

 

[coccinelle]

This is for white rice.

One cup of rice and a bit of salt in your pan. Add some oil (a spoonful or two)and heat the rice gently in the oil. Add two cups of boiling water. Reduce the heat to its lowest and put a lid on. Set your timer for exactly 20 minutes and when the timer goes off, turn off the heat and leave it for a few minutes without taking the lid off.

The rice will be perfect and it won't stick to the bottom.

 

[Mitre10]

I can usually come up with decent fluffy rice by giving basmati a quick rinse to remove starch in the pan and lobbing in an unmeasured quantity of boiling water (more than 2x rice).

Give it a quick stir to make sure the grains aren't stuck together and then simmer it.

I have then noticed that about a minute before the rice is done, the water level of the rice will rise again and the pan will needs turning down again so as not to boil over (having been at a constant simmer for 8 or 9 mins previous.

Into a sieve, more boiling water from kettle poured over to rinse, quick stir with a fork and finished.


I have never, ever seen anyone mention the water height/temp needing turned down just before its done before though so maybe I am a freak?!?

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Except for the dishes that obviously won't work with one-- notably, paella, jambalaya, Indonesian sticky rice or risottos-- I'm a countertop rice-cooker man all the way. Each kind of rice takes slightly different amounts of water; after a while it becomes second nature how much to use.

If you want rice that's single-grain and fluffy, rinse the heck out of it. If you prefer it chopstick-able, rinse it less.

 

[Thimble Queen]

This is the best way I have found for coooking rice.

For two people, three handfuls of rice

Wash rice with cold water and drain away water x3 this helps get rid of the starchy crud

Refill pan with cold water,
make sure rice is level in the pan
rest index finger gently on top of rice, do not push finger down to bottom of pan
water level should be at first line on inside of finger

Boil the rice up till most of the water is gone away, the rice will have little holes and water will bubble up through.

Turn the heat right down and cover with lid.... after five or so minutes your rice will be lovely light and fluffy!

This works for basmati, dont know about other kinds of rice.

Taught to me by Gujarati mother, who says my rice is better than hers

 

[dada]

thai jasmin rice is the best i reckon.
in student days, i used a saucepan when i didn't have a rice cooker in my dorm room.
add rice to boiled water, turn down fire to low, cover and done after 15 mins.
btw, the burnt hard brown bits at the bottom are the best bits for many people!

 

[Mrs Magpie]

My method is slightly different. I don't wash the rice, and it's always good and doesn't stick together. Never buy pre-cooked or any fancy-schmancy mucked about with stuff. I use basmati because it's the nicest I think, but basically this method is for long-grain rice. Not brown rice. Put the kettle on. Put a little bit of oil in the bottom of a decent pan with well-fitting lid (you'll need the lid later). If you are going to add haldi, or anything like that, do it at this stage. Put two cups of rice in the pan (the size of cup depends on how many people you need to feed) and stir around over a high heat. When it's hot, add three cups of boiling water (it will splash and bubble) and put the lid on tight and put it on the lowest heat. Wait until the water is absorbed (don't keep looking it takes about ten minutes I reckon, I don't time it, I've done it so often I just know when it's ready) take it off the heat . When the water is absorbed, fluff it up with a fork and put the lid back on for about five minutes.

Perfect rice every time.

 

[Xanadu]

This is the best way I have found for coooking rice.

For two people, three handfuls of rice

Wash rice with cold water and drain away water x3 this helps get rid of the starchy crud

Refill pan with cold water,
make sure rice is level in the pan
rest index finger gently on top of rice, do not push finger down to bottom of pan
water level should be at first line on inside of finger

Boil the rice up till most of the water is gone away, the rice will have little holes and water will bubble up through.

Turn the heat right down and cover with lid.... after five or so minutes your rice will be lovely light and fluffy!

This works for basmati, dont know about other kinds of rice.

Taught to me by Gujarati mother, who says my rice is better than hers

That's how my mum taught me. But we just end up using the rice cooker at home

 

[Firky]

I can cook almost anything but rice and omlettes

 

[barney_pig]

I use basmati rice, fill a measuring jug with rice to about 20fl.oz. soak in water for about 1/2 hour, Chop a small onion and fry in a little oil, in a large pan till sweated down.
drain the rice and pour into pan stirring the oil and onion so that it is evenly distributed through the rice.add 25 fl. oz of water. put the pan back on the heatwith the lid of the pan firmly onto the pan.
bring the water to the boil and allow to boil for 5 minutes, turn the heat off but keep the pan sealed and leave the pan to stand for 25 mins.
after 25 mins transfer to bowl and fluff with fork. leave to stand for a couple of mins and serve.

 

[Jazzz]

I am just looking at the zojirushi rice cookers... pretty expensive but I'd love something that did perfect rice

 

[moomoo]

I hate to admit this but I can't cook rice for toffee. I use microwave rice.

 

[Detroit City]

in a covered corningware casserole put one part rice and two parts water. add salt and butter. cover (but it shoud let steam out) and put in microwave for 15 minutes on high (this time is for one cup rice two cups water)

comes out perfecto every time

 

[Roadkill]

I agree with Orang Utan, tbh. I've never understood why some people insist on such complicated methods for cooking rice.

I just rinse it, stick it in a pan of boiling water, simmer until done, drain, rinse through with boiling water and serve. It's always worked fine for me.

 

[Cid]

I agree with Orang Utan, tbh. I've never understood why some people insist on such complicated methods for cooking rice.

I just rinse it, stick it in a pan of boiling water, simmer until done, drain, rinse through with boiling water and serve. It's always worked fine for me.

It makes the rice sort of wet, more soggy... Nasty.

 

[Orang Utan]

It makes the rice sort of wet, more soggy... Nasty.

Maybe if you use cheap rice - never does for me - I don't use a huge amount of water, but I've never been as precise as some of the suggestions on here

 

[Roadkill]

It makes the rice sort of wet, more soggy... Nasty.

Not IME.

 

[knatchbull]

I follow St Delia's method:

heat small amount of oil in pan
add in rice (half a mug for each person) and two times volume of water
Boil for 20 minutes or so until all the water is absorbed

This is generally the right amount of time it takes to cook in the oven one of the chilled currys from sainsburys

 

[felixthecat]

2:1 cold water to basmati rice.
Bring to boil and boil until you can see the rice - ie big bubbles coming thru it.
Cover, take off the heat and leave.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy perfect rice.

 

[felixthecat]

I can cook almost anything but rice and omlettes

I'm with you on the omlettes - I'm sooooooo rubbish at them. I think I need to get a proper omlette pan and then try again.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Not to get too far away from the topic, but omelets want a well-seasoned pan that's never been dunked into soapy water and never used for anything else.

 

[Herbsman.]

I'm with you on the omlettes - I'm sooooooo rubbish at them. I think I need to get a proper omlette pan and then try again.

try a cast iron frying pan

 

[Herbsman.]

Not to get too far away from the topic, but omelets want a well-seasoned pan that's never been dunked into soapy water and never used for anything else.

true, it seems that if you use them for something else, it causes your next omlette to stick!

 

[Chz]

Personally, I get best omlette results with a teflon pan. But it can't be too steep-sided, or it makes it tricky to slide it out.

Anyways, who can't cook an omlette? Melt some marg/butter in the pan, turn it up pretty high, pop the beaten eggs in, turn the heat way down, wait about 45 seconds, slide it out and fold it over.

 

[Orang Utan]

Mine ends up as scrambled eggs - it doesn't slide out, it sticks!

 

[ChrisFilter]

Mine ends up as scrambled eggs - it doesn't slide out, it sticks!

Yeah, same.

 

[Firky]

I'm with you on the omlettes - I'm sooooooo rubbish at them. I think I need to get a proper omlette pan and then try again.

I am not a massive fan of them as it is so I rarely cook them but I seem to get better results if I use water and not milk. I have a good solid cast iron frying pan that I bought before I went to uni years ago, it rarely gets washed so its nice and seasoned.

 

[baldrick]

dunno what you lot are doing with your omelettes

and i'm not sure why cooking rice is so complex, either?