perfect rice?

[ged.medland]

Tired of soggy rice?
1 cup basmati rice to 1and 1/2 cups of BOILING water!Cook on medium heat stirring now and then,until liquid dissolved!VOILA.
for adherents of frugality and one pot cooking,veggies can be added at start and will be 'nutty'at end of process!
enjoy!
atb
ged,
BTW,am still LOL over 'Mercy to Marrows' posts!sheer excellence!!!!!!!!!!!!

[woolcraft]

I've found this works well also: Required amount of rice in pan - cover with BOILING water by 1" exactly. Cook very gently until all water absorbed.

Particularly good served with Marrow"

Sue

[zombiecazz]

I cook my rice in the microwave.
1 cup of rice, seasoning, 2 cups of boiling water cook on high for 13 minutes.

[aussie]

Here's the standard long-grain SE ASian method: Wash the rice in the cooking pot (you need one with a tightly fitting lid) until the water runs clear, then fill with water exactly the height of one adult knuckle above the surface of the rice. Cover, and bring to the boil. Stir the rice, cover again (I put a weight on top of the lid) and turn down the heat as low as possible. Cook for exactly 15 minutes. Every grain will be seperate, - if you want to add tumeric, or saffron, or creole spices, or anything else to flavour the rice, add it when you stir before covering the pot for the second time.
Works for short-grain, Aborio,everything except Basmatti types.

[Jack]

Gidday

Well I have in the distant past owned and operated a restaurant and this is how I cook my rice.

Use a very lage pot almost full of water bring to hard boiling then add rice into the boiling water and keep boiling for 13 or 14 minutes then strain. Real E.Z.

[Tay]

I have only recently managed to get rice just right. Regardless of amount of water, or any other factors, I have found that the pan is the crucial thing. Rather than use a normal saucepan, I started to use a deep frying pan. I seem to be able to get the rice to cook more evenly this way, so it is always light and fluffy.

One question, I have read in many books that rice should never be disturbed when it is cooking, but have also read that it should be stirred. Any idea as to which method is correct?

[aussie]

The method I have described gives you steamed rice, in which case the grains are larger and seperate. In this case, you only stir the rice before you cover it prior to the 15 minutes steaming. This is the method used in Chinese and Asian restaurents. The method Jack describes is boiling, and it doesn't matter how many times you stir it.

[Tay]

Thanks for that, Aussie. I'll try both methods (steaming and boiling) and see how they go.

You said that steaming is no good for basmati rice... Why is that, and what should you do instead? Boil it?

[aussie]

Yeah, Tay, I find it absorbes too much water, because it expandes more than ordinary long or short grain- and it cooks faster. Also, it doesn't seem to need pre-washing to remove the excess starch which makes ordinary rice gluggy. It has a much lower GLI, as well.
Makes great biriani and pilaf.

[Tay]

Great. I think that these have been my problems. I rarely bother with the pre-washing of normal long grain, so end up with 'gluggy' rice (very apt description!). With basmati, I tend to not add enough water, and then when it's dry, add too much so it goes sticky.

The frying pan method has helped with basmati rice, though. As you say, it cooks more quickly than other types, so I think the frying pan helps it to cook more evenly than a regular saucepan.

[Jack]

Gidday

As long as you have plenty water in it you don't need to pre wash it but the odd stirr does help I think.

[Pilsbury]

I do rice by adding 1 1/2 times as much water to rice, bring to a hard rapid boil then stir once and cover with a tight lid and turn it off. it will continue cooking and absorbing the water and come out seperate and fluffy and it uses less power as well

[Martin]

into saucepan of boiling water pour one cup full of basmati rice - stir while it returns to the boil (to stop it sticking), and keep boiling for 10 minutes precisely - no lids! - chuck into colander - done! - perfect every time!

[lorax]

Ken Hom's method works great for me:-

Measure rice up to the 400ml line of a measuring jug. Cover with water and leave to soak for about 20 mins. Rinse & drain the rice and then put it in a pan with 600ml of water and a bit of salt (& stir). Bring to the boil with the lid off and boil hard until "craters" appear in the rice. Put the lid on, turn the heat down real low & cook for 15 mins. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 mins. The rice is then ready to serve.

This should serve 4.

I often cut the recipe in half and it still works fine

[mybarnconversion]

Amazing ... how many ways are there to cook rice? Seems to be one per cook!

My tip is to wash rice thoroughly before cooking and leave to soak for at least 30 minutes before cooking.