How do you cook perfect rice?

badgermonkey

I always do basmati rice in the microwave in a large plastic bowl. I use a plastic Ikea tumbler to measure it and for two people I use one cup of rice and two cups of water. Then microwave it on high for 10 minutes and leave it to sit in the microwave for 10 minutes. Never fails! And I don't rinse the rice or anything.

Jay-Jay_4

SUCCESS!!!!!

I did it :j

I used 5 fl oz of rice and 10 fl oz water and did as you all said!

The rice did stick to the bottom of the pan a bit so I think I need to increase my water and decrease my rice by half a fl oz but it was a success!!

OH even said that it looked PROFESSIONAL!!!!!! (that's cos I added my Mum's yelow powder stuff )


So I'm converted from boil in the bag to REAL rice....does that make me grown up?

Bargain_Rzl

Congratulations Jay-Jay! :beer:

Trying2Save_3

This works for me! For 4 people - take a mug, fill with uncooked rice and tip into saucepan. Fill mug with water and put in saucepan, repeat, then half fill mug with water so you have one mug of rice 2.5 mugs of water. Bring to the boil, turn down heat on lowest setting, put lid on saucepan and leave to cook for 10/15 minutes. Do not take lid off too often as you are losing the steam. With practice you will know when its done. The rice will have absorbed all the water and you have perfect fluffy rice, I use the cheapest. for 2 people use a teacup of rice.

Curry_Queen

I see you've already had plenty of varied suggestions but I'll add my two penn'th as I actually made a pilau rice tonight to go with curry

I always use Basmati rice and wash and drain it well before use, then cook as follows:

* Pre-heat oven to Gas 3 (sorry don't know electric equivalent)

* Fry some finely diced onion in a couple of tablespoons of oil, along with some green cardommons, cinnamon stick and cloves, for a couple of minutes till soft (you could omit the onion as I noticed you said you don't like it)

* Add the drained rice and fry for a further minute or two.

* Add 1.5 times volume of cold water to rice (I use 2 cups of rice to 3 cups of water usually) and bring to the boil, then put lid on and leave to simmer on low for 5 minutes.

* Give gentle stir with fork so not to break rice then replace lid and simmer for 3 minutes. Repeat and cover for further 2 minutes.

* Remove from heat then sprinkle a pinch/drop of yellow and red food colouring onto rice (optional, depending whether you want to replicate an Indian take-away rice)

* Replace lid and put in oven for 15-20 minutes to finish cooking and set colours. (Time to prepare and cook curry then!)

* Stir with fork before turning out onto serving plate to distribute colours, and voila! ... the perfect pilau rice

I know it might seem a bit of a fussy process but I can guarantee that you'll end up with perfect fluffy rice, each grain separated and none stuck to the bottom of the pan

For plain rice, I follow the same procedure, again using Basmati rice, but omit the spices and colourings. You could add any variation of spice you wanted though.


Edit: ... while on the subject of spices can I add that it's a very good idea to label all your spices if you transfer them into jars! It's all well and good hoping you'll remember/recognise them, but paprika looks an awful lot like chilli powder when in plain glass jars :rolleyes:

(let's just say my curry wasn't as hot n spicy as it should have been tonight )

nearlyrich

Jay-Jay wrote:

SUCCESS!!!!!

I did it :j

Doesn't it feel good to master something new, well done Jay-Jay:j :beer:

filigree_2

I never had any trouble cooking rice, I must be some kind of freak (or just smug).

I've discovered the best results come from basmati, the value brands work just fine.

Rinse rice in two changes of cold tap water

Boil plenty of water in pan big enough for rice to expand

Dump rice in boiling water for about 8 minutes then taste it - might need another minute or two

Rinse with boiling water

Bob's yer uncle, lovely fluffy separated grains.

apple_mint

Mango wrote:

I always had problems cooking rice too, until my mom saved me and gave me these instructions:

heat a little oil in the pan first (if you want to add any 'hard spices' like cloves do it at this point). make sure you have washed the rice about 4/5 times to get rid of all the starch. put the rice in the pan and stir well, if you are adding any other spices put them in at this point and stir well (i always add a couple of bay leaves and a little salt). Add cold water - if i have used 1/2 cup rice i add 1/3 cup of water, rather than double the amount of water to rice as it easier to add a little extra water if you need it later on. Bring to the boil for about 30 secs. Then turn the heat right down to the lowest it will go on your cooker, cover with lid and just leave it. It usually takes about 20 mins to 1/2 hour to cook and you end up with perfect fluffy, tasty rice!

sorry if it all sounds a bit basic but its taken me years to progress from the sticky clumps too!

Mango - your technique worked perfectly for me - I just needed to keep adding a little water - found that I needed more than you mention here, but that is probably because I couldn't get the heat so low. I hadn't realised that my rice was not perfect until I tried your technique. Perfect separate fully grains. Thanks!

ti1980

I know I must seem to ask the most stupid questions but I really am clueless. Thanks to this section though I am learning all the time. :j

If I don't ask though I don't get and this has been an excellent place to get very good and helpful answers.

jobbingmusician

Measure rice by the cupful (an ordinary teacup will feed 2 people) and use a little bit more water than rice.

DO NOT STIR - it breaks up the rice and releases starch, so the rice gets sticky.

HTH