Whats wrong with my rice??

jonny2510

OrkneyStar wrote: »

lol your post made me notice my typo .

lol I didn't notice it actually, but I've edited the quote to match...

nickyhutch

maypole wrote: »

I use 1 cup rice 2 cups BOILING water cook with lid on for 15 minutes, seems to work ok. Delia taught me that;) I always heat tiny bit of oil just to coat the rice first, it also heats up the pan a bit.

She taught me that too

And you can fry some onion/spices/nuts/seeds/whatever in the oil first, too, for fancy rice. Never fails.

maypole

nickyhutch wrote: »

She taught me that too

And you can fry some onion/spices/nuts/seeds/whatever in the oil first, too, for fancy rice. Never fails.

Absolutely, she never lets me down;)

Primrose

After several burnt pans as a newlywed trying to use the absorption method I've long since abandoned it and throw my rice into a large saucepan full of boiling water and boil for 12 minutes. It never fails and you don't have to keep checking it.

Coveredinbees!!!!

It did it again last night, I think Asda basmatti rice isn't that good as I never had the trouble with branded rice (trying to save money)

missbargain

I agree with you, I often find that value items are not good quality. For me, it often turns out to be the false economy, as I don't enjoy the taste/texture and I always go back to the branded items I know.

Also, I know this requires spending a bit more money, but if you cook rice regularly, I can not reccomend highly enough getting a rice cooker.
I bought one after years of struggling with cooking rice (sometimes good, sometimes not), and I could not believe I didn't buy it earler. Perfect rice every time!!! And it cooks without the supervision (or mess), so it frees you to do other things.

You can now pick them up quite cheaply in Argos, or online (maybe even ebay if you are brave). Perhaps there will be some in the sales after Chrissie.

I use Tefal, round one, grey with black lid, it is EXCELLENT. All you do, put the rice in, put water on top, close the lid and press the "cook" button.
There are instructions for quantities of rice:water ratio in the booklet, but I experiment and sometimes put slightly more water than it says in the booklet.

It cooks the rice perfectly and even though it is relatively big (but not huge), it is very light in weight, so can be easily put away somewhere else after cooking if you don't have enough space on your worktop. And sooooo easy to clean, as it is non stick. You can also cooks stews and steam veggies in it.
Anyway, enough rattling from me. I just wanted to suggest this, because it changed my cooking life, now I cook rice much more often, serve it with many things (fish, noodles, stews) and the cooking is a breeze.

P.S.
Failing this, before we had the rice cooker, my husband bought some "easy cook" rice which I think you cook in the bag it comes in. I am always suspicious of things like these, but this was a good brand item and the rice was delicious, fluffy, light and perfect. It is not microwave rice (I don't own the microwave oven), it is still cooked on the stove, but in it own bag.
If you are interested, I will find out from him what brand it was, I believe that it is widely available in larger supermarkets.
Just remembered, when I used to cook rice myself, I used Deliah's recipe from "How to cook" book, and that was the recipe that worked for me the best.

misskool

My mum taught me how to cook great rice and it's never failed with any type of rice, cooks in any pot and never sticks.

Pour rice into pot. Wash rice twice and fill with water. Now stick your thumb into the rice and measure off where it is. Then rest the bottom of the thumb on the top of the rice and measure for the same of water. Add more if not enough and tip some out if too much.

Then bring the rice & water to a quick boil, turn down to simmer for approx 8 mins and turn it off while there's a bit of water in the pot. Then leave for 2-3 minutes. The rice absorbs the rest of water and doesn't stick to the pot.

Tim_L

Really easy method.

Equal quantities of tescos/asda basmati rice and water, maybe just a smidge more water. Don't wash it or mess it around, just rice in the saucepan and the water. I use about a cupful per two people.

Bring to a fast boil quickly full blast with a lid on the pan. Then reduce heat completely (on an electric cooker turn the ring off, on a gas cooker turn the heat down to minimum for 5 minutes, then turn it off). Keep the lid on.

Then just leave it for between 25 and 45 minutes. It will stay warm, and it will absorb perfectly without burning. The key is getting the heat right off, not even simmering heat, it will stay warm.

Someone needs to do a comparison test of these methods, lol.

Pitlanepiglet

My version is similar to Tim's no fuss version.

Put Basmati rice into a pan, put in double the amount of water (so 1 cup rice, 2 cups water etc.), bring to the boil WITHOUT a lid, then bang a lid on it and turn the heat off. Leave it alone for 20 to 30 minutes or so and the rice will absorb all the water and cook beautifully. The real bonus is that it doesn't ever get burnt onto the bottom of the pan and you don't have to go near it.

I bought easy cook rice the other day as it was cheaper than Basmati but it was awful, I couldn't cook it at all - the only thing it was any good for was putting in the slow cooker with about an hour left to go with the stew!

maman

jonny2510 wrote: »

Off the top of my head I.. (most measures were halved as the recipe was for 6, and there are only two of us)

Glad there's someone else out there with a healthy appetite! It's years since I stopped regularly cooking for 4 but I still make us huge portions.