First vote for a rice cooker. I haven’t done the cooking I used to for a couple of years now, but I pretty much exclusively used brown basmati rice, and never cooked it in anything but my rice cooker.
I’ve found that using 1¾ cup of water and a dollop of butter to a cup of basmati rice works. Put the butter in the water and bring to a boil (you want the butter all melted). Once it’s boiling, add the rice and stir it really well with a fork (the fork is apparently important, so said the Indian lady who told me how to do this). Bring to a boil once more. Once it’s boiling, cover and turn down to low heat (between 1 or 2 on an electric stove top) for 25 minutes. I cook it in an enameled cast iron casserole (Pfizerware, if you’re curious, a hand-me-down from my mom and the best rice cooker). I like to add a bit of salt and turmeric for flavour and colour.
This is for white basmati. I’m told brown takes longer to cook; something I’m likely to find out, as when this runs out I plan to switch to brown for the higher fiber content.
[NB: the Indian lady also told me to rinse the rice well before cooking, but I’ve personally not found it making a difference, so I skip that step.]
To make enough for two people: One cup of rice and two of cold water in a microwaveable bowl. Cover. Two minutes on high and 15 on defrost (650W oven). Remove and serve. Or on the stovetop, same proportions, bring to boil and simmer very slowly under cover. Don’t meddle with it. A clear cover will help you see when all the visible water has disappeared (have the occasional brief peek if you like) and when it has, give it another minute or so before removing from heat. If you don’t stir it, you will not leak starch into the water from broken grains and there is much less risk you will end up with anything sticking to the bottom, never mind burnt.
I was born in Sri Lanka, so rice is a staple food in our family. Mom cooks rice all the time; she uses an electric rice cooker. It comes out slightly moist but not waterlogged, crisp but not hard.
Mom has cooked rice without an electric cooker too, and really the all natural way isn’t better.
Dang. I came here with my helpful suggestion to use 1.75 cups of water and a dollop of butter for every cup of rice, and got ninjaed.
Then I learned something, so the effort wasn’t wasted.
Put a big dollop (1T or more) of butter in a pan. Add the rice, saute until the rice begins to brown. You can also add other whole spices at this point - cumin seed, coriander seed, etc.
Add the water, cover.
Cook at medium high for 13-15 minutes, until the water is gone but the rice is not burnt. You can open the cover and look occasionally - all that stuff about “never uncover cooking rice” is wrong.
After the water is gone, fluff with a fork, then cover and let sit another 10-15 minutes or so.
I follow the package directions and it works out perfectly every time. I think that simmering temperature is the key. I turn mine down to about the second lowest spot on the electric dial and leave it alone while it simmers according to the time on the package. Remove it from the heat and leave it alone again for about 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Works out perfectly every single time for me. The rice-to-water ratio is not approximate either. Measure this almost precisely.
I never started getting perfect rice until I got a rice cooker. They are fantastic. They also keep the rice warm for hours. If you eat a lot of rice (or even if you don’t) get one. They’re cheap.
I don’t use a rice cooker or butter but this is what I do. First, rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Then put it in a saucepan with half again as much water (so for four ounces of rice, use six ounces of water). Bring to a boil and then stir once. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for ten minutes (don’t remove the cover during this time). Then, move the pan off the heat and leave alone for five more minutes (again, without disturbing the cover). The rice should be cooked nicely, without excess water. I got these directions from the back of a bag of basmati rice.
For basmati, where you want individual grains, I rinse the rice 3 or 4 times until it runs clear (and then sometimes soak it for another 15 minutes and drain before cooking.) Then I follow the ratio of 1 cup rice to about 1 3/4 cup water. Put in saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover. Let cook 15-20 minutes. Turn off heat. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Fluff. I find there is absolutely no reason to uncover the rice at any point in the cooking process.
That’s where the rinsing part comes in. (Though I suspect you know that.)
Also, the real foolproof method is just to cook it up like pasta. Rinse the rice a couple times and cook it in WAY more boiling water than you need. Like, say, 4 cups or more for one cup of rice. Cook it at a full boil for 12-15 minutes, pour through a strainer, cover it with a towel for five minutes, and serve. You really cannot screw it up this way, and you get nice, individual grains of rice. I know that at least some (perhaps most) of the Indian restaurants around here do it this way.
But here’s the thing… If you rinse it, the rice is going to absorb a lot of water. If you still go by that ratio, won’t there be too much water? And some folks here use even more than that.
There doesn’t seem to be to me. About 1:1 3/4 still seems to work for me. I might go down to 1 1/2 cup water if the rice is really fresh, but usually 1 3/4 works. But, if you don’t want to stress yourself out, really, try the boiling/pasta method. It works really, really well. I do use that method when I’m making large batches (for like dinner parties) of rice and don’t feel like measuring everything exactly. You just can’t screw it up.
What am I doing wrong?