It should clump a littl bit.
Everybody’s going to have a fit over this, but I recommend using Uncle Ben’s Boil in Bag rice. I tried this after reading a “Cook’s Illustrated” article that rated it as the second best rice in a blind tasting of 13 different types of long-grained white rice. It always comes out perfect, and is incredibly easy to make. No rice cooker needed, and no dirty rice pans to clean. Just throw a bag in water and let it boil for 10 minutes. Granted, it’s more expensive than standard rice, but you can’t beat the combination of convenience and high quality.
Being Chinese has nothing to do with it. Your statement just implies that she is either lazy or too busy to use ordinary methods. For these people, and others who see any kind of kitchen activity as nothing more than a chore, a rice cooker is not a bad idea.
That goes for you too, Athena! 
Having spent a lot of time in the third world I can tell you that every little newly electrified hovel gets a rice cooker before they even consider a TV! Laziness my ass.
They make the rice perfectly and keep it perfect for hours.
Every household with power has one.
I agree there are a thousand ways to make rice. It’s preparation is the source of much snobbery in SE Asia, Chinese don’t like how the Malays do it, the Thais don’t like how the Indonesians do it and on and on.
But as soon as they can, they all get rice cookers.
If you like rice, that’s perfect every time, get yourself a rice cooker, you will not be disappointed. I have already worn one out. Mine’s a National, which I saw in almost every home I was in, so I knew they knew rice!
Most people outside of Asia do not eat rice for its vitamin or mineral content. Rice serves as a starch and there are many other foodstuffs that provide the complement of minerals and vitamins necessary.
Properly cooked food will encourage people (especially children) to eat a more well rounded diet. Unless you are vegan, on a macrobiotic diet or living in poverty there is no real reason to be concerned about getting the full nutritive value out of your rice. There are so many other ways to get it that the palatability of the food is of greater concern.
I know that this reflects a standard devil-may-care wasteful Western mentality, but enjoying a good meal is more important to me than worrying about a few pennies of nutritional value easily found elsewhere.
So, Attrayant, I shouldn’t use a method that has proven to be both simple and results in very high quality rice, simply because it’s not the traditional way of cooking rice? Although I am busy, I am certainly not lazy, and will not use convenience methods that produce less-than-quality results.
Note that the OP said “Plain White Rice.” I don’t consider Jasmine rice to be “Plain White Rice.” It’s a premium quality rice, and although I like it, I simply don’t eat enough rice to justify buying a 25 or 50 pound bag of rice, storing it, and dealing with the moths that eventually collect when I don’t eat it quickly enough (Yes, I’ve done it before!)
That said, I challenge anyone out there to a taste test with the “Boil In Bag” rice. I’m just as much of a food snob as anyone, and when I first read the blind tasting that resulted in the Unka Ben’s being recommended I was as dubious as anyone. But I tried it, and it really is better than most of the plain white rice out there for sale. Easier, too. The only drawback is that it’s pricey.
There is also a hidden price. I know that this sounds ironic, coming on the heels of my “who cares about nutritional value” post, but there is an extreme hidden cost to your boil-in-the-bag- product.
It’s called “overpackaging”. Imagine if every single serving of rice had to come out of a cardboard box, each of them held in a separate plastic bag. Minding the fact that rice feeds more people in this world than just about any other source of food, the entire planet would soon be awash in boxes and bags.
I know that this is not a very sexy subject, but buying a large paper sack of rice has a lot less impact on this planet. If your household consumes rice on a dialy basis, go ahead and get a rice cooker. I view them as a space consuming over-specialized appliance of dubious merit. If others are able to enjoy their food by using a rice cooker when they otherwise wouldn’t, go right ahead.
I just feel that over-consumption and over-production of goods has combined with over-packaging to accellerate the rape of this planet.
Hey Bub, are you implying that my unrinsed rice is improperly cooked and un-enjoyable? (slaps Zenster briskly about the face with kidskin glove)
I think Ukelele Ike was right. People can get fired up over plain ol’ rice.
Seriously, there’s no benefit that I can see to rinsing. It’s more work, you lose vitamins, and my rice comes out just fine without it. Frankly, since I usually make Pilaf I can’t rinse it. It’s tough to sautee wet rice.
Well, I have a rice cooker and it was okay when I had a bigger kitchen, but I found it a bit awkward, especially for making small amounts of rice.
The method I use for all type of rice is this:
One part rice (I never bother rinsing it)
Two parts water (a little more for brown rice)
Bring to a boil, covered, then immediately turn it to the lowest simmering heat your stove can manage. Cook until water is almost absorbed, then turn off the heat and let it stand, covered, for 5 or 10 minutes, or until the rest of your dinner is done.
This seems to work with all kinds of rice. The long grain ones stay well-separated, the short grain ones stay nice and sticky, as they should (for sushi, etc.), and I never have trouble with crunchy, undercooked rice.
If you want the grains absolutely separated, used converted rice or use a pilaf method where you saute the grains in oil or some other fat before cooking them.
I buy a big bag of Basmati rice at Sam’s Wholesale. No problem keeping it. I just keep it in the fridge.
Glad you’re seeing things my way!
I didn’t say that you were. What I said was:
Re: Refrigerating Rice-
I have never refrigerated rice. Like dried pasta, I have found that it stays edible for a long, long time. It sometimes taked me 2-3 months to go through 25 lbs of rice, and once I found an old bag that was still about 1/5 full. It must have been nearly a year old and it cooked up just fine.
I refrigerate rice not to keep it but to keep it free of undesirable elements, such as moths, bugs, and the like. I don’t want any outside force seeking entry to my home by the enticement of rice. I used to keep bread in a plastic, tightly covered breadbox. One day when I arrived home, I saw a cockroach attempting entry(unsuccessfully) in my breadbox. So now I keep bread either in the fridge or freezer. Bread will, of course, spoil in a few days anyway. By keeping in the freezer,I give it a longer life. Just pop it in the microwave for a minute. (I always buy flatbread, Greek bread, or pita bread.)
I disagree with this. I use my rice cooker to steam vegetables and potatoes and to cook eggs, as well as to cook rice. It even has a little removable partition thingy so that you can cook two things at the same time. Also, it has a little mechanical timer that can be used to time something else when you’re not using the cooker. I get more use out of it than my microwave.