Undercooked rice…

Cafe Society
1

I cooked over a cup of long grain rice for a recipe (separate from the “sauce”). I took it off the heat at the “right” time and finished the rest of the recipe. Only when my hungry ass opened the pot did I discover that there was still liquid left in the pot and the rice was obviously undercooked. I tried putting it back on low heat for five minutes, twice. Still undercooked after both attempts. I looked online, added a bit of water, and tried again for a shorter time. Still undercooked. I was so hungry that I gave up and ate some of the recipe. (The internet seems divided on how dangerous doing this is.)

Everything is now in the fridge. So given my previous attempts, is there anything else I can try? If not, I might end up cooking some short grain rice in my rice cooker for the rest of the recipe, even though it won’t have the added chicken flavor intended. Better that than also discarding the non rice parts, I guess…

2

Fried rice?

3

Sure, but that doesn’t do much for the rest of the dish I made the rice for.

4

Do you have a pressure cooker? That’ll fix it fast.

5

I feel your pain. No matter how scrupulously I follow instructions, I cannot make edible rice. I’ve even fucked it up in a rice cooker. (Okay, I didn’t follow instructions that time).

6

Do you have a crock pot? I cook long grain rice overnight on the lowest setting. But because I sometimes need fast rice for a recipe, or a delivery service has failed me, I keep some of this in the pantry. (Don’t know why, but the link seems to work only if you right click it for the dropdown menu, and then select “open in new tab.”)

It actually tastes good, and really is ready in a minute, although I usually add a pinch of salt on it, & 2 tsps of tap water, and cook it 1 1/2 minutes. They make a short-grain brown rice that I get for my dog, a sticky rice, a wild rice, and a yellow rice as well. Also, maybe jasmine, I don’t remember. It’s a very, very generous 1 person portion, or a doable 2-person, especially if it’s not the bulk of the dish.

As far as the rice you have in the fridge, here is what I would do: I’d put it on about 3/4 the heat that is recommended, warming up the burner first if it’s electric, put the pot on uncovered, and stir until it is heated thoroughly, then put on the lid, and leave it. If the heat is higher than 1/3 the burner’s power, vent it. Keep your ear on it it case it needs venting anyway.

I’m not sure exactly how long you should leave it, because I can’t see it, and I don’t know how long you cooked it before, but if it was chewable when you ate it, just way too al dente, and had absorbed MOST, just not all of the water, I’d guess around 1/4 of the recommended cooking time, but not less than 15 minutes. Again, keep your ear on it. If you think it was bubbling, and stopped, check it RIGHT AWAY.

When you take it off, you want a very small amount of water to be left. Leave it covered and unvented for about 10 minutes to absorb the rest of the water.

The last part is crucial, and why a crock pot on low works so well.

You can’t, in the experience of the three generations of women in my family in the US (my great-grandmother never trusted rice, and never used it), serve rice directly off the stove. It has to sit covered, off the heat for a bit.

I don’t know the physics of it, but as long as it is on the stove, it will have an al dente sort of texture, unless you keep adding water and overcook it to mush. Taking it off and letting it sit gets you soft, but separate grains.

Anyone know the science of it? I’m suddenly quite curious.

7

I used to never be able to properly cook rice without using one of the “boil in bag” products. Then I was clued into the magic of a rice cookers, and I will never be without one again. They are so easy to use. All you do is add rice using the measuring cup, add water to the indicated level in the pot, and press start. That’s it. Perfect rice about 20-25 minutes later.

I got mine on sale at Costco for less than $80. Here it is. It’s a “Tiger” brand (which is a knockoff of the premier Zojirushi brand, I think).

8

I don’t know if the type of rice has much to do with it, but when I started making it, I used basmati rice, following the time-honored Eastern secret of placing a cupful (or whatever measure you use) of rice in a pot, adding a cupful and a half of water, bringing it to a rapid boil and then turning the heat down to low, covering the pot and waiting a few minutes until the water has been fully absorbed. Works every time.

9

May I ask what “the right time” entailed? I know I have to cook my Lundberg wild rice for 45 minutes.

10

The time I messed up rice in a cooker was because I skipped the step where it said to rinse the rice. Turns out that’s actually important! There was all kinds of scummy water bubbling out of the cooker vent.

I’ve had some success with the “boil it like pasta” method, but that’s not quite cricket, is it?

11

I guess it depends on the rice you use. I usually use Basmati rice and rinsed it the first few times, but then found it wasn’t really necessary. But other types/brands might need a rinse first.

12

You can’t go very wrong with a 1.5:1 water to rice ratio, bring to a boil, simmer on low for 20 minutes. Or just throw the rice and water in a rice cooker and hit start.

13

I rinse first 1 cup of rice. Combine rice and water, about 1 3/4 cup in a sauce pan bring to a boil. Cover and simmer about 15 min. Remove from heat let it rest another 10 min.

14

I’ve made rice like this since I was a kid, and I’ve never had a problem. Rice is one of the easiest things to make.

15

If it’s actually wild rice, that’s not rice. It’s a different grain.

16

You do not even need a special rice cooker— with a normal pot you have to be careful not to turn the heat up too much or forget to turn it off, though!

The secret is, use the recommended cooking time and water ratio on the bag or sack (or look it up online if there is not one) because it will vary with the exact variety of rice. It might take 15 minutes, not 20–25 minutes. Or 45 minutes for that “wild” rice. Porridge will take a lot longer. Etc.

17

When in doubt with stovetop prep, lift the lid briefly at the theoretically cooked point. If the rice has little steam holes in it, re-cover and remove from heat for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

You can always add a lot of water or broth to undercooked rice and turn it into congee (jook) instead.

18

Use a microwave. Set on low power, pulse for 30 seconds with a lid. Taste. If it’s not yet done, repeat as often as necessary. Won’t be often.
Rice is easy to do on a microwave, but also easy to overcook. Letting it rest hot while still al dente is recommended.

19

You beat me! If I have only a cup or so of rice to make, I use the microwave.

20

My notebook is much like yours, @carrps and @Jackmannii 's. Stove-top rice in a 2-quart pot is a breeze. I can teach anyone to make it.

Regular ol’ white rice from usual American grocery store doesn’t require pre-rinsing unless you absolutely, positively must have well separated grains – no sticking together allowed! In SE Louisiana, rice is often the base for a “wet” dish like slow-cooked red beans, etouffe, gumbo, pot roast & gravy, etc. You don’t notice a little stickiness in the rice once you’ve ladled the main event on top.

In my experience, you can get away with not washing basmati, as well, though it’s somewhat of an inferior finished product if you skip the washing. A little sticky. Not too bad – when cooking for me and my wife, we don’t bother to rinse it (similar to Louisiana cuisine, saucy curries, kormas, etc. cover up any stickiness). Even without washing and not using a rice cooker, we can crank out basmati just as reliably as plain white rice.

Now then. Once thing I haven’t tried is cooking basmati rice that’s come from one of those huge 20-lb bags from the local Asian groceries. I suspect due to that packaging and handling – a huge quantity of dry rice grains sloughing off of each other for however long – that this specific kind of basmati rice really does need washing or else all that “starch dust” will gum up your finished rice but good.