And now for an important discussion; or, about boiled food.
If I wash a cup of rice before cooking, how much less water do I use? What about oil?
Thanks!
If you “rench” your rice, then add water to allow one inch of water over the rice. Do not boil. The rice will steam nicely on low heat if covered. one tablespoon of peanut,canola, or good vegetable oil if desired,but it is not essential. If the bottom of the saucepan is scorched(a result of Doper lurking) then you have La Madre. Scrap and serve with red beans.
I usually don’t adjust at all if it was just a quick rinse. Are you using 2 cups water to one cup rice? That works for me and cooks nicely in the microwave, too.
Two cups to one. I used a little less. Still stick, dang it.
Thanks.
Foolproof rice instructions:
1 cup rice, rinsed or unrinsed. Rinsed is slightly less sticky.
2 cups cold water
Place rice and water in saucepan. Cover. Do not remove cover until instructed! Do Not Peek! Do Not Stir!
Turn on medium heat. When steam starts to escape from under lid (Do Not Remove Lid To Check!), turn heat down to very low.
Wait 20 minutes. Do not remove cover until instructed! Do Not Peek! Do Not Stir!
Steam should puff out from under lid for 20 minutes; if you don’t see any steam, turn up heat to very low, as you had it turned off before. Do not remove cover until instructed! Do Not Peek! Do Not Stir!
There is a secret to cooking rice, I hope you can decypher it from my cryptic instructions.
If rice begins to boil over, turn down heat to very low, as you had it too hot. Do not remove cover until instructed! Do Not Peek! Do Not Stir!
After 20 minutes, turn off heat, remove lid, fluff rice with a fork, and serve.
Really foolproof rice instructions – GET A RICE COOKER. The Japanese type.
Throw in water, throw in rice, turn on. Come back later, find perfect rice. This works for any sort of rice, you just have to use the right proportion of water to rice. Brown rice, for one, takes a ton of water.
GET A RICE COOKER.
I never follow instructions in caps.
May I peek?
Thanks all.
There is some secret to making non-sticky fried rice.
Why won’t anyone break down with it?
Is it some chemical?
What’s the deal with not taking the lid off or stirring the rice? I do that all the time, and my rice always comes out great.
They are trying to lull us into a sense of false security.
I can do it sometimes. Once frying it lightly and boiling it until it cratered made magnificent rice.
I think it’s sun spots or perhaps barometric pressure.
P.S.
EVERYBODY peeks.
Some people have higher standards, I guess.
Kind of. You see, rice breaks down into a sticky mess as you cook it and some types of rice break down faster than others. If you’re using a short grain rice (the more common type in Asia) then you have to let the rice cool down entirely before you fry it. It will still be sticky but it should be managiable. On the other hand, if you’re lazy you can use a long grain rice (the type commonly available here in the US) and just don’t fry it for very long. That’s what I do typically when I’m just making fried rice for myself and I never have a problem with it being too sticky.
Also you can take the lid off rice before it’s done. You really shouldn’t but you can. As long as the lid is replaced quickly you won’t have any real problems. The thing is that you’re steaming the rice; keeping the lid on helps the rice absorb the moisture. I typically start checking at about ten minutes but you’ll get a feel for the time after you’ve gotten used to doing rice.
Technically you can do rice without the lid but I don’t recommend doing it unless you’re in a cooking emergency. Different types of rice have different water requirements (again, short grain needs less, long grain is roughly 2:1 water ratio, and wild rice which just has the husk still on it needs a bit more) but you should double or even triple the water level. Bring to a boil, then simmer down. You’re going to have to sample the rice from time to time to see if it’s done and when it is drain off the excess water. It takes a lot longer, and is going to provide less consistant results (I’ve never had to do it with short grain and I would be concerned with it breaking down too quickly) but it can be done.
I made a minor error, in that post. I meant brown rice, not wild rice. Wild rice is a different plant than rice and brown rice is the one that hasn’t had the outside removed.
Second vote for a rice cooker.
When my wife told me how much she paid for ours I thought she was nuts (it was about $120.00), but it is without a doubt the best “fire and forget” cooking appliance we have.
I have neither the space, money nor disposition for another appliance.
Come one guys, this isn’t rocket science. It’s been done for a long time with a hot rock.
I have a “Nuero Fuzzy Logic” Rice Cooker by (sp?) Zoijurushi. It kicks butt. You can dump in all the ingredients in the morning and tell it to have nice finished rice the minute you walk in the door that night. It keeps it warm for days. You can set the hardness, or make porridge. It compensates automatically for white or brown rice. You can season the rice easily with tea, seaweed, or anything else, without worrying that it’ll break up or scald. Perfect rice every time.
As far as rice washing goes, the traditional japanese way is to wash five or six times till clear, and then dry the rice on a bamboo strainer. Of course, that takes forever. But, the other nice thing about a rice cooker is that it has measurements on the side: you don’t put in a “cup of water” you just fill until it hits the line for the appropriate amount of rice. This means that if water has swelled the rice any, displacement automatically compensates. Plus, the NeuroLogic compensates for small discrepancies anyways. 
And you can just wash the rice right in the non-stick bowl, carefully dumping out the water each time.
Okay, I’ll stop shilling. They (the good ones that are actually worth getting) are expensive, and making good rice in a pot isn’t THAT impossible. But they really do make life easier.
Toshiro Mifunini didn’t have no stinkin’ rice maker.
Mifinuni don’t need no stinkin’ rie maker.
It’s very simple. Stop worrying about wasting water. Stop trying to steam the rice. Just boil it.
- Rinse the rice to your taste.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (say, 3-4 cups to every cup of rice).
- Add salt, pepper, and butter/oil to taste.
- Dump the rice in.
- Boil until tender (about 15-20 minutes), stirring occasionally.
- Drain rice in a colander.
This results in tasty, fluffy, non-sticky rice every time. For best results, learn to make a roux to go with it.
Blah blah blah, go home and whittle fish bones, Ota faction.
Let’s you and him fight.