Why am I so incompetent at cooking rice?

[L CC]

Don't bother. Rice is filthy foreign muck and you should be eating barley.

[Mr Larrington]

Barley is needed for BEER.  Stick to gruts and you'll be fine.

[Polar Bear]

OK, so here is the test today.

Water:rice ratio 2.5:1

Pinch of salt in water and bring to boil.

Add rice which ahs been well rinsed.

Simmer rice until the water has visibly disappeared which took 12 minutes.

Leave off heat but in pan for 15 minutes.

Result pending ...

[Polar Bear]

Rice was excellent.  What I have learned is that I need to pay more attention to what I am doing.

Thanks folks.  👍

[CrinklyLion]

And they say that you can't teach an old dog bear new tricks

[campagman]

Does anybody pre-soak their rice? I've tried a couple of times, speeds up the cooking a bit.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yes. Rinse, soak, rinse again, cook. But only if I've been organized.

[pcolbeck]

Our daughter in law doesn't get how anyone can screw rice up. Mind you that might have something to do with her being from Hong Kong. Also when her and Pcolbeck junior moved in together one of the first things she bought was a rice cooker.

[SoreTween]

Just bring plenty of water to the boil, bung in your rice & stir.  Add salt if desired (I don't).  Fill kettle & boil.  Cook rice for as long as the packet says on a not too vigorous boil adding more water from a kettle if it starts to run out.  Test, cook another minute, test, repeat until correct.  Bung into a colander & run under a cold tap, this stops it cooking any further and rinses it. You can do this part any quiet time before or during the cooking of the main course.
When ready to serve top up kettle & re-boil then pour over over the rice to reheat.

No faffing about with relative volumes.  No having to time it right.  Just perfect fluffy basmati every time.

[ian]

The entire population of Asia recoils in shock and bewilderment.

[SoreTween]

   My Indian step father taught me that method.  I confess ICBA with the type of cooking pot he used for both cooking and rinsing.  I'd always scald my hands and (not or) loose half a portion down the sink.

I have a rice cooker but find this less faff.  I just don't dig stodgy basmati (or long grain).  Stodgy is correct for paella or risotto rice.

[hubner]

I think there's 2 basic methods; boil and drain, absorption.

The difference is that you end up with separate grains with boil and drain, whereas with absorption you get rice that clumps together.

[hubner]

I have a rice cooker but find this less faff.

With a rice cooker, you add rice, add water, swish it around for 2 seconds, pour off the water, add water, press a button, that's it (takes about 30 seconds).

If doing it manually in a pan, watch for when all the water is absorbed when no more steam is coming out of the pan.

No relative volumes, no instructions, no measuring, no timing, no kettle, no testing, no draining, no colander, no reheating.

 

[SoreTween]

You missed out a few steps:

• Get the rice cook....
• Clear all the tqt in front of the rice cooker out of the way
• Get the rice cooker out of the cupboard.
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Clear space on worktop sufficiently close to a socket
• Search kitchen for the book of notes containing the water ratio for various rice types.
• Guess water ratio
• <steps as noted>
• Clean rice cooker by hand (vs bunging pan & colander in wishdosher)
• Remove tqt from cupboard.
• Store rice cooker
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Bung cable you forgot to put in the bowl on top of tqt because you can't be arsed to take it all out again and the lid won't lift in the cupboard.
• <until next use>
• Open cupboard
• Pick up tqt from floor and return to cupboard minus item of tqt required today.
• Balance cable on top of tqt again

[Kim]

Bonus points if your kitchen only has one socket^[1], because landlords.  Half of which is permanently occupied by the kettle, because tea.


_{[1] Not counting the ones behind the fridge and washing machine.}

[Mr Larrington]

You missed out a few steps:

• Get the rice cook....
• Clear all the tqt in front of the rice cooker out of the way
• Get the rice cooker out of the cupboard.
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Clear space on worktop sufficiently close to a socket
• Search kitchen for the book of notes containing the water ratio for various rice types.
• Guess water ratio
• <steps as noted>
• Clean rice cooker by hand (vs bunging pan & colander in wishdosher)
• Remove tqt from cupboard.
• Store rice cooker
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Bung cable you forgot to put in the bowl on top of tqt because you can't be arsed to take it all out again and the lid won't lift in the cupboard.
• <until next use>
• Open cupboard
• Pick up tqt from floor and return to cupboard minus item of tqt required today.
• Balance cable on top of tqt again

• Have the phone number of the nearest Chinese/Indian takeaway to hand.

[hubner]

You missed out a few steps:

• Get the rice cook....
• Clear all the tqt in front of the rice cooker out of the way
• Get the rice cooker out of the cupboard.
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Clear space on worktop sufficiently close to a socket
• Search kitchen for the book of notes containing the water ratio for various rice types.
• Guess water ratio
• <steps as noted>
• Clean rice cooker by hand (vs bunging pan & colander in wishdosher)
• Remove tqt from cupboard.
• Store rice cooker
• Return tqt to cupboard
• Bung cable you forgot to put in the bowl on top of tqt because you can't be arsed to take it all out again and the lid won't lift in the cupboard.
• <until next use>
• Open cupboard
• Pick up tqt from floor and return to cupboard minus item of tqt required today.
• Balance cable on top of tqt again

Luckily, I don't need to do any of that.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I used to have a bread maker, which sat permanently on the kitchen worktop despite not being used every day. I reckon if I had a rice cooker, it would do the same.

[Kim]

Obviously what's needed is a combination breadmaker / rice cooker.

[markcjagar]

I used to have a bread maker, which sat permanently on the kitchen worktop despite not being used every day. I reckon if I had a rice cooker, it would do the same.

I use mine every time I eat rice, which varies from 1-4 times a week

[Basil]

Obviously what's needed is a combination breadmaker / rice cooker/coffee machine

[Cudzoziemiec]

Flat-top wholemeal with rice milk, please, barista.

[citoyen]

Last night, I cooked rice in the Instant Pot, using the auto rice setting. I've done this before and have had good results when using brown rice. But last night I used white rice and it came out as a mushy overcooked lump of stodge. My wife says it's because I used too much water, but I'm sceptical. I think I should have reduced the cooking time by about half.

In future, I shall stick to my usual hob method. I can't see any real benefit to using the Instant Pot - it's no quicker. In fact, when you factor in how long it takes to get up to pressure, it's actually slower than doing it on the (induction) hob. I haven't measured the relative energy consumption but I doubt there's a significant saving in using the Instant Pot.

[Woofage]

Our daughter in law doesn't get how anyone can screw rice up. Mind you that might have something to do with her being from Hong Kong. Also when her and Pcolbeck junior moved in together one of the first things she bought was a rice cooker.

When Miss W was a PSO we bought her a fairly expensive Zojirushi rice cooker. It's an essential piece of kitchen apparatus as far as we're concerned.

Apart from the exact water quantity slow simmer method, I think my best results have been to boil until nearly cooked, rinse, and then steam to finish off.

[Slave To The Viking]

Aaarrggh! How dare you boil and drain it?! Heresy! Cultural vandalism! Etc.

However. Here on planet Earth, if you want something that cooks in water but isn't served in water, then page 1, line 1 is "cook it in water then remove it from water". If you want something starchy to not be stuck together with starch, then it's pretty elementary to rinse the starch off it. And - here's the kicker - doing that does work.

If you develop a snazzy little bit of technique that rinses it first then evaporates the right amount of water at the right rate, then great, but it isn't necessarily...well, necessary.

However. A pilau-ish technique is pretty good too, and the oil helps reduce the clumping even more. Rinse your rice - I steep for a while then sluice through - when the water's not too cloudy, you're fine. Fry it in a little oil, until start to go slightly translucent and maybe colouring ever so slightly. Then add boiling water at a ratio of 1 pint/half a pound of rice (doesn't have to be tupenny). So weigh your rice before starting. Obviously.

Up to a boil, down to a simmer. Lid on. About 15 minutes. Check after 10-ish. Leaving it to sit for a wee bit after cooking can result in crunchy little browned bits, if that's your thing - some people love it. You can season and add various spices during the frying stage, add cardamom pods and bayleaves and whatnot to the boiling water while you fry the grains, bung extra bits in while you fry...go full on curry-house and streak the top of the finished rice with dilute food colouring then stir it all through.