Is there a trick to cooking rice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May I tag on to this thread to ask how you get "Indian" style rice, by which I mean rice that isn't at all sticky, like I get at Indian restaurants? My rice always turns out at least a little bit sticky (even when I rinse well), much like the rice I get in Chinese restaurants. What's the secret to the Indian style? The type of rice?

Here is how we do it:

We rinse the rice thoroughly and then boil it in more water than the rice will absorb. Once cooked - you have to test it for whether it is done while it is cooking by checking out a couple of grains of rice. Once it is cooked, we drain the rice in a sieve and pour some hot water into the rice to remove any remnants of starch.

Then we return the cooked rice into the pot and heat it without water for about five minutes on a very very low flame.

[Anonymous]

I always had trouble getting rice the right texture and to get all the water absorbed using the stove top method. I'm sure all of the PPs are right that a rice cooker is the easiest way to go but I didn't want to buy and store another gadget. My friend told me a great way to make rice in the oven. It's so easy and consistently perfect.

Here's the recipe from America's test kitchen:


1 1?2 cups long-grain brown rice, medium-grain brown rice, or short-grain brown rice
2 1?3 cups water
2 teaspoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1?2 teaspoon table salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread rice in 8-inch-square glass baking dish.
2. Bring water and butter or oil to boil, covered, in medium saucepan over high heat; once boiling, immediately stir in salt and pour water over rice. Cover baking dish tightly with doubled layer of foil. Bake rice 1 hour, until tender.
3. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Fluff rice with dinner fork, then cover dish with clean kitchen towel; let rice stand 5 minutes. Uncover and let rice stand 5 minutes longer; serve immediately

[Anonymous]

rinse unless organic.

for brown rice, add it to water after it's boiling. And I always add slightly less water than the instructions call for - you can always add a bit later, whereas if you put too much, the rice is mush.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:rinse unless organic.

for brown rice, add it to water after it's boiling. And I always add slightly less water than the instructions call for - you can always add a bit later, whereas if you put too much, the rice is mush.

And never, ever stir when it's cooking!

[Anonymous]

Butter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May I tag on to this thread to ask how you get "Indian" style rice, by which I mean rice that isn't at all sticky, like I get at Indian restaurants? My rice always turns out at least a little bit sticky (even when I rinse well), much like the rice I get in Chinese restaurants. What's the secret to the Indian style? The type of rice?

Here is how we do it:

We rinse the rice thoroughly and then boil it in more water than the rice will absorb. Once cooked - you have to test it for whether it is done while it is cooking by checking out a couple of grains of rice. Once it is cooked, we drain the rice in a sieve and pour some hot water into the rice to remove any remnants of starch.

Then we return the cooked rice into the pot and heat it without water for about five minutes on a very very low flame.

This is good but time consuming, since you need to watch the pot. A rice cooker will easily do that for you. Remember to rinse several times before putting it in the pot. Also the type of rice and how long it has aged also affects texture. To get perfect separate grains, buy Basmati rice that has been aged at least 2 years( it will say that on the bag) - Indian store . Generally the proportion is 1 cup rice :2 cups or less of water. Add a tsp of oil and you should get perfect rice. I even make pulaos and biryanis directly in the rice cooker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rinse rice? Why? I am boiling it

Because you want good rice. You asked. We answered. But do as you want and keep eating crappy rice. Your choice.

[Anonymous]

Get a rice cooker. It's can be as cheap as $20 and as expensive as it can be over $70. It can be as small as 2 cups of rice or 5+ cups with fancy settings. It even has a marking on the inside to tell you how much water to pour in by the # of cups of rice. Then you push Cook or On. Your inside pot doesn't stick as much and it's easy to clean.
It takes about 20 minutes to cook the rice. During that time, you can cook the sides. A rice cooker usually last for several years. We've had ours for over 5 years and we use it every other day. And you can cook more and save it in the refrigerator for another night if you wish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May I tag on to this thread to ask how you get "Indian" style rice, by which I mean rice that isn't at all sticky, like I get at Indian restaurants? My rice always turns out at least a little bit sticky (even when I rinse well), much like the rice I get in Chinese restaurants. What's the secret to the Indian style? The type of rice?

Here is how we do it:

We rinse the rice thoroughly and then boil it in more water than the rice will absorb. Once cooked - you have to test it for whether it is done while it is cooking by checking out a couple of grains of rice. Once it is cooked, we drain the rice in a sieve and pour some hot water into the rice to remove any remnants of starch.

Then we return the cooked rice into the pot and heat it without water for about five minutes on a very very low flame.

We soak the rice, then rinse. Out some oil in the pot, heat it up and then put the rice in. Stir and let cook a bit until moisture is absorbed, THEN add your water, boil, lower heat to simmer and cover. Only takes a few
Minutes to cook, and when done, take lid half off to let steam out without it all getting too dry. You can add some cumin seeds into the oil at the beginning steps if you want cumin-rice.