The Lemon Fool

If anyone has the secret to cooking rice, producing that light fluffy texture, could they please share it?
We have a rice cooker, we have tried washing the rice beforehand or not, but it still tends to form a solid clump.
We usually use Sainsbury or Tesco Basmati rice - should we try something else?

I use (I think) the Delia method.

I just bung some rice in a pan with a lid, add a comparable amount of water, bring to the boil, and simmer slowly until all or most of the water has been absorbed. Normally around 15 minutes. I use a fork to move some of the rice to ascertain how much water is left. Then just leave it with the lid on while I plate the rest of the meal.

Never, EVER, stir the rice.

100% simple and reliable.

I generally use Uncle Ben's long grain rice, but it works perfectly well with any other rice I've tried.

--kiloran

P.S. Never, EVER, stir the rice.

Depends what sort of rice you use but I find the finger joint method pretty foolproof...as taught by my Chinese mother!

Basmati will give more separate grains but ordinary long grain or jasmine rice will tend to be more sticky which is the way you need it if you are Chinese since individual grains are difficult to eat with chopsticks!

Take whatever quantity of rice you require and rinse it three or four times under cold water...you can rinse more if you want it less sticky.

Then fill the pan with cold water to cover the rice by one finger joint.

Bring to the boil and when it comes to the boil, stir it to free it from the bottom of the pan...do not stir again.

Turn heat down to minimum with lid on, after a few minutes have a peek and if you can no longer see any water above the rice, switch off the heat.

Place a clean tea towel over the pan and replace lid to give a tight seal.

Leave for ten minutes or twenty or longer if you like.

When you need it, lift the lid and the rice will be perfectly cooked.

John

12+12 it's foolproof for white rice/basmati.
Out oil in pan, add rice, story a bit. Add boiling water, put gas down to lowest level and cover. Leave for 12 mins. Then switch off gas and leave for 12 mins without touching. After that, remove lid, fork over, and y you will have perfect for rice. Simples.

I use a rice cooker, albeit a commercial one. Its does need 'agitating' once its done to produce the fluffier texture but not really a problem, oh and I don't usually rinse the rice. I use Tilda basmati rice. You could try reducing the water to rice ratio, 1.25:1 by volume works ok for me but different rice cookers and brands of rice may need more or less.

TonyB

Cooking perfect rice every time, via the absorption method, is a doddle. Everyone's take on it is a variation on the same theme: use the appropriate quantity of water; very gentle (indirect) cooking heat; leave for sufficient time.

There's a surprising amount of variation possible in those 3 things that still leads to good results, so you don't need to be too prescriptive (hence the various methods that work).

Having said that, here's precisely what I do if using a gas hob:

(1) On the smallest ring, preheat at full gas one of these heat diffusers:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-S ... 000YJ9GOI/

(2) Weigh out into a smallish pan my quantity of Basmati rice (eg. 100g)

(3) To the rice in that pan add between 1.5-1.75 times the weight of rice in boiling water (eg. 150-175g boiling water).

(4) Place lid on pan and bring to a rapid boil using full gas on a medium ring, giving a quick stir with a fork just as it hits the boil, replace the lid and switch off the medium ring.

(5) Immediately place the pan onto the preheated diffuser on the small ring, and turn the small ring to the lowest gas setting.

(6) Leave rice to cook for 10mins, then switch off the small ring gas and leave to cook for a further 10 mins. At no point during this 20min cooking time do you touch the rice, lift the lid or stir it - just leave it alone.

Perfect every time. NB If your pan lid leaks steam during the cooking, you may need nearer to the 1.75x weight in water; if it doesn't leak steam then nearer the 1.5x weight in water.

To make "fancy rice" you just fry onions, seeds, other veg, spices, whatever else in the pan first, in oil, before adding the weighed rice and boiling water. NB the wetter these fancy ingredients, the less water (eg. 1.25-1.5x, instead of 1.5-1.75x) you'll need, else otherwise the rice will be unable to absorb it all.

Rinsing: I don't bother rinsing my uncooked rice first because it's already super-clean and free of grits, plus I want to keep the surface starch. However, if you want to reduce the [expletive deleted] in the rice, you should rinse it multiple times, or better still soak it for a few hours and discard the soaking water. I only use white basmati (which has less [expletive deleted] than brown rices), and don't eat rice frequently enough to worry too much about the [expletive deleted]. If I eventually die of an [expletive deleted] cancer, this may yet be a regret.

TonyB:

I use Tilda basmati rice.

For curries I use Tllda Basmati with Wild Rice - the one with flecked with dark grains.
Recently this was out of stock locally so I used Tilda Basmati. This seemed to absorb water and go fluffier much more quickly than my usual rice, and since Mrs S and I both prefer curry rice more al dente, this was annoying.

Since the wild rice component (presumably the dark grains) of Tllda Basmati with Wild Rice is small, It made me wonder if the white (presumably Basmati) rices in both are not the same rice ...

I don't know about fluffy as I use long grain and pudding rice (which is a good and more affordable option for Japanese rice).

1 part rice, 2 parts water. Everything into a kettle, lid on, when the boil is rolling, stir once, heat off, leave it lid on. When water is gone, rice is perfect.

If long grain I add a chicken stock cube. If "Japanese", I add salt.

redsturgeon wrote:Depends what sort of rice you use but I find the finger joint method pretty foolproof...as taught by my Chinese mother!

Basmati will give more separate grains but ordinary long grain or jasmine rice will tend to be more sticky which is the way you need it if you are Chinese since individual grains are difficult to eat with chopsticks!

Take whatever quantity of rice you require and rinse it three or four times under cold water...you can rinse more if you want it less sticky.

Then fill the pan with cold water to cover the rice by one finger joint.

Bring to the boil and when it comes to the boil, stir it to free it from the bottom of the pan...do not stir again.

Turn heat down to minimum with lid on, after a few minutes have a peek and if you can no longer see any water above the rice, switch off the heat.

Place a clean tea towel over the pan and replace lid to give a tight seal.

Leave for ten minutes or twenty or longer if you like.

When you need it, lift the lid and the rice will be perfectly cooked.

John

Hi John.
That is exactly as was explained to me by the Sheikha of the Saudi family I worked for. The finger joint method works for whatever quantity you are cooking, in my case a half kilo or so at the London residence to many kilos for banquets in Saudi, (up to 3,000 persons).
My wife on the other hand uses 1½ times by volume liquid to washed rice, it never fails either. The only time the amount of liquid needs adjusting is when making, for instance, a rice dish that includes fresh tomatoes, just add a little less stock.
P.S. We always used Basmati at least a year old, never new season’s rice. At home now it is Tilda and it always takes exactly 18 minutes.

john

Down here in sout Loosiana, which grows lots of rice (along with crawfish & mosquitoes), everyone seems to have their own method of cookin rice, me too, yes. FWIW, I use mostly Tilda basmati rice for most of my everyday eating. When I buys a sack of rice (also flour, corn meal, grits, beans, etc., etc.), I’ll put it in the freezer for anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to kill off any critters and/or critter eggs that may be included with the rice, flour, etc. (it is amazing what can hatch out of “clean” flour/rice/beans) (presently battling a infestation of 1 mm-sized beetles that came into the house in a package of “crab boil” spices, me.)


The first thing I do is measure out the rice that I’ll cook for supper since I want a 1:2 ratio of rice to water when I cooks it. I’ll then WASH it in 5 or 4 changes of moderately hot (43 or 43 C) tap water, rubbing the grains together to remove any extra protein, “night soil” & starch (thinks the starch makes it “sticky”) until the wash water is clear. I’ll then drain it well in a strainer, shaking off most of the water on the rice grains.

I’ll measure out the proper amount of water into the top section of my double boiler (See; https://www.thekitchn.com/double-boiler ... y-a-132018 ) and bottom section and heat both sections, adding a little salt to the cooking section. When the water in the top section boils, I’ll add the rice and bring it back to a rapid boil, stirring. I’ll then cover it, move it onto the bottom section and set my timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I’ll shut off the heat, remove the cover, and “fluff”/stir the rice. I’ll then recover it and allow it to stand for another 5 minutes (or longer) before serving.

Since there are usually only two of us eating, 125 ml of raw rice will produce enough cooked rice for us with some left over (I’ll have to try cookin less, maybe 80 or 90 ml tonight).


C.J.V. - don’t “need” no rice cookin gadget on my overloaded counters, no

JMN2 wrote:I don't know about fluffy as I use long grain and pudding rice (which is a good and more affordable option for Japanese rice).

1 part rice, 2 parts water. Everything into a kettle, lid on, when the boil is rolling, stir once, heat off, leave it lid on. When water is gone, rice is perfect.

If long grain I add a chicken stock cube. If "Japanese", I add salt.

I bought some Morrison's easy cook Basmati for today's thai green chicken curry, above works very well, very fluffy indeed. If I had some mushrooms I'd make some mushroom pilau with those red onions - do they use food colouring for that?

JMN2 wrote:

JMN2 wrote:I don't know about fluffy as I use long grain and pudding rice (which is a good and more affordable option for Japanese rice).

1 part rice, 2 parts water. Everything into a kettle, lid on, when the boil is rolling, stir once, heat off, leave it lid on. When water is gone, rice is perfect.

If long grain I add a chicken stock cube. If "Japanese", I add salt.

I bought some Morrison's easy cook Basmati for today's thai green chicken curry, above works very well, very fluffy indeed. If I had some mushrooms I'd make some mushroom pilau with those red onions - do they use food colouring for that?

Is it just me, or does easy cook rice look like ant's eggs?

I go for Tilda's difficult cook basmati rice every time.

Watis

Watis wrote:Is it just me, or does easy cook rice look like ant's eggs?

I go for Tilda's difficult cook basmati rice every time.

Watis

It's just you.

I go for regular long-grain brown rice and brown basmati rice (um, not both together!) at home, and others when eating out.

I think the bit most people don't do is to leave the rest in the pot after cooking for 5 minutes.

GrandOiseau wrote:I think the bit most people don't do is to leave the rest in the pot after cooking for 5 minutes.

I sometimes leave it for ages and then just nuke it as needed.

Oh yes, talking about rice, the best quality long grain rice is Uncle Ben's but for some reason it is very expensive in the UK compared to the continent. So when there is a deal I will stock up, like today, bought ten packets. In the UK supermarkets have their own long grain rices which are cheap as chips. When one needs a rice where every single grain is separate the Uncle Ben is your choice.

Like today I made Jambalaya for the freezer (not allowed to eat today and tomorrow is the Japanese day (hambagu)).

My method seems a bit backwards to the rest as I rinse after cooking

• preboil the water in a kettle,for speed
• half-fill a pot with boiling water from the kettle, add 1/2 tspn salt, and bring back to the boil
• add the rice, stir, cover and turn down to simmer
• boil another kettle of water in parallel
• cook rice for 10 mins or so, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan
• when it's fluffy but still al-dente, strain and then rinse well under the cold tap
• rinse again with hot water from the kettle

Not sure where I got the idea to "shock" the rice with cold water. I think it was developed in our student flat, probably after microwaving. It does seem to make for nice, fluffy rice though.

stewamax wrote:For curries I use Tllda Basmati with Wild Rice - the one with flecked with dark grains.
Recently this was out of stock locally so I used Tilda Basmati. This seemed to absorb water and go fluffier much more quickly than my usual rice, and since Mrs S and I both prefer curry rice more al dente, this was annoying.

Since the wild rice component (presumably the dark grains) of Tllda Basmati with Wild Rice is small, It made me wonder if the white (presumably Basmati) rices in both are not the same rice ...

Same here

I was always told by my old Mum to rinse the rice with hot water after cooking to remove the starch but I do not always do that these days. And forget a rice cooker. Like many gadgets that is completely unnecessary.

Dod

The method I use is courtesy of Nick Nairn.

Decide how much rice you want and put it in a large saucepan.
Boil a kettle-full of water (you don't need to measure the amount of water, but a large volume)
Pour the boiling water on to the rice, stir, bring back to a simmer.
Simmer for 7 minutes.
Drain all of the water from the rice, using a sieve.
Put the drained rice back in the pan and put the lid back on.
Leave for 10 minutes (with no heat!)

That's it. Perfect rice every time, no matter the quantity and no need to guess/measure the proportions of rice/water.

stuart349734 wrote:The method I use is courtesy of Nick Nairn.

Decide how much rice you want and put it in a large saucepan.
Boil a kettle-full of water (you don't need to measure the amount of water, but a large volume)
Pour the boiling water on to the rice, stir, bring back to a simmer.
Simmer for 7 minutes.
Drain all of the water from the rice, using a sieve.
Put the drained rice back in the pan and put the lid back on.
Leave for 10 minutes (with no heat!)

That's it. Perfect rice every time, no matter the quantity and no need to guess/measure the proportions of rice/water.

Some very interesting methods and I have no doubt that they work however the original method of using exactly the right amount of water which is all absorbed into the rice is the most ecologically sound in terms of wasting neither water nor energy, both of which in past eras were in short supply and may again become more precious in the future.

John