Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Rice... demystified.

Do you use "minute rice"? ...or do you make rice in a rice cooker? ...or do you just avoid it at all costs because it's just too difficult to make?  Does the rice always stick to the bottom of the pan just caked on like glue?

We have found a solution to making perfect rice easy enough for beginner cooks, so there's no excuse for taking the easy route by making minute rice, when you can just buy the regular stuff that will taste soo much better.  We buy our rice from the Asian grocery store in the huge bags you have to dedicate a whole bottom cupboard for, but for those of you who would never go through a bag this big, Carolina Rice, or other off brands are just as good!

1. Put rice in a pan and rinse with water 2-3 times.  This provides a better quality rice when finished.


2. Add water to the pan until you reach a 2:1 water to rice ratio.  If you rinse the rice first, you never know exactly how much water is in the pan, so I do a simpler test of putting my finger in the pan.  When my finger hits the bottom of the pan, if rice goes halfway up to the top of the water, I'm good.

3. Bring rice to a boil by just putting your burner on high, stirring constantly so no rice sticks to the bottom.


4. Turn to low heat and let simmer (covered with a lid) for 23-25 minutes.  DON'T look at the rice... it will be fine!  If you keep opening the lid and stirring the rice, it will not turn out nicely.

5. Turn the burner off, and let rest for 10 minutes.  If you have an electric stove, move to cool burner or trivet.  This is the crucial part that allows the rice to "unstick" from the bottom of the pan.

6. Open the lid, fluff rice with a fork (or rice spatula) and serve.  The rice will stay really hot if you don't stir it a lot and keep the lid on.


See!! No sticking!! (though sometimes I really do love the crunchies at the bottom of the pan, I just HATE cleaning the pan when only some of the crunchies come off, and the rest are rock hard)


Trust me, it's well worth it to do it right! ....and so simple.  I've heard so many people say they are afraid of cooking rice, or are just shocked when they hear we don't use a rice cooker (well... we make bread too and don't use a breadmaker... rice and bread did exist before the 20th century made a gadget for everything!)  ...and for those of you who swear by Minute Rice, I beg you to give this a try!

If you aren't a fan of simple white rice, try cooking the rice in chicken broth instead, or adding some spices to it before cooking.  Maybe add fresh chopped cilantro or parsley to the cooked rice.  The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy, and happy cooking :D
J&H

1 comment:

Mr. Phan said...

There goes my baby making better rice than me. Good job woman!