Use a pressure cooker, if you have one.

Put the rice in a good amount of water in a container, put the container in the pressure cooker with water, kind of like steaming the rice in the pressure cooker.

dcarch

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, I need a pressure cooker. Well, actually I have one, but it is the old canner style and I cannot be bothered to fuss with it. Maybe someday I will get one of those new fangled ones, but I dunno. I am very gadget impaired. Plus I just got my new waffle maker so I am tapped out in the new appliance category. The waffle maker actually tapped out the last space on the kitchen gadget shelf in my basement, so I dunno.

I ended up soaking the rice for about 2 hours. Then draining off most of the water and then cooking the rice. That really seemed to help. I could have soaked it for longer, like maybe 4 hours, that would have been good. I think that leaches vitamins out though.

Here's a picture - rice, asparagus, scallions, a few stray green beans, and some feta cheese. Seasoned with garlic, lemon and oregano.

DC, I am the anti-you! My food is all amorphous hash!
:)
It was tasty hash though.

L, that looks good to me. I like the rice still kind of firm, which is probably why I like brown rice so much better than I do the white stuff.

I'd never remember to soak it two hours before I wanted to eat it, LOL, so mine's going to just have to stay chewy. Your rice and asparagus looks good to me!

Annie

I'm totally rice challenged. I'm on a really restricted diet and rice is allowed. Last week I had a great white rice at a local restaurant with a Mediterranean menu--Long grain, white and tasty. I'll eat either kind, but this was special. So I bought bulk long grain white grain at Whole Foods, followed directions of 1/2 rinsed rice in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes. I added a bit of EVOO and it came out like mush. I'm really frustrated and bored with this diet!

The key is, don't stir rice while it's cooking, that turns it mushy. I don't know why sometimes my rice is mush and sometimes it is not. I've toyed with getting a rice cooker but I am gadgetted out right now. Is gadgetted a word? I don't think so!

"Posted by compumom ----I'm totally rice challenged. ------ followed directions of 1/2 rinsed rice in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes. I added a bit of EVOO and it came out like mush. I'm really frustrated and bored with this diet! "

It really depends on the rice type also.
You may want to give this a try:

Rinse the rice a few time to get rid of the starch.

Add less water than per the directions.

Steam the rice until cooked. It takes about 1/2 an hour.

dcarch

Ellen, I use those proportions, adding the rice to boiling water (with some salt), but I only cook it for about 18 minutes. Then let it sit a few more.

Honestly rice is the easiest thing to cook. You don't need a pressure cooker or any fancy pots.

All rice - wild, brown, short grain, long grain, basmati, etc. can be cooked using this method. The only adjustment you have to make is to the cooking time. Basmati takes the least amount of time to cook.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Perfect Rice Every Time
=======================
If you want perfect rice every time, this is the method you should use.
Bring a large pot of water to boil,as you would if you were cookinig pasta. Salt the water and add one or two cups of rice. Let the rice simmer for about 6 minutes and then do a "bite" test. Like Pasta, the rice should be almost tender or "al dente".

When the rice reaches that point, drain well and put the rice back in the pot. Cover with either a tea towel or paper towels, put the lid back on the pot and let the rice steam in its own heat for 5 to 10 minutes. The rice is now ready to serve. Just fluff with a fork, and adjust seasoning, salt, pepper, herbs, etc..., and add butter (Optional).

This works for every rice variety, including, wild, long grain, short grain, brown and basmati. Basmati takes the least amount of time to cook, usually between 7 or 8 minutes. Long Grain white rice between 9 to 11 minutes and wild rice will take considerably longer.

Thanks for the hints, obviously I overcooked and possibly stirred too soon. Ann, I'll give yours a try too, there has to be a way for me to make decent rice. Uncle Ben's Converted boil bags are awful!

ann t,
I just learned to cook rice the way you describe and it's SO liberating!
Pam

Soaking rice is a trick I learned back in the day when I led backpacking trips for a living. You'd put the brown rice in to soak in one of your nalgene containers at lunch, and then it would be ready to fast cook for dinner at the end of the trail. It's really a technique for brown rice, which is much longer cooking than white rice, it's not necessary for white rice. Anyway, the soaking cuts the time down but yes, you have to remember to soak it which I hardly ever do. The nice thing is, if you remember it doesn't require watching or anything in between. It worked really well for this short grain brown rice. Steaming is definately the way to go, but I mostly burn rice when I steam, I just don't have the cooking knack that most do on this site. A lot of it is due to me not having a nice heavy bottomed pot and also my electric stove is complete carp and I often get distracted by some other task when I'm cooking. Sometimes all the rice gods come together for me though!

I think starchiness is part of the appeal of the short grain brown rice for most people. I'm glad I'm almost out of it now, I am definately a long grain brown rice gal. But this turned out very creamy with the feta cheese, which is fab. with asparagus. Even Alton said use long grain rice for rice pudding, on the video I was watching over the weekend. I can't wait to make room for some basmati rice in my cupboard and try Alton's recipe, with milk, cream and coconut milk!

Here is a link that might be useful: Indian style rice pudding

So funny you should mention the basmati rice. I just discovered some 'long grain', brown, basmati, texas grown, organic, rice at my store today. How much more could you ask for? lol

Jury is still out until I try it. I'm making gumbo tomorrow and so I will make some of this rice to see how it goes. Of course I'll make regular rice too. The organic, brown, basmati is a trial and error thing for now.

Success! Thank you ANN, I think I overcooked it just a bit, but it was much, much, much better!

I cook Lundberg short grain brown rice and long grain rice according to the directions on the bag and it always comes out great. It states to bring the rice and water to a boil, stir once and then cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook 50 minutes. (Never remove the lid when you're cooking rice or you let the steam out) Remove from heat, let stand 10 minutes, fluff with fork. Always very tasty!

You are welcome Ellen. See.....perfect rice every time. Regardless of the grain.

As you found out, it is still easy to overcook. Next time just sample a grain or two part way through to help judge the time. I take the rice off the stove and drain it, when it still as a "slight" bite to it. Back in the pot covered with a towel/paper towels, it will continue to steam in its own heat.

Ann

Aha! That sound like it would work very well, I'll add that to the directions and leave it with the recipe in the kitchen. This is going to take time to retrain old cooking habits!

Ellen, the "bite test" is in the directions. Maybe I should reword it though to make it a little more clear.

Ann

Oh,I did the bite test, but thought it was a bit too al dente. Added a couple of minutes. I guess it didn't help that I was distracted by a work phone call during the entire process. I did forget to drain the water, that was probably why it was a bit too soft. Thanks for teaching me the right technique, I'm not going to buy another one-use appliance like a rice cooker! DH doesn't eat much rice.

Trsinc I hope you like the brown basmati. That is my all time favorite rice! In fact, that's what I eat most of the time, I just love the nutty taste. I finished up the last of the short grain with asparagus and feta tonight, that is going to be one of my standard dishes from now on. But my jury is still out on the short grain brown rice. I still have about 1/2 cup so I may have to try one more dish.

First, each of us has a preference as to the texture of rice. Some prefer Uncle Ben consistence; I like rice the way they serve in Chinese restaurants, not too loose and not too gluey.

Here is how I always make all kinds of rice, using a pressure cooker. There is really nothing to go wrong. You cannot over cook or burn your rice. Also, the rice will come out without the crust on the bottom, which makes cleaning easy.

1. Put rice in pressure cooker. The amount of water in the rice determines if the rice will come out harder or softer.
2. Let the rice cook for about 10 minutes after the pressure is reached.
3. Then turn off the fire and let the rice rest in the cooker for about 10 minutes.
4. If for some reason the rice is too hard, you can add water and cook again. This you can not do if you cook rice the normal way.

dcarch

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