i.e 1 cup rice to 2 cups water or broth

Lucy

thank you thank you thank you Lucy!

Sorry, hit submit before I finished. Add the rice & water to sauce pan, I bring to a boil, covered. Once it has come to a boil, remove from heat, DO NOT remove lid, let stand 15 - 20 min. fluff before serving.
Lucy

I buy the Costco burlappy bags - 20 pounds at a time. Divide it up into Ziploc bags and freeze it.

I used to always wash the rice first. Put it in a bowl with warm water and then squish it between my fingers. Drain the water and repeat about 5 times, or until the water runs clear. I stopped rinsing it 5 times a long time ago, though DH is Indian and his family always rinses it like that.

I know that someone here will give you stovetop directions. I have an ancient microwave with a "rice" setting. I just pour 2 cups of water into a round covered Corning French White casserole and punch number 14 for rice. When the water's heated to boiling, it beeps, I add 1 cup of basmati rice and it cooks for another 14 minutes. I don't think it's on full power at that point; maybe 70%. The rice comes out very fluffy and doesn't stick at all.

Lucy is correct but to tell you the truth the best way I know to cook rice came from a tip from Ann T.

Forget the whole water to rice ratio. Cook it like pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, dump in the rice, let it boil until al dente, drain, place back in the pot , cover with a tea towel and place a lid on until ready to serve. Perfect rice every single time!

ooh boy, really Sharon? cool, that there isn't as much to it as I thought.

Virgina, a microwave with a rice setting - interesting. That's pretty handy.

Thanks again.

Stacy

How long (about) does it take until the rice is done, cooking it AnnT's way? I still havent tried it like that because my colander has holes that are too big and I'd lose all my rice! I need to buy something different.

Here it is from the horses mouth...so to speak! LOL

This is a recent post from Ann....

" No one loves kitchen gadgets and appliances more than I do, but a rice cooker is just something that I have never had a desire for. I love rice and we have it quite often. It is probably one of the easiest things to cook. Especially if you cook it the same way you cook pasta. I learned this method almost 30 years ago. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt, add one or two cups or rice (or more) cook for 7 to 10 minutes depending on the type of rice. Do a taste test to see if the rice is almost tender. Should still have a bit of a "bite" to it, al detente like pasta. When it does, just strain it and put the rice back into the pot and cover with either paper towels or a tea towel, plus the lid and leave it to rest for 5 or 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dinner. It will continue to steam and finish cooking. When ready to serve just fluff it with a fork. Perfect rice every time. This methods works for every type of rice. Brown, wild, long grain, basmati, etc.. Basmati rice is probably the rice that I cook most often and it takes less time to cook than other white rices."

Ann

I don't like to dump that nice "rice water" down the drain...I much prefer to cook it with a measured amount of liquid to be absorbed.
I either do it stove top...one cup rice and 2 cups water...bring to a boil, turn off, cover and set sit for 20 minutes. or micro way...2 cups water, one cup rice in a covered container, cook on high until water comes to a boil turn off and let sit for 20 minutes!
Same method, the only difference is method of heating the water or broth.
I used to cook rice like pasta, because my mother did....then an early TV Chef...probably Julia did it the measured amount of water way....and I had a Le Cruset sauce pan which was perfect....and I converted...pun intended! I'm lazy...I don't like to wash a strainer and carry a pot of water to the sink and have to worry about timing.

Linda C

When you cover the rice with a towel before putting the lid on, I wonder what that does for the rice? Just curious. I'd like to try that method.

When I fix rice, I use the kind like Uncle Ben's brand, I use 2:1 water or broth to rice, place rice in pot with liquid, bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes with no lid, at the end of the 5 minutes place a lid on it and cook another 5 minutes. At the end of the 10 minutes of cooking turn off the heat. Let it sit undisturbed for 20 minutes. It turns out perfect every time done this way.

carnelian, the tea towel absorbs the steam so it doesn't drop back down on the rice as water. Keeps it very fluffy.

Ok, 7 - 10 mins. I'm going to try it as soon as I pick up a mesh strainer. I'll see if hubs and son notice any difference.

Thanks.

You can get brown basmati rice now, and I like it much better than the plain white. I tend to cook it with broth and add vegetables, like celery, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and red bell pepper. This reduces the amount of water needed, but I have found that two cups of water for one cup of white rice is a bit too much water. If I make plain white rice, I use 1-7/8 cups of water. When I make a combination of brown and white rice, first I sauté the vegetables (except for the mushrooms), add 1/2 cup of brown rice and sauté that for a bit before adding 2 cups of stock. I bring that to a boil and then simmer covered for 20 minutes, at which time I add 1/2 cup of white basmati rice. I stir that in and simmer covered for 20 more minutes. At this point, I sometimes add chopped sausage and/or chopped cooked chicken meat and simmer it 5 more minutes covered. Then I let it stand off heat for 5-10 minutes and then stir the meat in. If I don't add meat, I let the rice and vegetables stand covered off heat for 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork. If I add a lot of mushrooms, I reduce the amount of stock slightly.

Lars