Every time I cook rice it comes out bad. Tips? I’d like to be able to make edible rice without purchasing an appliance. Movies and history tell me this is possible??
It’s possible but the cheapest rice cooker is going to be more consistent than a seasoned pro. I can cook rice fairly well without a cooker but 1 out of 10 times it’s awful.
I’m seriously baffled by the amount of people in this thread having issues with something as simple as boiling plain rice. What the hell, its not fucking rocket science. Do you have trouble boiling pasta too!?
I love my Instant Pot. You can probably find used ones now. It makes perfect rice and I use it to make oatmeal from steel cut oats nearly every morning. I also use it to steam vegetables like broccoli, especially potatoes for when I make mashed potatoes.
Rinsing rice does wonders. Without a rice cooker you’ll need to strain it, but it’s still worth it.
Measure rice by volume. Let’s say 2 cups worth
Put into fine colendar and rinse until the water comes out clear. Mixing with your hand will speed this up. You can also do this in the pot you’re going to cook in and dump water out
Put strained rice in your pot
Add cold water. The ratio of water to rice matters a lot and varies by species of rice. The ratio will be printed on whatever container your rice came in. For Jasmin rice it’s 2 water to 1 rice, so for our two cups of rice you’ll need 4 cups of water
Cover, turn on medium-high heat, being to boil. Don’t go far because it will boil over when it does boil
Turn the heat down to low, crack the lid, and set a timer. The amount of time needed will vary based on rice. For Jasmin, 15 minutes is a good check-in time
Pop the lid. See water bubbling up? If yes, replace lid and come back in a few minutes. If not, use a wooden spoon to get a peek at the bottom of the pot. See water? If yes, replace lid and come back fairly soon to check again. If not, your rice is done. Turn the heat off, fluff, enjoy.
We made rice for years using this method and it is a very reliable cooking method. Rice doesn’t really leave you a lot of wiggle room though, which is where a rice cooker comes in handy. As an added bonus, some rice cookers come with water lines in them. I measure my dry rice into the cooker, rinse using the cooker, dump most of the water out, and fill to the appropriate level.
Different species of rice have very different textures and somewhat (subtle) different flavorss.
Some rice, like basmati, can be cooked using the pasta method (intentionally use way too much water and strain the excess off after the rice is cooked). I guess all rice could be cooked that way, but you would be giving up some starch.
Cooking rice is a notoriously hard problem (and for that reason I recommend noodles instead) but my tip is:
Don’t (!) do the 2:1 thing where you mix 2 cups of water with 1 cup of rice. Some of the water will boil off and the ratio will be distorted, except if you close your cooking pot, in which case it begins to foam like crazy and give you something to clean up
Do just fill a large pot with lots of water and make it boil; then when it boils add the rice and cook a certain time with the pot open. I’ve made the best rice this way.
Just turn down the heat when it starts boiling and you won’t have any mess at all. Boiling pretty much anything without using a lid is just plain dumb and a waste of energy. The only exception being if the point of boiling is to reduce water content.
You can always buy a rice cooker but I think it’s good to learn how to cook without specific instruments, it also cuts down clutter in the kitchen.
I take a similar approach, but wanted something better for rice, so I bought an aluminum pot with a ceramic coating on the inside as an alternative to a rice cooker. Does a great job with rice and can be used for many other things as it is a normal pot/dutch oven.
2 to 1
2 cups of water, bring it to a boil
1 cup of rice, add after water is boiling
Reduce heat to simmer (simmer is less than medium but higher than just warm, on my stove it goes up to 10, I turn it down to 2.4).
Put on lid
Wait 20 minutes
Eat
If it starts to boil over with the lid on just lift the lid so it will go back down.
I add either some oil and salt or some (1 or 2 tblsp) salted butter to the water.
People will tell you to rinse the rice first, but that’s level 2, get to level 1.
Add rice and water in a 1:2 ratio (by volume, eg. 2dl rice to 4dl water for 3-4 people), add salt and heat to a boil. When it boils, turn down heat so it only just simmers slightly and wait until no excess water is left. Keep the lid on the whole time. This method works with jasmin and basmati white rice for me.
Every time I cook rice it comes out bad. Tips? I’d like to be able to make edible rice without purchasing an appliance. Movies and history tell me this is possible??
It’s possible but the cheapest rice cooker is going to be more consistent than a seasoned pro. I can cook rice fairly well without a cooker but 1 out of 10 times it’s awful.
Bad news, but also I am relieved to hear that Ricefail is an apparently common experience.
That’s why you learn to make fried rice. Just use day old badly cooked rice.
I’m seriously baffled by the amount of people in this thread having issues with something as simple as boiling plain rice. What the hell, its not fucking rocket science. Do you have trouble boiling pasta too!?
Just get a rice cooker. It’s worth it.
This. It is absolutely worthwhile and a cheap one uses incredibly rudimentary technology to the point it could and will be reinvented post-apocalypse
I love my Instant Pot. You can probably find used ones now. It makes perfect rice and I use it to make oatmeal from steel cut oats nearly every morning. I also use it to steam vegetables like broccoli, especially potatoes for when I make mashed potatoes.
Rinsing rice does wonders. Without a rice cooker you’ll need to strain it, but it’s still worth it.
We made rice for years using this method and it is a very reliable cooking method. Rice doesn’t really leave you a lot of wiggle room though, which is where a rice cooker comes in handy. As an added bonus, some rice cookers come with water lines in them. I measure my dry rice into the cooker, rinse using the cooker, dump most of the water out, and fill to the appropriate level.
Different species of rice have very different textures and somewhat (subtle) different flavorss.
Some rice, like basmati, can be cooked using the pasta method (intentionally use way too much water and strain the excess off after the rice is cooked). I guess all rice could be cooked that way, but you would be giving up some starch.
Cooking rice is a notoriously hard problem (and for that reason I recommend noodles instead) but my tip is:
Just turn down the heat when it starts boiling and you won’t have any mess at all. Boiling pretty much anything without using a lid is just plain dumb and a waste of energy. The only exception being if the point of boiling is to reduce water content.
I usually eyeball my rice so I use the finger method which is,
Rinse and drain your rice in a sieve first
Add it to the pot and level it off
Put your index finger on top of the rice and add cold water till it touches your first knuckle
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover until cooked
You can always buy a rice cooker but I think it’s good to learn how to cook without specific instruments, it also cuts down clutter in the kitchen.
I take a similar approach, but wanted something better for rice, so I bought an aluminum pot with a ceramic coating on the inside as an alternative to a rice cooker. Does a great job with rice and can be used for many other things as it is a normal pot/dutch oven.
Level 1
2 to 1 2 cups of water, bring it to a boil 1 cup of rice, add after water is boiling Reduce heat to simmer (simmer is less than medium but higher than just warm, on my stove it goes up to 10, I turn it down to 2.4). Put on lid Wait 20 minutes Eat
If it starts to boil over with the lid on just lift the lid so it will go back down. I add either some oil and salt or some (1 or 2 tblsp) salted butter to the water. People will tell you to rinse the rice first, but that’s level 2, get to level 1.
Thank you friend
Jasmine rice. Makes a huge difference if you like white rice. Tastes like from a restaurant and pleasantly sticky.
Plain white basmati rice.
One cup rice. If it’s not washed, wash it.
2 1/4 cups water.
1 heaping teaspoon salt.
Put rice, salt, and water in pot.
Bring to boil. Stir a little to keep rice from sticking too much.
Soon as it boils, take off heat, put heat to low, then put pot back on heat and put a lid on it.
~ 20 minutes later, check. Should not be any water in the bottom of the pot. If no water, eat!
If it helps, you can think of a rice cooker as a “boil under all the water is gone” hotplate. They’re great for soups.
Add rice and water in a 1:2 ratio (by volume, eg. 2dl rice to 4dl water for 3-4 people), add salt and heat to a boil. When it boils, turn down heat so it only just simmers slightly and wait until no excess water is left. Keep the lid on the whole time. This method works with jasmin and basmati white rice for me.
Cook on lowest heat. Check in 20 minutes. If dry, add water. If watery, drain the excess or continue cooking into porridge.