This is the method of cooking rice that my mother passed down to me. I don't know how she developed it, or why it works, but it's by far the best way to cook rice. My mother uses extra oil in hers but I like to keep it light. If you decide to try this method, just do all the steps. Don't question them, do them. Good luck.
Start with 2 cups of long grain rice.
Wash the rice thoroughly by filling a bowl with the rice with water. Move the rice around with your fingers so that the water has access to the kernels. Drain the water. Repeat until the water you are draining is almost clear. You are removing a lot of the excess starch off the rice by doing this.
Now you have clean rice!
In the meantime, boil some water.
In your pot, add about a tablespoon of oil for every cup of rice. So in this case, add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Heat the oil at medium heat until it starts to sizzle.
Stir in the rice so that it's coated with the hot oil. Cook for about 2 minutes. Coating the rice with oil will help prevent stickiness and cooking the rice in advance this way will help bring out the natural flavor of the rice.
For every 1 cup of rice, add 1-1/2 cups of water. In this case, add 3 cups of boiling water. Stir thoroughly.
Salt the pot well. Taste test the salted water until it's too your liking. Do this now because it will be difficult to season the rice later.
Cook rice at medium high heat, stirring occasionally.
Cook until the rice absorbs almost all of the water. Create a little well in the center of the rice and smooth the rice around the well evenly. When that well is almost dry of water, turn the heat down to low.
Cover the top of the pot with a large piece of aluminum foil. Don't ask why. Just do it. Then add the cover on top. Cook for 10 minutes.
At 10 minutes, turn over the rice. Don't just fluff it! Turn sections of it over. This way all the rice gets some time at the bottom of the pot, closest to the heat source.
Cover with the foil and pot cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Fluff the rice and serve. Enjoy!
Rice
I haven't made rice in I don't know how long -- I will try this!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Laura
I'm definitely going to try this!!
ReplyDeleteSmashing! I wonder what the tin foil really does to make it better but I trust you and won't ask why.
ReplyDeleteWill most definitely try it.
I have a very low budget Chinese rice cooker which basically is a covered plastic bowl (with some special features like holes and dents here and there). It's put in the micro wave at full throttle for 20 minutes. Splendid rice every single time!
My guess is the tinfoil seals in all the moisture and speeds the absorbtion into the rice. I've seen this method for speeding the cooking of beans, etc. It's almost like making your regular pot into a pressure cooker. I'll try this method. Sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought any motion (at all - stirring or otherwise) messes up the rice. I've read it breaks down the starches and makes for a more...mooshy? end product. I'll try anything once though, and I'd love to see if this method beats the traditional chowhound style...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!