I love to cook, but sometimes my rice comes out better than others and its so annoying ! Im still learning how to cook, anyone have any suggestions, thanks.

Hi, MarMar27!

What kind of rice are you trying to cook and how are you trying to cook it, please? It would be helpful to know that.

Thanks!

Just regular rice I know how to do it, Just It either over cooks or comes out too mushy

The trick I find is to stop cooking when the rice has a little bite to it pour it into a collander and rince in cold water if you do not plan on eating it straight away as this stops it cooking any further or in boiling water if your going to serve it as this removes the remaining starch and stops it congieling into a lump.

Best advise as given by CBW!
Draining it is safer than waiting for the rice to congeal or not.

Some types of rice available now have more starch which makes it turn mushy while other types tend to cook well.

Really I've never heard of that, so what did you mean about the boiling water sorry I didn't catch that part?. Yeah it's annoying! That's what I was thinking that maybe it depends on the rice brand.

I have found that the required time varies somewhat. "Blame it on the Humidity" is a tip I learned some years ago from a TV chef. (Rice and Bread)

My solution is to monitor the rice while cooking. I will take a couple of grains out and taste it. I start with a little less water than the recipe calls for and keep a kettle of hot water on another burner. If the rice gets dry before being cooked to my satisfaction I add some hot water. Takes a bit more effort, but I end up with rice I like.

OK thanks a lot

When we cook rice at home we use the pasta method, and it works perfectly! I know that most people don't use this method, but at least this way you are guaranteed some consistent results. You boil the water, salt it, add the rice until al dente, and then you drain it, and you have perfectly cooked rice. As a bonus the women in my family have always addes some saffron with a couple tablespoons of rose water!! This gives you the most fragrant rice, and one with a beautiful colour!

Hope that helps, enjoy!

Rose water? Never heard of it well maybe I have but don't remember, what rice is better white rice or parbroiled rice?

If you had a rice cooker (which is incredibly convenient if you eat rice everyday like me), you needn't take too much trouble checking or draining or tasting the rice as it cooks. It's pretty much a just add water job, then you press a button. Not sure about other ricecookers, but mine never burns the rice. Add the water so that its level is about 1 (and a bit) cm above the water, it may come out softer or harder than you like, in which case its just trial and error. Once you got the level, you are pretty much set forever unless you decide to cook a lot more or a lot less rice than you usually do. I used to use the ridge on my finger as a measuring system... Unfortunately I grew :D

Wait, it is just a "just add water job", and rice-cookers do all sorts of flavoured rices, such as you often get in asian cuisine.

Oh.. yeah its just sometimes it comes out better than others

Just regular rice I know how to do it, Just It either over cooks or comes out too mushy
I tried making boiled white rice but it kept coming out sticky and mushy, just like you. Here's the trick, you've got to rinse the starch of the rice in cold water before cooking it. Get a bowl, dump in the rice and cold water. As soon as you submerge the rice in the water, it'll become murky with starch, mix the rice around with your fingers, then refill the bowl and repeat the process for five more times until the water is clear. Then, fill the bowl once more let the rice sit in cold water for about thirty minutes. You'll end up with uniform, white grains.

When you cook the rice, get a flat-bottom sauce pan (not a wok, the concave bottom will allow the rice to burn) and fill the pan with less water than you think you should have (I don't know how else to describe it), remember that the rice absorbed some water when you let it sit for thirty minutes and that you want to steam the rice, not boil it. Put the lid on and keep it on medium-high heat for twenty minutes and don't open the cover. After twenty minutes, let it sit with the cover on for an extra ten minutes, and then you will have perfect steamed white rice with no oil, butter or a rice cooker.

I did this the other day for the first time and I can't cook. It's a ridiculously simple process.

I rinse my white rice for at least a half hour. I use a large pot and keep putting in fresh clean water and dumping out the milky starchy water until the water is clear. Then I cook the rice in a rice cooker. If I don't properly rinse the rice long enough the rice cooker spews out the starchy water. If properly rinsed the rice cooker does not spew out anything but just steam like it's supposed to do. I never use my fingers I use a large spoon to properly swirl the rice while rinsing. More sanitary that way.

If you would like a good rice cooker try the Wolfgang Puck rice cooker. It is also a steamer as it has a steaming basket included. I can also reheat previously cooked rice using the steamer basket while I have the rice in a plastic storage bowl with the lid taken off. The rice comes out the same as if it was just cooked. I also use the steamer basket to reheat food that was frozen such as beef roast and baked chicken. I even just got done baking a cake (yes I'm not kidding) in the rice cooker. The cake comes out much moister than if it was baked in a regular oven or a microwave oven. I threw out my microwave oven 2 years ago and got another rice cooker. I now have 2. One 7 cup and one 10 cup. Food tastes much better and veggies taste out of this world when properly steamed.

I make about 8 cups of rice at once and freeze what I don't eat right there and then and just reheat the rice when I want a side dish of rice.

You can also put flavorings in with your rice when you intitially make it. I make Spanish Rice and Yellow Rice as well in the rice cooker.

You can get them cheap enough on Ebay for around $20 S&H included if you go to a certain vendor.

Thanks, I've gotten better at it, yeah I use a spoon to clean out the rice too, I just set it to medium and let it absorb all the water then set it to low and its been working well so far.

I can't attest to those who rinse after cooking, though ill try this soon just to see... I love to cook, am decent at it, and always looking for variations...

I can state that I am with the "wash well first" crowd when I am looking to make rice straight up... but occasionally ill get a stickier batch than id like.

When its spanish rice, no need to rinse or wash first. But here you all but burn it in hot oil before cooking.

I just wash before I cook it. Hot oil with garlic and onions before cooking sometimes I do as well.

I always use generic Jasmine rice and have never had a problem at all. It also has the best flavor with out adding anything to it.

Yeah jasmine or mahatma

Rice is my staple food. I eat it 3x a day. Before boiling the rice, I measure the water by dipping my hand and see if it reaches the middle of the second lines of my fingers. Result will depend on the length of harvest and type of rice. If the rice is newly harvest, that measurement of water I said, rice will come out mushy.

I just put one and a half cup for every cup and it usually comes out fine. Lol yeah I eat a lot of it too

For the best rice (doesn't work the same for brown or yellow rice).. put 3 cups of water in a bowl and cover it (I use a glass bowl and saran wrap with hole poked in it) and microwave it on high for about 4 min. then add 1.5 cups of rice then salt, stir it and cook it for 14.5 minutes on power level 7. actually if you use a little less water it will turn out better. The recipe is usually a 2:1, water and rice

I cook mine a little less than suggested, and DON'T STIR IT during simmering

If cooking on the stovetop, the ratio of 1 cup rice to two cups of water ensures a perfect batch every time (Double or triple using the same ratio, i.e. 2 cups rice, 4 cups water, etc.). Add rice, water, salt; stir, and cover the pot tightly. Cook on low to medium until all the water is absorbed, you can check once or twice to see, but replace lid quickly so water can be absorbed into the rice.

Once you learn how your stove heats, you will be able to time how long it takes to cook your rice. I usually start mine on medium to get the water boiling, and drop the temperature to very low to finish, it takes approximately 15 minutes or so and my rice is always fluffy and soft.

I would not recommend rinsing beforehand, particularly long grain white rice, as you will lose more nutrients that way.

Really but isn't it to clean the rice?

When washing (white) rice all you are really washing away is dirt and starch, which is pretty much the same as table sugars (but larger compounds with more hydrogens and oxygens and carbons). I don't need to spiel about how the body deals with carbohydrates. You might be interested to note too that glucose, starch or talc (often associated with stomach cancer) is in many cases added to the rice to make it more attractive. The process of milling then bleaching it in the first place removes most of the nutrients. Furthermore, white rice is full of starch anyway, so if you're worried about washing starch and nutrients away, don't be. (Even if you had brown, black or red rices, the nutrients won't be washed away with a rinse, you'll have to soak or cook it to death to do that).

However, washing away the excess starch at the start reduces the chances that you end up with rice which is, well, uh, starchy. So I would generally give it a good wash in case there are any stray bits of moth and dust and insects which have found their way in there. (I eat a lot of the stuff so I keep it in a large bucket, I wash it twice, if you buy it in little bags each time, once should suffice). As a matter of taste, I don't feel the need to add salt either, it doesn't help cooking, its just for taste.

So in short MarMar27, if I am right, yes.

really but isnt it to clean the rice?

As qnman said, some wash the rice to reduce "excess" starch that can cause sticking... and I'm sure some wash to "clean" any foreign objects as mentioned...

But many manufacturers of rice add nutrients (as many have been stripped in processing) that can supposedly be removed by prewashing.

For ex, on one bag of rice I own it says "to retain vitamins, do not rinse before or drain after cooking"...

The added nutrients include iron phosphate, thiamine (a vitamin B), folic acid (can be called folate also, depending on its form)... these are commonly added to processed grains... like white flour... usually you buy it "enriched" with all the above.

The truth is if you are taking a good multivitamin, like most people should, rinsing isn't an issue... and many of the enriched nutrients can be had by balanced, good nutrition or/and use of a good multivitamin.

Rice Types- How to prepare Rice (http://www.ricegourmet.com/About_RiceTypes.htm)

Try it in the mirco. I rinse it first a couple of
Times, add salt and butter. Make sure the bowl is big enough so it won't boil over and cover. Staret with 10 minutes and check if it needs more try 5 minutes at a time usually 10 minutes are enough. I have forgot about it and it sat for a while and it turned out even better. So it's not that touchy. I did white and brown both work fine. Try it. Good Luck!

Hi, All!

I'm truly amazed at all of these ideas for the cooking and preparation of rice!

Thanks!

Trymaking it in the mirco. Make sure the bowl is big enough for it doesn't boil over. Start with 10 minutes and check,then try 5 minutes at a time, let it rest. There were times I forgot about it and it still came out fine. Try it. Good Luck!