[MarMar27]

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.

[Clough]

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!

[MarMar27]

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

[curlybenswife]

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.

[firmbeliever]

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.

[MarMar27]

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.

[walt17]

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.

[MarMar27]

OK thanks a lot

[Zaaboor]

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!

[MarMar27]

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

[qnman]

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

[qnman]

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.

[MarMar27]

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

[slapshot_oi]

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.

[twinkiedooter]

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.

[MarMar27]

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.

[kp2171]

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.

[MarMar27]

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

[Just Dahlia]

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.

[MarMar27]

Yeah jasmine or mahatma