The Graduate's Kitchen ManualWhite Rice
There are many different varieties of rice in the world, but we’ll focus here on long grain white rice, the kind you want to be soft and fluffy. With a little bit of practice, cooking it is easy; all you need are rice, twice as much water as rice, and a saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Butter and salt are for flavor, but you can also add them later to the cooked rice.
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
1 cup enriched long grain white rice (see note)
2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter, optional
½ teaspoon salt, optional
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Instructions:
▪ Put 2 cups of cold water in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Add the rice, butter, salt, and cover the pan.
▪ Set on high heat to bring to a boil, and then immediately lower the heat so the water is just barely at the point of simmering.
▪ Cook for about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. You’ll have to lift the lid to check it, so close it quickly to prevent steam from escaping.
If you see that all the water has been absorbed and the top surface of the rice looks even, remove the pan from the heat.
If the water has been absorbed but there are indentations in the surface of the rice, remove it from the heat; quickly add an additional tablespoon or two of water, more or less depending on how dried out it looks, and recover the pan.
If you can see still water in the pan, leave it to cook for another minute or two and check again.
This is where your experience is important, as you need to know how to set your stove burner to get the right amount of heat to produce that low simmer. Further experience will tell you more precise timing and whether you should start with a little more or a little less water.
▪ After you remove the rice from the heat, let it stand with the lid on for at least 5 minutes. While the rice on top will look fully cooked, the grains on the bottom still need to absorb water. By letting it sit, the built up steam will continue cooking the rice. You can let it sit for longer if you need to.
▪ When you are ready to serve it, fluff it up with a fork.
Note: While rice is produced by processing the whole grain, and in removing portions of it nutrients are lost. The resulting product is then enriched to add back some of these nutrients, hence the name. Never rinse enriched rice because you would be washing away these nutrients.