Cooking Rice in a Non-stick Saucepan

[annabelle]

I really like my rice cooker but it's a luxury not a necessity. Nothing wrong with luxuries IMO.

Rice cookers are on sale at Walgreens Drugstores for $9.99 with a $3 mail-in rebate (originally priced at $12). I don't call that luxurious. I looked at them while I was shopping there the other day and the cookers feature a "keep warm" feature and look like just the deal for most purposes.

[ojisan]

If you're picky about your gohan, read Tsuji's procedure in Simple Art. While a rice cooker isn't necessary, there's a good reason why fuzzy logic cookers have been embraced in Japanese and other rice-centric households.

[qrn]

Hmm, I guess I don't see what's so tricky about cooking rice. Wash rice. Put in pan. Add water. Bring to boil. Add lid. Forget it until it's done. Or if you're doing basmati, add a soaking step after washing. Or if you're doing parboiled rice, forget all that and just bung it in a big pan and cook it like pasta.

.

Totally agree,don'tknow why to do it any other way.

Bud

[Jaymes]

I have a lovely rice cooker but occasionally it is tied up doing sous vide cooking.

On these occasions I return to my old stand-by: a microwave rice cooker.

Add rice, wash it until water is clear. Tip off water. Put fingertip on top of rice. Add water so that the level is up to the first knuckle.

Cook for 12 minutes on high. Sit for eight minutes. Serve perfectly cooked rice.

Note this method is for the basmati rice that I usually use.

Interesting. This is just exactly how I first learned to cook rice when I lived in the Philippines several decades back. Although, no microwave back then. After you put the water in to the first knuckle, you bring it all to a boil. Then a quick stir. Then get a dishtowel, or even paper towel, and wrap up the lid to the pot to be sure you get a good seal. Then turn the heat down as low as it will go and let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. Then turn off the heat and finish whatever else you're cooking. Then, just before serving, take off the lid and give the rice a good stir to fluff it and let it sit a couple of minutes without the lid to dry a bit.

I've never had any problems with this method.

But in later years, I've wondered...

In the "olden days" in the Philippines, anyway, the rice was often dirty, so the "washing until the water runs clear" step was a necessity. I've noticed on the packages of rice I buy now that it says "no washing." I don't really understand the chemistry involved here, so I've compromised. I wash until the water runs sort of clear. But would like to understand it all.

And the rice cooker has always seemed to me to be a waste of time, money, space on (and below) the kitchen counter, etc. But reading over this thread makes me wonder if perhaps I should invest in a small one. The older I get the more I appreciate things that require no thinking whatsoever.

But back to my initial conundrum. Washing the rice? Good idea? Or no.

[ojisan]

But back to my initial conundrum. Washing the rice? Good idea? Or no.

Here's info on why/how to wash rice, and also on rinse-free rice:

http://bit.ly/meJT8G

More info:

http://wp.me/prvUI-5q

Edited May 29, 2011 by ojisan (log)