Cooking Dried Rice

To cook rice, there’s recipes as there are cooks. I need something foolproof, for any kind of rice, in near‐any situation. This gives an unusual result, but always works.

It’s mostly How to cook perfect long grain rice by Felicity Cloake. The method is semi‐absorbsion‐and‐measured‐volume. But with leeway for those of us who can’t measure.

Ingredients

• Rice

• Salt

Tools

• Pan with lid

• Kettle

• Old newspaper

Make

This recipe makes a cake of rice at the bottom of the pan. You are not expected to serve the cake. But may give it to hangers‐on in the kitchen—it’s good.

1. Measure rice, 3/4 cup per person. Rinse once or twice

2. (optional) Leave the rice in water for 1/2 hr

3. Tip soak/wash water away then put rice in pan

4. Fill pan with cold water, two finger widths over rice, with a spoonful of salt

5. Bring to boil. Blast on the hottest ring. Meanwhile, put the kettle on

6. Soon as pan boils, tear off the hot ring, onto the smallest ring on the lowest heat

7. Two stirs quite hard, make sure all rice is moving. Adjust with hot kettle water until two fingers again (rice will have grown)

8. One or two sheets of newspaper over the pan, then clamp down the lid. Steam will make a tight seal

9. 25 minutes (28 for brown rice)

10. Off the stove. Leave lid clamped

11. One long song later, you’re done

Lift lid. Use a fork to fluff or shovel.

Variations

• Soaking—the original recipe recommends 1/2 hr. You can skip the soak, rice will stick together more

• The original recipe rests the pan on a wet towel—I havn’t tried it. The wet towel is proposed to make a difference to the cake. I don’t get why…?

Discussion

What’s wrong in this recipe is everything. Note,

• One brief wash, no sluicing

• The stirring

• No overfill of water (which I know from Pakistani tradition, and packet instructions)

• I’ve heard about the finger method from visitors to Tibet. But that with fine rices like Basmati and Jasmine

• Salt

• The entire newspaper affair

• The rest time

So much so, if any watch me, they won’t see me cook like this. I refuse to let any cook watch me cook rice.

References

Felicity Cloake’s “How to cook perfect long grain rice”,

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/feb/17/how-to-cook-perfect-rice

Feedback

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