Cooking Rice

[xPatx]

As a trainee I love learning all the time about cooking and non more so than from members on this site.
Until I joined I'd always made just plain boring boiled rice.
After reading many posts my rice now is as follows:

Basmalti rice cooked with 6 green cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves and a teaspoon of turmeric. Cooked in a pan full of water for 5-7 mins, taken out drained and put in the fridge to cool and stop cooking. Then open cardamom pods and put the seeds back in the rice and remove bay leave.

As a trainee this works for me everytime with a lovely taste but how can I improve on this in anyway?
I have ALWAYS overcooked my rice before learing to only cook it for 5-7 mins and learnt something else new.

This is a great friendly site and hope to learn loads more in the future.

[terry]

as a rough guide the water should be roughly half inch above the rice,try cooking your rice by absorption,cook your rice the way you are,once the water boils,after 1 or 2 minutes,cover the pan with bacofoil and replace the lid to get a tight seal,switch of the gas and leave, check again after 20 minutes,if not cooked just replace lid until you are happy with the end result.fork over rice and it should be nice and fluffy.

hope this helps  Terry

[Curry King]

If you want to try something different heat a desertspoon of ghee then add the rice and coat all the grains before adding your water.  When I make mine I also chuck in 3 or 4 cloves a pinch or 2 of cumin seeds and a piece of cassia bark.

cK

[davidandbess]

I use c/a recipe and only cook the rice for 4 mins (it's a bit al-dente)then spread it out on baking tray and leave to dry out in the fridge then later when I want to use it I stick it in the microwave and cook it accordingly.
Its so easy to let it overcook, to me you are better to undercook then microwave accordingly

Regards D/B

[bhuna-boy]

For me there are three keys to cooking rice. 1. Don't overcook 2. Don't be tempted to stir and break the grains once cooked, which seems to let out the starch and it becomes stodgy.3. Do not allow water to boil at max power for too long.

I get good results everytime with the following:(enough for 4 people)

In a large saucepan place 2 bay leaves, 2x 3cm pieces of cassia bark, 5 green cardomoms-crushed so they are open, 5 cloves, 2 star anise.

Add a tablespoon of ghee (or I often use groundnut oil) and gently fry to soften the pods and I believe release better flavour etc. about 1 min

Meanwhile boil a kettle of water with enough to completely cover the rice you are going to put in.

To the fried pods/leaves add your basmati and gently coat the rice with the oil mix by stirring.1 min

The kettle will be boiled - Yes I know some people are going to say don't add water to hot oil and yes it does sizzle  but the rice stops it from spitting-however do be careful- add enough water to completely cover the rice. The quantity is irrelevant as you are going to cook the rice and then pour the water off.

Bring the water up to boil and then turn down to medium simmer for! -set your timer-4 minutes. Lid doesn't need to be on for any of the above.

Drain off into strainer and straight away return to the pan it just came out of ,add a knob of butter and put the lid on the saucepan . Set this to one side while you get on with finishing the curry or doing the naans (Don't be tempted to lift the lid to look as it will loose its steamy heat which is finishing the rice off). It will keep its heat for about 15 mins and also will become soft ,fluffy and separate grains.

Enjoy.

[Cory Ander]

Hi guys,

To keep things a little tidy, I've moved this thread to "Let's Talk Cury" because, on balance, it seems to be more chit-chat about how to cook rice than recipes. 

However, I've created new threads, for actual recipes in the thread, in the recipe section.

Trust this is OK with everyone 

Regards,