Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)

[tkamiya]

Cooking rice is more of an art than science.  For one, more rice you cook, ratio of rice:water goes down.  For two, kind and age of rice affects the ratio changes.  Two of my rice cookers require different amount of water, too.

OT:  My girlfriend has a 1/2 cup (HALF CUP) rice cooker.  I never seen such thing existed!

[coppice]

Cooking rice is more of an art than science.  For one, more rice you cook, ratio of rice:water goes down.  For two, kind and age of rice affects the ratio changes.  Two of my rice cookers require different amount of water, too.

OT:  My girlfriend has a 1/2 cup (HALF CUP) rice cooker.  I never seen such thing existed!

If it were art, then a human would be able to beat an inexpensive fuzzy logic rice cooker. Those things give great results every time with varying types and ages of rice and people being sloppy about adding the exact amounts of water and rice. Humans don't come close.

[tkamiya]

If it were art, then a human would be able to beat an inexpensive fuzzy logic rice cooker. Those things give great results every time with varying types and ages of rice and people being sloppy about adding the exact amounts of water and rice. Humans don't come close.

I can easily cook pretty good rice using simple ordinary pot and standard American electric stove.  I use rice cooker because I am lazy and I don't want to keep watch over it.  Yes, they do pretty good job every time.  What I was talking about was, rice and water is not a simple ratio.  When cooking double the amount of rice; for example, you don't double amount of water.  Instead, use little less water than double.  I don't know why this happens.  It just works for me.

[IanB]

What I was talking about was, rice and water is not a simple ratio.  When cooking double the amount of rice; for example, you don't double amount of water.  Instead, use little less water than double.  I don't know why this happens.  It just works for me.

There is no reason in chemistry why this should be, so perhaps the reason might be in physics? For example, some water may be lost as steam from the pot by evaporation, and that amount may not be proportional to the amount of rice in the pot?

[tkamiya]

There is no reason in chemistry why this should be, so perhaps the reason might be in physics? For example, some water maybe lost as steam from the pot by evaporation, and that amount may not be proportional to the amount of rice in the pot?

Indeed the most simple type of rice cooker uses evaporation and accompanying temperature rise as a timer.  When all water evaporates away temperature rises above the boiling point, then it will shut itself off.  The proportion thing is the same when cooking by regular pots though.  I just don't know why it works this way.

[coppice]

There is no reason in chemistry why this should be, so perhaps the reason might be in physics? For example, some water maybe lost as steam from the pot by evaporation, and that amount may not be proportional to the amount of rice in the pot?

The chemistry of rice cooking must be quite interesting. If you let a good fuzzy logic rice cooker run its normal program with good quality rice you get very tasty result. If you run the fast program most cookers have, you get rice in about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time, but it can be pretty tasteless. The texture is usually fine, but its tasteless. I don't know what they do to speed up cooking, or why this gives a tasteless result, but I do wonder.

[PlainName]

Indeed the most simple type of rice cooker uses evaporation and accompanying temperature rise as a timer.

Perhaps related, I have an egg cooker where you load it up with eggs, spill some water into the tray and leave it to do the biz. The amount of water determines whether the eggs are soft or hard boiled. Seems pretty simple, but you put less water in for more eggs where I'd expect to put more water in. It's non-intuitive to me, and perhaps the business with double the rice with less than double the water is similar.

[tkamiya]

It would be interesting if we could put thermocouples and take some measurements.  After all, this IS electronics forum....

[Fungus]

Let the water surface be 5-7 mm higher than that of rice, depending on your hope that it is hard or soft. I have decades of experience in cooking rice.

Does that work when there's 1cm of rice in the pan and when there's 5cm of rice in the pan?

Nope. Basic math says it has to be proportional.

[Marco]

I didn't even know what normal rice is for decades, nearly all supermarket rice here is 8 min ready rice (not parboiled, the process is way more involved). It only absorbs a limited amount of water through the preprocessing so just drowning it doesn't really matter.

[antenna]

I do 2:1 by volume water to well-rinsed rice with a pinch of salt, bring to a boil, stir, then cover and place on lowest simmer for 18 minutes (don't uncover).  After that, the burner is turned off and let sit to steam for another 5 minutes before removing lid.  For fried rice, a little less water is better.  But what completely transformed my rice game was learning that the higher quality Chinese restaurants use a 2:1 ratio of long grain white to jasmine.  I cannot imagine cooking rice with anything else now.

I have a good panda chicken recipe if anyone wants it, but you will need a wok, toasted sesame oil, light soy sauce, cooking wine, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, better than bouillon, light brown sugar, fresh mushrooms, zucchini, corn starch and baking soda. But rather than detailing that here right now, I will instead share the top secret rarely written about way to make chicken tender and juicy. Rinse the chicken with water and add a little baking soda in the marinade.  It keeps the meat from shrinking during the cooking process by interfering with the proteins bonding together and that keeps the moisture in.

For those chasing down the perfect Chinese recipe (nothing against Japanese), one thing I didn't realize until recently was that kikkoman is japanese.  Switching to lachoy made a huge difference.

[Fungus]

I use lots of water and throw it in a strainer when the rice is cooked. 

Works with all types of rice.

[IanB]

I use lots of water and throw it in a strainer when the rice is cooked. 

Works with all types of rice.

I used to cook rice that way. The downside is that you lose all of the nutrients (and flavor) dissolved in the cooking water when you put the rice in the strainer.

[Microdoser]

1 mug rice, 1.25 mug water, hard boil 4 minutes, soft boil 4 minutes, let stand 12 minutes.

Those were the exact instructions on a small piece of paper I found in a bag of rice I got 30 years ago from the local chinese supermarket. I've used them ever since with great success.

Of course, if you want fancy rice, wash your rice very well, until the water is completely clear then let stand in the water for 10 minutes. Drain well. Get a cinnamon stick broken in half, 6 whole cloves, and 2 tablespoons ghee. Fry the spices in the ghee for a minute or two. Add the rice to the ghee spice mix, stir well until the rice is coated. Use vegetable stock instead of plain water. Cook using the above instructions. Fluff with a fork once done.

[pdenisowski]

A billion or two Asians have come up with a far simpler method that's been carefully tuned over the course of centuries if not millennia:

• Put rice in pot.
• Add water to depth of first knuckle of finger.

This.  You may need to vary the depth of the water slightly if you are using "new crop" vs. older rice.

(New rice needs less water)

[Dan123456]

I’ve always gone 1:2 (rice to water) up to the first cup of rice, then every additional cup of rice is 1:1.

So you want 1/2 a cup of rice, 1 cup of water.
1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water.

But…

2 cups of rice, add 3 cups of water.
3 cups of rice, 4 cups of water 

Has always worked for me so far and means all the water has boiled off (but not dry) by the time the rice is ready 

[thierry1000]

A measuring jug is also essential when cooking rice, as it is always measured by volume rather than weight. https://jardindescitations.com/citations/P1rx4CfzuyO

[cosmicray]

The amount of water varies by two factors: the exact variety of rice, and how dry or damp you want the finished product. The most common rice around here is long grain white coming from Puerto Rico. The manufacturer says 2-cups of water to 1-cup of rice. That works for me. The other variable is the container you cook the rice in. I'm using a glass Visions 3-qt pot, and a wooden spoon to stir it (because metal tools would scratch the glass surface).

[IanB]

My go-to rice varieties are Basmati rice from India, and Jasmine rice from Thailand. Both of those work fine with my ratio at the top of the thread. The rice is nice and fluffy, with no residual moisture, but still with a firm texture (neither soggy nor squishy).

I'm using a glass Visions 3-qt pot, and a wooden spoon to stir it (because metal tools would scratch the glass surface).

Stir it? I put rice and water in the pot with salt to taste, add a knob of butter, bring to the boil, and simmer for 15 minutes at lowest heat with the lid on. I don't touch the rice until the time is up.

[mwb1100]

A while back we got an "Instant Pot" automatic pressure cooker.  I don't do much of anything with it except make rice and hard boiled eggs.

It excels at both those tasks.

For rice, the recipe is:

  - equal parts (by volume) of rice and water
  - rinse the rice thoroughly
  - put the wet rinsed rice in the cooker then the water
  - close the cooker up and press the "rice" button

It turns out that when I weighed the rice and water I generally cook (2 cups each), the rice and the water weigh pretty close to the same (460g rice, 450g water).  So I'd think equal parts by weight should work well too.

The Instant Pot cost less than the rice cookers I was looking at to replace my ancient, crappy rice cooker that I lived with (but hated) for probably 20 years.  So I'm pretty happy with the Instant Pot even though I don't use it for any of the supposedly magnificent meals it's supposed to be able to make.

In case anyone cares, for hard boiled eggs:

  - put 1/2 cup water in the cooker
  - put the wire rack in place set up to 6 eggs on the rack
  - close the cooker up and turn on the pressure cook mode for 6 or 7 minutes depending on how done you want the eggs

They turn out perfect every time - the shells practically fall off after cracking.

[Rick Law]

I happen to be cooking rice today and it reminded me of this thread...  (Yeah, I know this thread is old, but I don't cook rice that often...)

Now besides water to rice ratio, here is a easy to remember rice cooking method just for folks on a electronic forum:  Cooking rice is like recharging lithium battery, but just a lot more forgiving.

We all know that recharging Li-Ion battery is a cc/cv process.  Cooking rice is rather like that.  Rice cook in two stages also...  But for rice, a thermometer instead of a voltmeter makes the determination.  An IR thermometer can do more than making the perfect cup of coffee.

The "cc stage" of rice cooking is heating the rice+water mixture to boiling.  You can pump in as much energy as long as you keep it below a certain hardware limit (such as not melting your plastic pot handle) -- that is like the "cc" phase of pumping energy into your Li-Ion cell, as long as you are below the current limit of the cell, it can go as high as you like.  This stage ends when the mixture in the pot reaches boiling point.  Since the mixture in the pot is not pure water, so it is not exactly 100°C but some percentage above that.  If you add cooking wine, it would be lower boiling point.   You may want to note down the observed boiling point of your mixture if it is your first time cooking.

Now you enter the "cv stage" of rice cooking.  You keep your mixture boiling.  Simmering about 3-5 times a minute would do nicely.   The temperature will stay at around boiling point (hence the CV or CT to be precise) as long as there is water left.  The heat energy pumped into the mixture is consumed by the phase-change of turning water into steam.  So temperature WILL stays at around boiling point as long as water remains in the pot.  Typically, the cv stage of rice cooking is the long stage.  Once all the water is absorb, cooking is done.  With no water left, additional heat energy pumped into your pot can now go to increasing the temperature of the content in the pot.  So, temperature above boiling point (which you observed) is the indication of cooking completion.

So, with your IR thermometer, you can determine where you are in cooking the rice.  I use microwave oven.  The "cc stage", I use 100% power.  The quantity I usually cook (1 quart/liter when cooked) will take around 8 minutes to boiling.  The "cv stage" I put the lid on.  I merely need to keep it simmering, 2 to 5 times a minute is good enough.  I use 30% power for about 22 minutes.

Here comes the forgiving part...  Water/rice ratio doesn't have to be so exact.  With a loose pot cover, a lot of steam may escape and you may need more water... 1:1.5 to 1:2 is the general rule.  You can adjust it to your liking.

After the mixture is done cooking, one can pick a grain of rice out, chew it and see if it is soft enough for your liking.  Insufficient water would cause the outside to be soft while inside is still hard.  With the forgiving nature of rice, you can just add a little more water and cook some more!  As the additional water is just a fraction of the original, one can use the low setting (30% for me) and just go again -- till temperature rise much above boiling point again and it is done again.

I often add meat into the mixture before starting the cooking.  At times, I add curry powder and/or garlic power.  Once cooking is completed, I put some veggies and some pepperoni on top of the rice for spice. Cook it at 30% for a couple more minutes and meal is served.

Personally, I use 1:2, so if too much steam escape (open the lid too often), there is still enough water to get it done in one go.  Too little water  (just soft enough) will likely cause a bloated sensation after eating.  Reason is after the rice gets to the stomach, it absorbs more fluid before it is fully digested causing it to expand more while inside you.  Same can happen with noodles.  It bloats as it absorbs water.  So to avoid that bloating discomfort, more water is softer (easier to digest) and avoids the bloat later.

I am hungry again -- I have some left over rice to eat..  Bye.

[Analog Kid]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I'm sure almost everyone here already knows but anyhow:

How to know when rice is done? When it just starts sticking to the bottom of the pan.

My water:rice ratio is about 1.75:1 (white rice: more water for brown rice).

[Rick Law]

...
How to know when rice is done? When it just starts sticking to the bottom of the pan.
...

When the water is totally absorb, rice is done.  Some likes to let it sit for a few minutes, but that is not necessary.

You can discern water absence many ways, here is three ways I used before:

1 IR temperature reader, if you have one.
  - Begin cooking until water boils.  Read and note the temperature at boiling. (first time only)
  - Continue cooking, temperature will stay near boiling as long as water is present.
  - When it suddenly start rising and keep rising, water is all gone. 120% of boiling temperature is a pretty good gauge.
  - Unless more other stuff are added (such as source of some sort) into your rice+water mix, that boiling point you noted earlier can be use again next time.

2. Use glass ware cooker
  - You can see the bottom of the pot to check for presence of water

3. Gravity
  - Tilt your pot as much as you can till it is >= 90 degree, water should run out if present.
  - Note the risk of rice falling out as well.  If you added oil to make the rice grains separate (American style preferred rice serving) instead of rice sticking together into clump (Asian style preferred rice serving).  Rice not in clump could fall out easily.

Also note:

When it starts sticking to bottom of pot, often it is because of uneven heating.  The part of the pot where it is hottest is where it will stick hardest.  Once the water is boiling, you only need enough heat to keep it simmering.  So, post-boiling cooking should be done at a lower heat setting.  Just low simmering will do fine.  That will reduce sticking.  Some oil will reduce sticking also.  Same with cooking macaroni, spaghetti, egg noodles, etc. -- low heat simmering will reduce sticking.

[PlainName]

When it starts sticking to bottom of pot, often it is because of uneven heating.  The part of the pot where it is hottest is where it will stick hardest.

Wouldn't a basket inside the pot (or perhaps a perforated false bottom) be a useful addition? If not indispensable if one tends to determine done-ness by the propensity to stick.

[stretchyman]

2:1 water to rice by volume. NEVER wash the rice and vary cooking time to suit. I use Basmati (generally) and it's 16mins in 800W microwave.

Simple, unlike some other methods!

I mug = 4 portions