Author Topic: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)  (Read 95986 times)

0 Members and 6 Guests are viewing this topic.

Online coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10175
  • Country: gb
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #50 on: October 31, 2024, 02:45:52 pm »
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
That's a weird combination of recommendations. If you want to cook basmati in a genuinely Indian way you need to wash it extensively, and get rid of every last scrap of powdered starch. You won't get light fluffy separate grains if the powdered starch glues them together. If you want a more East Asian style of rice, washing is less important, but you might get a lot of dirt mixed in with your rice if you don't wash it. It depends on the source.

Cooking rice in a microwave is great if you like your rice to have zero flavour, but its a sad way to cook a nice fragrant jasmine rice.

 

Offline Rick Law

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3492
  • Country: us
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #51 on: October 31, 2024, 07:23:52 pm »
Quote
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.

I am missing something...  If you have a false bottom separating the rice and the pot's real bottom, wouldn't the rice stick to the false bottom?  Now you have a presumably perforated piece of metal with rice stuck to it.  Perforation would be needed so water can flow, but that would make cleaning even a harder job.

If sticking is the main problem, switch over the microwave.  It will drastically reduce sticking.  For me, I have not had to clean any stuck rice since I switched, 2 decades ago....
 

Offline PlainName

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7582
  • Country: va
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #52 on: October 31, 2024, 07:28:13 pm »
Quote
  If you have a false bottom separating the rice and the pot's real bottom, wouldn't the rice stick to the false bottom?

No. By false bottom I mean some perforated affair that allows liquid to pass but not solids. Like a colander. The problem with solids sticking to the bottom of the pan is that they burn, because there is no liquid interface to keep them below boiling point. By raising the food so it doesn't touch the pan it can't burn (aka stick).
 

Online coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10175
  • Country: gb
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #53 on: October 31, 2024, 07:30:37 pm »
Quote
  If you have a false bottom separating the rice and the pot's real bottom, wouldn't the rice stick to the false bottom?

No. By false bottom I mean some perforated affair that allows liquid to pass but not solids. Like a colander. The problem with solids sticking to the bottom of the pan is that they burn, because there is no liquid interface to keep them below boiling point. By raising the food so it doesn't touch the pan it can't burn (aka stick).
There is no liquid near the end of the cooking cycle for basic steamed rice. Are you talking about cooking things like congee?
 

Offline PlainName

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7582
  • Country: va
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #54 on: October 31, 2024, 07:37:15 pm »
Doesn't matter. If it's touching the pan it will burn, if not it probably won't unless you forget about it.
 

Online coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10175
  • Country: gb
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #55 on: October 31, 2024, 07:42:26 pm »
Doesn't matter. If it's touching the pan it will burn, if not it probably won't unless you forget about it.
No rice cooker worth the name ever burns the rice, unless you want it to. Say, for things like Hakka rice, where its lightly singed on purpose. The basic trick of the rice cooker is to detect the temperature rise as the last of the water is absorbed, and back off the heating to just keep the rice warm.
 

Offline PlainName

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7582
  • Country: va
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #56 on: October 31, 2024, 08:10:52 pm »
Quote
No rice cooker worth the name ever burns the rice

Way to move the goalposts!

Since when was a pan of water a rice cooker? If you're going to pick holes, at least try to follow what the thread is about.
 

Online coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10175
  • Country: gb
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #57 on: October 31, 2024, 08:19:48 pm »
Quote
No rice cooker worth the name ever burns the rice

Way to move the goalposts!

Since when was a pan of water a rice cooker? If you're going to pick holes, at least try to follow what the thread is about.
Look, one way or another you have to cook and stop at just the right point. At the completion point you can't have excess water left in the pot, or you will get soggy rice. That's why you can't cook steamed rice in an actual steamer. If you raise the rice on a platform you've got to cut the heat at the right moment, or the temperature of the pot will soar as the base dries out, burning the inevitable film of powdered starch on the floor of the pan. If you don't raise the rice you have a bit more flexibility, as the moist rice stops the temperature rising too fast, even though it rises fast enough to catch the right time easily by automated or manual means.
 

Offline Analog Kid

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1347
  • Country: us
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #58 on: October 31, 2024, 09:46:27 pm »
...
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.

Sorry, I'm sticking to my original scheme. (See what I did there?)

Rice sticking to the bottom of the pot isn't a bug, it's a feature: it's a very reliable indicator of when the rice is fully cooked and ready to eat. Works well for me, so I'm not going to change my method here.

One needs to be careful here and monitor the pot closely, as once it starts sticking, it will only stick more and more, to the point where one needs to scrape a lot of rice off the bottom of the pot. But believe me, this does work as a "done" indicator.

(Assuming, of course, that one puts the appropriate amount of water in. There we can find many schools of thought.)
 

Offline Rick Law

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3492
  • Country: us
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #59 on: November 01, 2024, 11:15:20 pm »
Why sorry...

We all have our personal preferences.  By definition, whatever works for you, works.
 
The following users thanked this post: Analog Kid

Offline stretchyman

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 48
  • Country: gb
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #60 on: November 02, 2024, 12:38:04 pm »
I'm not an Indian, no disrespect to anyone that is or any other colour, race or creed either but my way works, simple as. Lots of other methods here but they're all very messy and time consuming. No idea that rice ever tasted of anything. Its pure starch in my book. The flavour is in the curry!!

I'm a Whitey btw!

Predominant diet is chicken and rice.

J.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2024, 12:41:15 pm by stretchyman »
 

Offline Psi

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10413
  • Country: nz
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #61 on: November 02, 2024, 01:08:02 pm »
+1 recommendation for getting a rice cooker.
The Panasonic ones is pretty nice. (Their microwaves are shit, but the rice cooker is great)

It cooks rice really well and is super easy to use. It also keeps it warm when the cooking cycle is over and has a display for how many hours your rice has been sitting in keep-warm mode for.
Also has an upper basket that sits inside the rice bowl where you can put any vege you also want to steam cook at the same time. So you can make a nice vege+rice meal all at once in the same machine.
Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 

Offline JXstaystonight

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 29
  • Country: us
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #62 on: November 08, 2024, 08:38:27 am »
I’ve seen how my Asian friend cooks rice at his place, and it might be helpful as a reference. If you're a beginner, I'd suggest using a rice cooker. For the rice-to-water ratio, just spread the rice evenly at the bottom of the pot, then extend your index finger and gently touch the surface of the rice. The water should reach about one finger joint above the rice. If your fingers are longer, you don’t need to be as precise with the height.
It’s some "magic" for getting the right amount!
 

Offline Psi

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 10413
  • Country: nz
Re: Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)
« Reply #63 on: November 20, 2024, 10:08:42 am »
Most rice cookers have markings on the bowl for water level for 1 cup, 2 cup, 3cup of rice.

Mine has multiple markings around the bowl for many different types of rice.

You can of course, fine tune as needed,  for me i know that just under the mark is where i need to be.
Greek letter 'Psi' (not Pounds per Square Inch)
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf