General > Cooking

Cooking rice (rice to water ratio by weight)

(1/9) > >>

IanB:
This was a thing that bugged me. I scoured the internet for information about the water-to-rice ratio by weight when cooking rice in a pan by the absorption method. The measurements are always given by volume, in cups, which is not precise, and does not translate well to Europe. So I did some experiments to find out for myself, with the following conclusion.

I tested long grain types, Basmati rice and jasmine rice. For both types, a good ratio seems to be 150% water to rice by weight. So for 100 g of rice, you would want 150 g of water. I find a good portion size is 133 g of rice needing 200 g of water.

Here is a typical cooking method:

1. Weigh the dry rice and calculate the amount of water needed (multiply the weight of rice by 1.5 to get the weight of water)
2. Wash the rice next if that's what you prefer (it helps to remove excess starch, dead insect parts and other stuff you might not want to consume)
3. Put a pan on the scale and tare it to zero
4. Put the washed rice in the pan and add water to top up the weight to 250% of the original dry rice weight (e.g. 100 g rice tops up to 250 g total)
5. Add salt to taste and stir
6. Adding a knob of butter is also good
7. Bring the pan to the boil, put on a close fitting lid, and simmer at the lowest heat for 15 minutes until all the water is absorbed
8. Take off the heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes
9. Fluff up the rice and serve

I find this gives just the right texture of rice, with separate grains, but not too mushy and not too firm.

Halcyon:
I've always used 1:1.5 ratio for white rice to water, and 1:2 for brown/black rice.

To maintain those separate grains and avoid the claggyness, wash thoroughly before cooking.

If you're not sure, err on the side of slightly under-done and leave off the heat with the lid on to carryover cook while you prepare other parts of the meal. It'll happily sit there under its own steam for 20-30 minutes.

IanB:
Yes, my proportions above are for white rice. Glad to see confirmation from another source.

I found the washed rice retains a fair amount of water, so I take care to account for that when working out the additional water to add.

themadhippy:

--- Quote --- The measurements are always given by volume, in cups, which is not precise
--- End quote ---
much easier than digging out the scales,and it s easy to scale,not hungry espresso cup,ravenous the big mug.For me its 1 measure rice,2 water,bring to boil,lid on heat off.ignore for  20  minutes or so.

IanB:

--- Quote from: themadhippy on April 29, 2023, 02:39:16 am ---
--- Quote --- The measurements are always given by volume, in cups, which is not precise
--- End quote ---
much easier than digging out the scales,and it s easy to scale,not hungry espresso cup,ravenous the big mug.For me its 1 measure rice,2 water,bring to boil,lid on heat off.ignore for  20  minutes or so.

--- End quote ---

Ah, so I just did a weight test. For both the Basmati and jasmine rice I have on hand, ½ US cup of rice weighs 100 g exactly, while ½ cup of water weighs 120 g in round numbers (118 g scientifically). So one part rice to two parts water by volume would be 100 g rice to 240 g water, which is much more than the 150 g water that I would use for my taste.

Perhaps you like very soft rice? Or are you cooking brown rice?

Tastes vary of course, but anyone reading this can make a judgement about how they like their rice.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page