Cooking Rice For Dummies

Start the rice before you start cooking the rest of your food. First, obviously, scoop some rice grains into a cooking pot. I've found that 1 cup (250 mL) of rice grains gives about 3-4 large servings of rice.

Unless I'm cooking Uncle Ben's or some such (which, incidentally, I never do), I always rinse the rice first. Just cuz you never know what's gets packed in there as well. Rinsing the rice basically involves filling the pot with cold water and rubbing handfuls of rice until the water is practically white and opaque. Carefully pour out all the water without spilling the rice (you'd be amazed how efficiently rice can clog a drain), and refill. Repeat about 2-3 times, or until your hands go numb and you really don't feel like doing it anymore.

After draining the water out the final time, fill the pot until you have about a 2:1 ratio of water to rice. The easiest way to gauge this is as follows:

Even out the top of rice and put your pointer finger on the bottom of the pot while placing your thumb lightly on top of the rice. Keeping your finger and thumb in this position, place the tip of your pointer gently on top of the rice. Your thumb should now just rest on the top of the water. (See Fig. 1)

Place the pot on the stove and turn to MAX heat. Let it sit uncovered.

NEVER, EVER STIR THE RICE. The more you stir, the more it sticks to the pot and becomes this wonderful, gelatinous mess. Don't ask me why this happens, it just does. Trust me. I didn't believe my dad when he first told me, so I stirred to my heart's content. Cleaning the pot afterwards was not fun.

When the water is boiling, turn the heat down to MED heat (about 5 or 6 on most electric ranges), again keeping it uncovered. Once the level of the water has gone just below the level of the rice, cover the pot and turn to MIN heat.

Then, just leave the rice (covered) until the rest of your food is done. By the time everything's ready to serve, I guarantee that you will have nice, fluffy, not-too-sticky rice!

Caveats

1. This particular method of cooking rice is good for Chinese and Japanese style rice. I don't know how effective it would be for Indian or other styles of rice, because I've never tried cooking them. For Uncle Bens, it's best to follow the instructions on the back of the box.
2. This method works on gas ranges as well. Just check the level of the fire when turning it down to low, as you still want a small flame going at that point. Also, keep an eye on the rice. Gas ranges tend to cook things much quicker than electric.
3. The shorter the grain of rice, the more sticky it tends to be. So, if you don't like your rice to be as sticky, buy longer grained rice. You can also experiment with margarine and the like, if you wish, but I can't guarentee the results then. I personally never use it.
4. If you have no dietary restrictions against pork, you can also try putting Chinese sausage on top of the rice before putting it on the stove. The oils from the sausage seep into the rice and make it a less sticky, with a nice salty flavour. You have to like Chinese sausage and not be prone to heart disease though. If you know Chinese sausage, you know what I'm talking about.

Enjoy!