The Asian Staple - Rice I (Plain White Rice)

RICE at least for us Chinese, has been a staple for thousands and thousands of years, so important that we have rice for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper! Steam it, stir fry it, cook it with meat or boil it into a broth (or soup). It is common in the Chinese speaking world to greet someone with "Have you eaten rice?" (吃饭了吗？）, which essentially means "Have you had your meal?" and it could be any time of the day. There are some who feel that they have not had a proper or complete meal without including rice. Rice is the first thing that our grandmother or mother will teach us to cook. Get the idea how important is rice to us now? Bravo.

Believe me that you do not need a rice cooker (then again, it is such a wonderful invention) to make a nice, fluffy, steamy fragrance plain white rice. I learned it from my grandmother to cook rice over flame stove (just in case there is a power outage) and have cooked it over electricity stove here over and over again.

The first time I saw my other half cooking rice, I was in shock and started screaming "NO, NO, NO! This is not how you cook rice". Basically, he boiled the rice like you would cook pasta, boiling rice in a lot of water until soft, and then drain it. I will explain to you why this is the wrong way to cook rice. I told my grandmother this later on and believe me, she had that "I cannot believe this!" look on her face.

The water that you cook rice in contains nutrients, by pouring away the water you cooked your rice in, not only you loose the starch, you also loose the nutrients. I was told by my grandmother that in difficult time not so long ago during WWII when food was scarce, they (the women) would cook rice in a large amount of water, remove the broth from the rice for the children and women and leave the grain to cook into rice for the men. For thousands and thousands of year, some women, who didn't produce enough breast milk for new born also fed their infants with rice broth.

How do I cook rice over an electrical stove? Basically there are 2 ways, but first some basic things you need to know.

• the general rule of cooking white rice is that the rice to water ratio is 1:2, that is 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water (from tap, cold) but I strongly advice you to adjust to your liking. If you like your rice a bit hard or if you are cooking rise for fried rice, just take away a scoop with your hands and Always, Always trial and error. I was taught, different brand of rice of the same type of grain absorb water slight differently; different grain of rice (Jasmine, Basmati, California, Rosa etc) absorb water differently.  A few spoon of water more or less can make a lot of difference.
• Rinse only once. The rice bought from a supermarket is very well polished, sometimes too well polished. The nutrient is mostly stored near the husk. The more you rinse, the more nutrient you are washing away thus the less starchy the rice will be and hence, less fluffy, harder and less fragrance. We used to rinse at least twice to remove sands, husks and sometimes bugs (that was 20 years ago!). You DO NOT need to do that now.

The Fail Proof Method
I use this method when I want to do something else while I cook the rice or I am too lazy to bother much. With this method, you simply cooking in a bowl over a pot or pan of water with the lid on. If you still do not know what I am talking about, read on.

Simply place the rice and water in a bowl (either metal or porcelain is fine), place it in a pot or pan of water (do make sure that there is enough water to keep boiling for 20 minutes, I would say if your water level is half way to the bowl, you are fine) with the lit on ,turn it to high heat and leave the water boiling until the water in the bowl evaporates completely and the rice is cooked (about 15 - 20 minutes). When the water has evaporated completely, you can always taste to check if it is cooked. Half way through, if you are not sure, you can always check. If it is slightly hard in the core and all the water has evaporated, simply add a few tablespoons of water and let it cook until the rice is ready; if it is already cooked through and through and there is still water, just remove the excess water with a spoon and let all the water inside the bowl evaporate completely; if it is al dente, you are doing fine, turn off the heat and leave it with lid closed on the stove for 5 minutes. If you are the first 2 case, just remember to adjust the amount of water used the next time. If you like it fluffier or harder, adjust accordingly the next time too.

Once the rice is cook, use a damp fork (I prefer damp wooden chopsticks, they stick less) and fluff (loosen) the rice and pronto!, your rice is ready. This is especially important if you are going to serve at a later time. It prevent the rice from hardening in to a cake (the you will have to put in more effort to break it). Keeping the rice warm in the pot with warm water will help keep it fluffy as well.

The advantage of this method is that it is really easy and you can fix it half way through in case it is under cooked or over cooked. The best part (and my favorite) is it will never burn!

Keep in mind that the usual bowl that we all have in our kitchens is enough for a 2 person portion, by Greek standards :-).

The Usual Method 
This method may be a bit intimidating at first but try it once or twice and you will be an expert.

Bring the rice and water into a boil over high heat. When the rice starts to boil, turn down the heat to medium or medium low, close the lid and let it simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes or until the water on top of the rice has dried up. Check the state of the rice, it should be al dente. Turn off the heat, it should be quite moist and doesn't stick to the pot when you stir. Close the lid immediately and let it sit over the stove for another few minutes (about 5 minutes or less). The rice should be ready by now, remove it from the stove and using a fork or a pair of chopstick, fluff the rice. It is alright if the rice sticks at the bottom. It may soften (probably after absorbing the moisture left) as it cools a bit. Let it sit for another few minutes before serving.

A few tips:

• A lid with a small outlet to let out steam. But if there isn't any, simply tilt the lid to create a small opening at the edge. This will minimize the chances of the broth from spilling out. 
• Do not open the lid to check too often, you will loose the steam. The steam help to cook the rice. 
• Personally I find using a pot with glass lid very useful as I can see when the water has dried up without opening the lid. 

For me, cooking is not rocket science and it is always experimental.  I like getting things right so I try and if I fail, learn from it and try again. So try it, and try it again if it doesn't work the first time. You will get it right.