How to Cook Perfect Plain Rice

It’s back to basics! Few of my Non-Indian friends have been requesting me for quite sometime to put up a post on how to cook perfect plain rice. I kept postponing this, as it’s usually not a big deal for us. I had a cooking workshop last week, where I prepared lemon rice along with other South Indian delicacies. Lemon rice recipe calls for plain rice, hence this post.

How to cook a big pot of rice to go with dinner/lunch is one of the first lessons many of us learn in the kitchen. It’s an easy and straightforward process that can sometimes feel like a culinary triumph when you’re first starting out.

If you make rice frequently or often need a lot of it at once, it starts to make sense to get a rice cooker for your kitchen. But don’t feel that you have to run out and buy one right away. Start with just making rice on the stove top, and upgrade from there.

Though I use rice cooker or a pressure cooker to cook rice on a daily basis, I’m going to share the stove top method today so that any one can make rice with out the need of any fancy gadgets.

What’s your technique to cook rice?

Lett go through How to Cook Perfect Plain Rice ?

How to Cook Perfect Plain Rice?

• It’s good practice to rinse your rice in a strainer before cooking and let it stand for at least 20 minutes. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it will rinse off any dusty starch on the surface of the rice and will yield firm but tender rice.
• For most rice, use a 1:2 ratio of one cup of rice to two cups of water. Some rice varieties will need a little less or a little more water as it cooks.
• Bring the water to a rapid boil in a small saucepan. Rice expands as it cooks, so use a saucepan large enough to accommodate.
• When the water has come to a boil, stir in the rice and bring it back to a gentle simmer.
• Cover the saucepan and turn the heat down to low. Don’t take off the lid while the rice is cooking as this lets the steam out and affects the cooking time. It takes about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Finally the resting step is very important. As the rice sits off the heat, the moisture in the rice redistributes itself for a more uniform texture throughout the pot. So let it stand covered for 10 minutes and fluff with a fork before serving.

Print Recipe

How to Cook Perfect Plain Rice

Rice is cooked by boiling or steaming and absorbs water during cooking.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main

Servings: 2 to 3

Author: Padma

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice Raw/Par boiled/Basmati/brown rice
• 2 cups water Raw rice

Instructions

• Rinse rice in a strainer before cooking and let it stand for at least 20 minutes (optional).
• Bring the water to a rapid boil in a small saucepan. Rice expands as it cooks, so use a saucepan large enough to accommodate.
• When the water has come to a boil, stir in the rice and bring it back to a gentle simmer.
• Cover the saucepan and turn the heat down to low. Don't take off the lid while the rice is cooking as this lets the steam out and affects the cooking time. It takes about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Let it stand covered for 10 minutes and fluff with fork before serving.

Notes

1. To cook basmati rice, decrease water by ¼ a cup. Cook time remains almost the same.
2. To cook brown rice, increase water by half a cup and cook time by 10 minutes.
3. You will know that the temperature is correct if a little steam is visible form the lid, a lot of steam means heat is too high.
4. You can also cook rice using a rice cooker or a pressure cooker using same measurements. I always prefer rice cooker as it is hassle free and you don’t need to watch out.

Enjoy plain rice with a variety of sides…to name some

• Sambar
• Rasam
• Tomato Dal
• Chicken curry
• Egg curry
• Crab curry
• Tomato curry

And explore many more recipes in my blog!!

Use Plain rice to make different variety rice like Tamarind rice, Lemon rice, Coconut rice and many more to come!!……Stay tuned for more exciting recipes!!

Happy Cooking 🙂

Padma