Posts Tagged ‘absorption method’
Cooking Rice
Let’s start with some basics. Rice is a great accompaniment to many meals. Because it absorbs sauces and juices, it takes on the flavour of the foods it is served with, so that, as well as being filling, it is also delicious.
Most people know they can cook rice by boiling it in a large amount of water but a more efficient method of cooking it is the absorption method. Sure, you can buy a rice cooker to do that but it is one more gadget to take up room in your kitchen, and really, when you see how easy it is to do, you will wonder why you even considered buying a rice cooker. Okay, let’s get started.
Steamed Rice
Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice
Method:
- Wash the rice in cold water until the water runs clear (this removes the starch dust from white rice and stops it becoming gluggy). If you are using brown rice then the rice won’t need to be rinsed as long.
- Put the rice in a saucepan and add cold water until it is about 2.5cm (or 1 inch) above the rice level. (You can check the level by sticking your finger in – your hands should be clean : you did wash them before you started, right?)
- Bring the rice to the boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking until the water has evaporated leaving air bubbles through the rice. You don’t want to leave too much water at the bottom of the air holes, but you also don’t want to let all of the water boil away as you could end up burning the rice. Once you have done this once or twice you will know when to move to the next step.
- Cover tightly and turn off the heat. Let the rice stand on the stove covered for 20 minutes. For brown rice let it stand for about 30 minutes. Don’t lift the lid during this time as the steam and residual heat cook the rice to perfection. We put a grater (one of the large 4-sided tall ones) on top of the saucepan lid at this stage. The rest of the family know that they are not to lift the lid of any saucepan that has a grater on it or else!
- After the rice has stood for the required time you can remove the lid and serve it up.
Notes
Use a reasonably large saucepan for the rice as white rice expands when cooked.
This is a very efficient way of cooking rice as you are using just the right amount of water and you do not have to boil it for ages.
Cooked rice should be treated the same as you would fish or poultry – don’t keep it in the fridge too long after cooking. It provides a great medium for bacteria to grow in.
Variations
Once you have mastered the basic technique, you can modify as required. For example, putting a little saffron in the water will give the rice the bright yellow colour seen in many Indian dishes.
You can also use cold stock rather than plain water to cook the rice. This will give flavour to the rice and you could almost consider it a cheat’s risotto as all you need to add then are some cooked vegetables, meat, or poultry and you have a meal.
Tip
When cooking rice you might like to cook more than you need and use the left over rice to make fried rice. When making fried rice it is much easier to cook it if it has been prepared in advance. Simply place it on an oven tray in the refrigerator to dry out a little. Once it has dried, transfer it to a container and seal until you are ready to use it.
