Cooking Rice

There are many different ways to cook rice and so long as you’re happy with your method, then  you’re using the right method. Rice is such a staple in southwest Louisiana, about the only way we didn’t eat it was in rice pudding. We ate it with beans, gravy, casseroles, fried, in boudin . . and there aren’t many meals in most homes where rice isn’t served.

Through the years I’ve tried a handful of electric rice cookers and was never pleased with them. This Zojirushi is perfect, as far as an electric rice cooker goes. I’ve been using it for over five years and I use it often. Here’s a blog post that I did about several new things I had purchased back in 2009. I use the rice cooker for brown rice . . any rice except plain white rice and sometimes I will use it for white rice if I need to cook the rice and have it ready and warm for several hours. The Zoji rice cooker is expensive but it’s been worth every dime I paid for it. We also put steel cut oats in it, and set it to be ready when we wake up in the mornings.

For plain white rice, my favorite method is to cook it on the stove. Most folks who cook rice on the stove have their favorite pot to use. My favorite pots are a set of very inexpensive Farberware pots that I bought when we had a second home and I didn’t plan to do much cooking there. This set was purchased in about 2002, became my favorites and they’re still my favorite. My Calphalon Professional pots are packed away and I use these Farberware pots every day. It’s one of these pots that’s my favorite rice cooking pot.

The pot used to cook rice needs to be thick, large enough that the rice will not boil over, and have a fairly tight fitting lid. For 1 – 2 cups of raw rice, I use the medium to large saucepan.

Here’s how I cook rice and I guess what intrigues people is that I use equal parts water and rice. I don’t even know where I learned to cook rice using this method but it produces rice that is light and fluffy and the grains are completely separate from each other. I do not like gummy rice!

Since jalapeno peppers are included in everything in Texas, we’ve started putting jalapeno peppers in our rice and it’s really good.

• I start with a little butter in the pan and saute a sliced jalapeno pepper. I cook it til it’s a little brown and the butter has browned a bit. If you’re not using pepper or onion or any other add ins, skip this step.
• Determine how much raw rice you’re going to cook and use the same amount of liquid. Yesterday when making rice, I used a combination of water and the liquid from rehydrating dried mushrooms. Chicken broth can be used. A coconut milk/water mixture can be used but if using a thicker liquid, more liquid may be needed. Pour the liquid into the pot, add a little salt, bring the water to a boil.
• Stir in the rice, cook uncovered until it begins to simmer.

• Once the rice begins to boil (just barely starts boiling), turn the fire down as low as it will go. On my gas stove, I have a “simmer” burner and I move the pot back to that burner. If you have an electric stove, move the pot to a separate burner to get it off the hot burner.
• Cook, without stirring, until almost all the water has been absorbed.
• Once almost all the water has been absorbed, turn off the burner. If using an electric stove, move the pot away from the heat.
• Leave the lid on the pot. Do not stir. Allow the rice to sit, untouched, for at last 15 minutes.

Your rice should be light and fluffy and perfect!