Hi Jon, Butter adds a great flavor to rice!xxxxnbsp; (Uncle Ben always uses butter when cooking rice.)xxxxnbsp; I usually do use butter except when I’m cooking Asian recipes, or when I’m counting calories! xxxxnbsp;

Cheers!xxxxnbsp;

Thanks Will! xxxxnbsp;Now all we need are the pictures! xxxxnbsp;BTW perhaps you (or Jon) could explain what *ghee* is to everyoneqqqq

Ghee is a type of clarified butter with a distinctive taste (and aroma).

It is a mainstay of South Asian cooking, particularly as, unlike butter,xxxxnbsp;it can be stored for some time without refrigeration.

It is made by simmering unsalted butter until the water has boiled off and the solids have settled to the bottom of the pan.

Hope this helps.

Every time I have tried to cook white rice (basmati kind) it has come out bland and watery tasting.  Thanks for the tips!  Maybe all I really needed was some salt and butter.  But I'll also try some Indian-type spices or some ghee.

Very helpful!  Just the info I was looking for.  Thanks so much!

After having lived in apts w/ electric stoves for 7 yrs, I was thrilled to get back into a place with a gas stove.  Although, now my rice is a gummy mess.  I use Mahatma long grain, as always, with the 1 2=3 method, leaving it for 20 mins. but I practically had to slice the stuff I made last night! Does rinsing vs. not rinsing the rice beforehand make the difference? I never used to rinse but do now. Climate/elevation change is not an issue.  I'm miffed that something I whipped up w/o a second thought almost nightly now stresses me out! I miss my rice w/ kim chee lunches...

Hi everyone,
The way we cook rice in Brazil is to fry the rice for a few minutes with minced garlic and butter or oil, then add water and once it boils, leave for about 15 to 20 minutes. Just remember no to stir it too much, scpecially after it started boiling. Another trick is to add some drops of lime. It helps the rice not to get gummy. The measures are the same: 1 rice, 2 water.

I cook my lunch every day, and 9 times out of 10, I make rice.

Personally, I don't add butter. I also use short-grain rice (or sushi rice). The brand and kind of rice you use makes a HUGE difference - short-grain rice clumps together, making it easier to eat, and long-grain tends not to. (That's what I've heard, at least).

It'd be great if you could write something about the types of rice! :D

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i never cook rice and i want to learn how to cook, fist when i am starting am i putting the water and rice to gather, please advice

How much rice do I need to cook to serve 20 people?

One of the most endearing things about rice for me is that it absorbs all its cooking liquid. This is really handy, as you can flavor it a jillion different ways, and even add nutrients you may have lost otherwise.

For instance, a quick side dish that goes with many things is rice with sweet peas and mushrooms. Rather than pour the liquid those two things are packed with in the can down the drain, pour it into a measuring cup. Add however much butter or margarine turns you on, and finish filling with water to get the liquid meaure you need to satisfy the 2:1 ratio of liquid to rice for cooking.

If you're making a rice pudding, you can add complementary flavors such as vanilla or cherry juice to the cooking liquid. The rice will absorb it, and enhance the pudding.

If you're making the rice as an underlayment for stir-fried chicken, beef, etc., you can add a bouiliion cube to the cooking liquid to enhance the flavor.

Carrie -

You're overcooking the rice, and maybe playing with it while it's cooking. Once the rice comes back to a boil, turn the heat down to where the water doesn't even look like it's simmering. Once you cover it, the pressure will rise a bit, and it'll be at the perfect cooking point. Don't mess with it! Don't even look at it! Leave the cover on, and time it for 15 minutes. After that, it'll be right. You have to trust the process <grin>

Hi, could you tell the difference between adding the rice into boiling water and adding the rice into the cold water and bringing to a boil.

I was searching the net and found that other websites suggest to do just that.
Thanks.

The most important thing is to check the directions on the back of the box of rice you bought.  Some rice "mixes" have you combine the rice and water (and flavor/spice packets) and then bring it all to a boil.  Plain white or brown rice (cooked in a pot not a rice cooker) have you boil the water then add the rice.  My suggestion is to buy your favorite kind of rice, perfect cooking it, then branch out to different types of rice.  One key step in cooking all kinds of rice is NOT to keep stirring the rice as it cooks!

Thanks Katie!  I find "instant" rice to have an odd texture compared to the real thing.   If your way works...go for it!

Jane - 

You're out of luck. Toss it and start over. Some will say you can add liquid while it's still cooking if you've ended up short somehow, but it's tricky as you don't know how much to add. Also, opening the pot lets the magic out somehow. Once all is said and done, you really only get one shot with rice. Also be aware that you shouldn't eat half-cooked rice. You can't digest it.

Excellent Question!  

Yes you can freeze cooked rice.  It will keep one week in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.  Be sure to freeze rice in single serving size baggies or plastic wrap and then it will take no time to defrost.

You can store uncooked white rice in an airtight container, for up to one year, in a cool, dry place.

Uncooked brown rice keeps best when refrigerated (because of the oil content) and has a shelf life of about six months

Generally speaking for white rice, just remember 1-2-3!

1 cup of rice 2 cups of water = 3 cups of rice.

Thanks for all the info from yourself and the people who have written in to the blog.  As to instant versus 'real' rice - the instant has almost no nutritional value; it is removed during the processes that make it 'instant'.

Do you have any tips for cooking rice prior to frying rice, in order to get  the least-clumpy rice possible?  Every time I try to make fried rice, it never turns out quite right and is always the result of the texture of the primary ingredient - cooked white rice.  Thanks.

Pat, do keep in mind that you must start with COLD rice for fried rice.   Use leftover rice that you have cooked the day before.  Hot or even room temperature rice will yield very gummy, clumpy, fried rice.  (By the way, tomorrow I am posting a new video on How to Make Fried Rice!)

It's always the same timing.

How many 1/2 cup servings of rice should you plan on making for 60 people? I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say: 60. This, of course, goes against Deep Thought's ultimate answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything, but computers always think they're such smarty-pants. I mean, come on! 42? That doesn't even make sense here.

Some equivalent ways to look at 60 1/2 cups would be 30 cups, or 240 ounces, or 15 pints, or 1 7/8 gallons, or 7,097.647 milliliters. I would expect it to weigh slightly less than 15 pounds, and take up .2506 cubic feet of space.

Dear Kathy,

First of all, thanks for responding to my call for help.  We went ahead with our desire to serve at least 70 for lunch so, following your advice, we placed 5 cups of plain white rice (not instant), and 10 cups of boiling chicken broth (from store-bought bouillon paste) in a large turkey roaster aluminum pan, along with some chopped celery and carrot dices. We figured that would give us 15 cups of finished product (rice).  We did that twice, giving us 30 cups or 60 1/2 cup servings to which we added  a couple of cups of thawed frozen peas for color.  We sealed the pan with foil and cooked it in the 350 degree oven along with the pork chops we were serving.  After about an hour, we took the rice out of the oven, added the thawed peas, gave it a stir and were good to go.  There was very little rice left (none of the pork chops, a salad, buttered sliced bread a and a good dessert was left) Only about a spoonful of the rice came back to our kitchen at the church.  Thank you again for your assistance in this ministry effort.  Do you have any large-size recipes we might try in our quest to feed the homeless in the future?.
Bob

please i went learn how to cook white rices and chicken steew thanks plsea show me

Thanks Bob for jumping in! 

Ever since I started startcooking.com, How to Cook Rice has been the biggest cooking challenge for beginner cooks.

WOW!  Congratulations!

I'm going to have to start walking or eat more rice!

Thanks Grace!
Many new cooks find rice to be very difficult to make.  If you measure correctly and are able to find the "Simmer" adjustment on your stove then it should be easy.  My stove is a gas stove with four different size burners.  I always need to make adjustment depending on which burner is free.