as I, and I expect the rest of you, use a certain pan for cooking rice, when asked to cook it in a strange kitchen, sometimes the pans (and knives, etc.) are not what we are used to. I usually improvise by putting a frying pan under the rice pan, to even out the heat and place a sheet of kitchen foil over the top held down with a dished plate. This seems to work very well, and doesn't cause rice to stick to the bottom of the pan.

sounds like a good idea for thinner pans and such... personally I use a glass bowl and the microwave most times... !

runs and hides

Steve

I've tried it in a ?wave, and it worked very well, but took just as long!! And I had to stir it every 3 - 4 minutes.

i am the only one in our house that will eat rice and i only use the long grain brown rice. i either pressure cook it for 25 minutes in 1 and half times the amount of water to rice or i do it in a heavy based cast iron pan. if i do it in the cast iron pan (which is my preferred method as the results are much better IMO) i put 2 times the amount of water to rice bring it to the boil put the lid on turn the heat down to lowest setting and leave it for 50 minutes. then i turn the heat off and just leave it to sit there until it is ready to be eaten. results are always better done that way as the rice is more fluffy. i do use have white basmati in for when i am cooking for guests as brown rice is not always to peoples taste. when cooking basmati i will either do it using the absorbtion method (if making a pilaf etc) but if i am boiling it and making it look all fancy with natural colours i like to soak the rice for about 20-30 minutes in cold water before i boil it. this makes the grains longer and it only takes about 5 minutes to boil.

** has a gut feeling that lapis is laying in wait behind a door with a rolling pin and a piece of wet trout**

not at all, Sid, I should eat brown rice, really, but it takes so long to cook.

The amount of water should be equal to the amount of rice (1:) but for prolonged cooking, some will boil off rather than be absorbed. We do what we can to get the 'perfect' result, and using the right pan on the right heat is vital for this, IMHO.

I always cook white basmati rice because I like it best. I put the rice in a saucepan (stainless steel but with a copper base - one of a set bought long ago when I had more disposable income) cover it generously with water, swirl it around and tip the water off. I repeat this process until the water is clear - some rice has more loose starch. Then I add water to just above the level of the rice, cover and bring it to a good boil. I then turn it right down on my lowest burner and cook for about 20 minutes (15 if it is going to sit for a bit as it continues to cook for a little while). The rice is never burned or even stuck to the pot this way, but it wouldn't work so well in a thin-bottomed saucepan or one that didn't have a lid which fitted well.

As almost daily consumption of rice for me and family, I find rice cooker very handy.

There a many types of rice in the world and there many various ways of cooking them. For example with some Persian recipes the basmati rice is soaked in warm water for up to 4 hours and then cooked for 10 mins. See link http://www.persianrecipes.net/recipe.asp?ID=53

Good Luck all!

You can use any method that works for you. I usually use the absorption method myself; Rice

Afraid too I rely on clever Far Eastern engineers to perfect rice cookers.

And as I've said before they (the cookers) make excellent bread bins when not in use!

Winton

For a round bread ;-)! LOL

20 min? Yes - with 15 floz Rice & 20floz water in the bottom of the AGA.

But - strangely, half the amount does in half the time. Not logical.

I always do it by absorption, using MJ's proportion of plus 1/3 of water - for white Basmati.

= Tim

I have an inexpensive rice steamer. All I have cooked in it is brown rice in homemade spiced chicken stock. (I'm told it's called Kabseh, an Arabic dish taught to me by a former co-worker)

It takes 75 minutes to cook! Yes, it's a long time but I can put it on and forget about it.... AND... it's so worth it! I have never liked rice much but this is wonderful served with fried onions and toasted almond slivers on top.

It also takes a lot of liquid to cook brown rice, in my experience - about 3 cups of liquid per cup of rice.

The type of brown rice I use is just the normal long grain brown rice (not basmati)and it only needs one and a half the amount of water to rice (even slightly under if I do it in the pressure cooker). I cook it in a cast iron pot with cast iron lid. All I do is turn the heat on full, put the rice and the water into the pot and when it comes to the boil I reduce the heat to the lowest setting, put on the lid and leave it for 50 minutes and it's done perfectly. In the pressure cooker it only takes 25-30 minutes.

Sid

dry rice contains about 10% water, and cooked rice about 60% water, so to cook rice requires its weight in water to be added, that is 1:1. What happens when a sealed pan is not used is that some of the water can boil off, so a little more water is added (at the beginning) to compensate.

1:1 is the ratio the big producers of cooked rice use.

It's always a good idea to cover the pan while using the absorption method and 'put water on the lid'. It delays the rice burning, should it come to that. Is also useful if you need to tip in some water quickly, as it's already hot.