I used to screw up rice more often than I got it right. I still mess up occasionally, but I can consistently make rice correctly if it's an amount that I've done before.
The problem is the non-linear ratio of dry rice to water. For example, when I make medium-grain white rice, the best ratio is 1 cup rice to 1.66 cups water, but it is 2 cups rice to 2.66 cups water. If it was linear, it would be 2 to 3.33.
The place where this gets me most often (where I completely screw up and make inedible rice) is when I'm making sushi rice. I know that I need exactly 3.5 cups of water with 3 cups of washed sushi rice, but any time I try a different amount, it comes out as a big pot of mush.
I have also found that every boxed rice kit (wild rice, rice pilaf, ...) has the wrong ratio. I really like Zatarain's wild rice, which calls for 2.25 cups water and the box of rice mix. But if I follow those directions, there is still a puddle of water in the bottom of the pot when the time is up.
So, here is my recipe for rice and the water to rice ratios that I've found work best. I will try to fill in more ratios as I find good ones.
| Ingredients: | |
|---|---|
| (Some) | Dry rice (see ratios below) |
| (Some) | Water (see ratios below) |
| Optional ingredients by style Per dry cup of rice | |
| American | |
| 1-1.5 tbsp | Butter |
| 0.5-1 tsp | Kosher salt |
| 1-2 tbsp | Dry parsley (optional) |
| Asian | |
| 0.25 tsp | MSG |
| OR | |
| 2 in2 | Dry kelp (Kombu) |
| Latin/Spanish | |
| 1 pinch | Saffron |
| OR | |
| 0.5 pkt | Goya saizon con culantro y achote (or sans achote) |
| OR | |
| 0.25-0.5 tsp | Ground turmeric (for color only) |
| 0.25-0.5 tsp | Garlic powder |
| 0.25-0.5 tsp | Onion powder or dried onion |
| Indian | |
| 1 tsp | Whole cumin seed |
| 1-1.5 tsp | Butter or ghee |
Procedure:
Boil the water with all extra ingredients (butter, salt, MSG, parsley, ...).
Add the rice. If not already at high heat, turn up to high.
Wait for the water to boil.
Cover, drop the temperature to low-low-medium, and wait for 25 minutes.
Remove the cover, and wait for 5 more minutes.
Fluff the rice, preferably with a fork or chopsticks.
| Rice | Water |
|---|---|
| Medium Grain White Rice | |
| 1 cup | 1.66 cups |
| 2 cups | 2.66 cups |
| Sushi Rice (washed) | |
| 3 cups | 3.5 cups |
| Basmati Rice | |
| 2 cups | 3.5 cups |
Sushi rice is a separate post (I will explain washing), probably coming up next. I will link to it once it is available.
When making a boxed rice kit, I've found that it always comes out correctly if I subtract 0.25 to 0.5 cups of water from the amount they specify on the packing.
