The Way of Cooking Rice

HI!

Deb says that I cook rice extremely well, so I wrote down the recipe (more cooking instructions than a "recipe") so I wouldn't forget them. I have to admit, I have never spoiled rice. I have succeeded every time! At first, I documented my way of cooking rice using the Notes program on my iPhone. Something happened and I lost all my iPhone Notes, so I'll document the Way of Cooking Rice here.

Here's "The Way of Cooking Rice"

1. I use a blend of red and white rice (1/3 to 2/3). Get a thick bottom pot to cook the rice in. The thick bottom keeps the rice from burning to the bottom.

2. Add rice. I use 3 cups per batch.

3. Add water. Use 1-1/2 cups of water for every cup of rice (that's 4-1/2 cups of water for 3 cups of rice). That's important; measure correctly.

4. Bring the rice and water to a boil in the thick bottom pot. Look for a rolling boil - lots of bubbles. When that happens, stir gently to even the cooking of the rice. Allow the rice / water mixture to boil for exactly 3 minutes. Leave the pot lid on the pot!! Do not remove it!

5. Reduce the heat to simmer (low) and continue to cook for another 20 minutes with the top on. It's important that you DO NOT lift the lid to look at the rice. The rice is fine; you don't need to check on it!

6. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let the rice rest for 30 minutes. Don't take the lid off .... the rice is still there and won't benefit from having you peek in!

7. After 30 minutes, the rice is done. Package it any way you want. What I do is to use a metal 1/2 cup measure, scoop out a full measure and flop it down on a cookie sheet. That forms a little mound of rice. It helps in getting the rice out of the measuring cup to spray a little vegetable based lubricant like Pam on both the cookie sheet and the measuring cup. I usually get 14 to 15 1/2 cup mounds on the sheet when I'm done.

8. Pop the cookie sheet with the little mounds of rice into the freezer. Allow them to stay there until the mounds are frozen. Peel them off the cookie sheet and place them into a storage container, possibly a large Ziploc freezer bag. (Generic large freezer bags work OK too.)

9. We find that recipes usually call for rice in 1/2 cup or cup per person measures. Having a bag in the freezer makes it convenient and easy to use rice in meals. Just reheat the little mounds of rice in the microwave oven.

10. Start over at step 1 when there aren't any little mounds of rice left in your freezer bag.

11. Drink white wine while doing steps 1 through 8. It helps a lot when watching water boil; I know!

Cheers!