Making Rice - Beginner

Rice is aa staple food for much of the world.   It forms the base for many dishes in our household.    Many people will wash the rice before cooking to remove starch.  Many people will soak the rice before cooking to reduce the cooking time.   Most of the time I do neither.

The other thing to remember is there are many varieties of rice.   Don't let that get you conFUSEd.  Try them all out.   Read the instructions before you cook, some need a little more water or cooking time, some need a little less but the process is pretty much the same.

The Rice I use the most is a variety called Jasmine.  I think it has the best flavors.

Time Needed:
        30 min

Ingredients:

Rice
Bouillon/Soup Base
Minced Onion
Salt

Equipment:

Cooking Pot - 2 to 5 Quarts in size
4-cup Measuring Cup
Spoon
Hot Pad

Instructions:

1) Measure out 1 1/2 cups of Rice and 3 cups of water.    The traditional ratio of water to rice is 2:1 and that is what we do.  Again you do not have to be exact.  A little more water will make the rice soupier, A little less and it will be dry.

2) Pour the water into your pot and bring to a boil.  As you are waiting for the water to boil add your seasonings.  You can make the rice plain with just a pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon) or you can make it a little better.

I usually add a packet (tablespoon) chicken bullion packet and a tablespoon of dried onion flakes.   I think it adds a nice subtle flavor to the rice.  This is where you can experiment a little each time you make the rice.

3) When the water has come to a boil add your rice to the pot and stir.  Make sure none of the rice has clumped up or you will get crunchy rice in spots.     When you do this the water will stop boiling for a few minutes.

4). Allow the mixture to come back to a boil.   Once it is boiling, stir the rice one more time to make sure it is mixed well and then put the lid on and turn the burner to simmer/lowest or just turn it off.

5) Now the hard part.   Wait for 20 minutes.  You can wait longer if you want but most rice needs at least 20 minutes to cook.   30 minutes will not hurt.  We have turned off the heat in the step above so you should be fine.

6) It should be ready.  Before serving you need to "fluff" the rice.  All that means is to stir it up so that all of the individual grains of rice art sticking to each other.

Enjoy.   You have just made a base for many meals to come or you can eat it just as it is.