All you Need is a Hand. Secrets to Perfect Rice

I am sure we all have the same old problem of how much water to add into our rice? Sometimes it becomes a little too mushy and sometimes its just feels like your eating grainy pieces of white sand.

Before we get into the secrets of cooking rice we got to understand how rice is cooked. Rice is primarily cooked by steaming little rice grains re-hydrating them from the inside out. Causing their hard outer shell to fluff up into this luxurious soft white grain that is just so soft and bouncy that we all know and love.

So when there is not enough water there won't be enough steam produced to fluff up and re-hydrate the rice, giving you this hard dry sand like grain. But when there is too much water steam is not produced causing the rice to just boil creating porridge or congee.

So what is the SECRET?

You got to first rinse your rice to remove all the excess starch that you do not want. If you do not rinse the excess starch away all you will be left with is a big gloop of what used to be rice.

So its time for the secret. You don't need any fancy measuring cups or weighing scales or whatever all you need is your finger which i'm sure 99% of us on this earth has at least 1 out of 10 fingers still intact.

So what you would want to do is to place your index finger or whatever finger of your choice into the rice. Using your thumb to mark on your finger where the rice stops.

Now hold your thumb where it is and lift your finger out of the rice and sit it right above the rice. Wherever your thumb is that is how much water you need.

Most white rice needs about a 1 or 1.5 to 1 ratio of water to rice. This finger trick has been used all around the world especially in Asia where we eat rice almost every single day. So take my word for it I've been doing this since I could remember and it always results in perfectly cooked rice.

Let it go and steam on your rice cooker, pot or your preferred method of cooking and you will be guaranteed the perfect batch of rice. But be warned this trick only works for white rice as other rice such as brown and wild rice require more water but this can be implemented as a base line and adjusted accordingly.

So no more gooupy congee or dry sandy granules for you.

Only perfectly steamed fluffy white rice for those who cook with Ten

Till Next Time,

Happy Cooking