Rice

/Rice General Thread/

Hey guys. Relatively new cook here. I've only been 'really' cooking the last year or so, and was looking for some advice when it comes to rice. Recently I started meal prep, and rice is the core to a lot of my meals right now, and I'm looking for ways to make it more interesting. So I guess I'll just ask upfront:

1.) Best type of rice? Healthiest? Minute vs. Bagged?

2.) Is cooking stovetop as effective of a way as a rice cooker? If I want it to be looser or stickier, what tips do you have?

3.) Interesting ways to season it, or good protein pairings? I've always kept it plain or used a very basic seasoning, and never tried any sort of sauces or anything to go with it.


Like I said, sorry for the pleb level questions, but just looking to improve.

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Best obviously depends on how you're using it.
Healthiest, as in, most healthful, is parboiled white rice. The parboiling and cooling converts the starch to resistant starch, reducing insulin spiking, and this process also increases bioavailability of other nutrients above and beyond brown rice.

I usually keep it plain, but will occasionally cook with bouillon. A bay leaf makes for nice fragrance. A little lemon zest can work too.

1. Preference, as far as best goes, obviously. Healthiest would probably be a wild rice. The reality is, brown vs white comes down to literally less than 1% nutritional difference per 100 grams. Wild rices are more significant in this regard.

Minute vs bagged isn't even a discussion. Minute will almost always be mushy porridgey shit, bagged takes 20 minutes and you can do more with it, for a better result in the end (and cheaper than minute rice buying from the right places).

2. There's a lot of different opinions on stove vs rice cooker, and you'll find most people here tend to prefer the stove.

The stove is very easy to not fuck up, regardless of how much people (and you) will fuck it up. The way I see it, is that unless you're getting a REAL FUCKING GOOD rice cooker ($500+ at least) the stove will be better. There's a lot of science and reason behind rice cookers, but the jist of it is that it's believed the hotter rice is cooked without being burned, the better it tastes. And you have to shell out a pretty penny for rice cookers that can go into the hundreds of degrees without burning the rice (note: I don't know exactly how this works by far)

3. A big thing I do to season rice/sauces/etc in an 'interesting' method would be to put seeds/spices you don't actually want to get INTO the rice (like caraway seeds or celery seeds) but you want the flavour of. Toss the tea bag in the pot and wait.

Protein pairings depend on how the protein is prepared, but that being said, plain rice goes with just about fucking anything in the protein department.

If you're using, cheap rice from, say, walmart, (i.e. generic "long grain" rice), don't rinse it, put 1:2 rice:water, toss slightly above medium heat on the stove, once it boils, cover for 20 minutes (if you're doing a massive amount consider the oven, it can be done in a large pot on the stove but I've seen many people without experience making rice fuck up pots this way. More an annoyance than anything)

How do I cook basmati rice?
Everyone and his mother has their own different method and none of them seem to work for me.

Rinse the shit out of it until the water is no longer cloudy, twice the water to rice. Have it boil for five minutes in lightly salted water in a lidded pot then turn it off the heat but keep it on the element. Should turn out fine.

>two cups of water for every one cup of rice
>boil water
>add rice
>bring back to boil
>simmer
>wait 22 minute
>turn off heat and let sit for 4-5 min

congrats u have rice

2nd post

If you're cooking with more 'premium' rices, i.e. rice from any other store or brand that isn't generic, it will be different. Short grain glutinous rices, which are usually considered some of the most flavourful rices plain, used for almost all japanese dishes and many other asian dishes, for example, would use MUCH less water, and should be rinsed before cooking, and would be cooked for half the time.

If you want basic rice to serve with a meal, consider these:

Asian food? Short grain glutionous, prepared with no extra seasoning except maybe a bit of rice, and appropriate seasonings to pair with the dish (basically whatever is in your dish but much less)

Indian food/European curries? Basmati rice, cooked with a small knob of butter and a bay leaf, maybe some boullion and curry powder or spices

Aromatics? Again, the bay leaf, a star of anise does wonders with rice (note: don't throw powdered anise into your rice, it will probably taste like shit, use an actual whole anise)

etc

At the end of the day, it's rice, it's easy and pairs with many, many dishes.

Go to an asian market or local store that sells decent rice, and play around. If you fuck up, at least you just fucked up rice, nothing expensive or anything, so play around.

I rinse my Basmati in a deep metal bowl, multiple times until not cloudy (do NOT do this with all kinds of rice), draining the water, then using slightly less than 2x the volume of rice in water, then boiling/steaming on the stove on lowest setting normally for about 10-15 minutes, then checking it quickly.

At first you might not be able to tell if stovetop rice is cooked just by peaking at the top, don't feel bad about digging in a couple times to see if water is at the bottom, but pay attention to the grains on the top and try to notice the difference in different stages of cooking/water levels

I grow up eating rice and never once did we wash the rice, it actually wasn't till I got to Veeky Forums did i see people post about washing rice.

>insulin spiking
The 90s called, they want their failed hypothesis back

And resistant starch is... resistant. So all you're doing is wasting money on calories you're not getting. You could just eat a smaller portion if you're so scared of carbs, or better yet, just eat a fried steak with grilled cheese and butter, that's where the real health is

>rice seasoned with rice
heh

Nice meme there

What are you refuting, exactly
Our entire glycemic load model?

I use basmati when I want to make a rice to go with food, like white rice.
I use valencia rice when I want to make a paella.
I use arborio when I want to make a risotto.

>1.) Best type of rice? Healthiest? Minute vs. Bagged?
Brown rice probably. People sometimes mix millet or other grains with rice for health purpose. Doesn't impact the taste too much. If anything it taste more rice-y. Freshly harvested rice usually taste best.
>2.) Is cooking stovetop as effective of a way as a rice cooker?
With enough skill, not a lot, boiling/steaming/pressure cooking rice on stove top will give you better result than cheap rice cooker. But it's very unlikely your result is better than better rice cooker like Made in Japan Zojirushi.
>If I want it to be looser or stickier, what tips do you have?
You cannot do much except washing them more to lose the starch. Less sticky result. Pajeet rice like Basmati has less starch, so the end result is very loose. Vice versa for sticky rice. If you are ok with mixing rice types, you can add more Basmati for looser rice, and add sticky rice for stickier result.
>3.) Interesting ways to season it, or good protein pairings?
White people like to add salt. Some mix butter or boil them with coconut milk. Cloves particularly goes well with rice. Anything goes with rice, Asian cooking most obviously.

mix in base/stock with the water

Unless you're me
In which case your basmati rice is very sticky despite plenty of rinsing

>General

Very weird. Probably just old rice.
One reason I cook Basmati-like rice despite being Chinese is I like to use them for fried rice. It's very fragrant when stir-fried. And easy to stir-fry because of the separate grains. I don't get why white people like to use Jasmine.

Jasmine rice is great, fuck that subcontinent rice.

t. non-white

>I don't get why white people like to use Jasmine.

Funny you mention that. I'm white. I visited a big Asian market because I had read that you could buy rice in bulk for a lot lower price than at normal western supermarkets. So I go there and look for the rice. Huge sacks everywhere. I didn't know what to buy so I asked the staff at the shop. The staff told me to buy Jasmine rice because "it more delicious".

I still like Jasmine rice, but I have many other kinds on hand. Basmati of course, Arborio for making risotto, Nishiki, and my personal favorite Carolina Gold (though it is expensive and mail-order only).

My go-to for most Asian dishes is a 50/50 mix of Thai Jasmine and Nishiki.

everything this guy said.
i use jasmine instead of basmati only cuz i buy it in 25lb bags.

>>>/reddit/ you nigger

1. healthiest is obviously brown/wild cuz of MUH FIBERS
2. rice cooker is for faggots. looser/stickier depends on the grain and if you rinse it or not. trial and error will give you more than any google search can
3.broth, stock, bouillon, salt, herbs, spices
if youre making a mexican dish, you toast the rice first in a pan with oil/butter before adding water.
my recipe for perfect rice:
1 cup jasmine rice
1 cup cold water
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp sugar
rinse rice until water is not cloudy, stir/mix/agitate rice to remove all starch if you want loose, fluffy rice
put all ingredients in pan and bring to boil, cover, then reduce to simmer (i use lowest heat possible).
once water level is even with rice turn off heat. if youre an electric stove faggot nigger remove it from the element.
wait 10-15 for water to be fully absorbed and youre done

Why would you add the rice after the water boil ? Just add the water and the rice at the same time and let it come to a boil before reducing to a simmer.

Removes excess starch and any preservatives/rat turds. Also washes any added vitamins/minerals.

you fucking mongoloid do you add pasta to water before boiling?

Do you know how to cook?

Okay, followup questions from OP:

Is there a certain time I should use Jasmine/Basmati in a dish instead? What's really the difference?

Also, just curious... How would you guys make a Cajun/Creole inspired Rice?

I'm getting a lot of info from this thread, I appreciate it Veeky Forums!

Pasta has nothing to do with rice you dumb fucking retard.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with doing this either.

Jasmine seems to be a versatile type of rice that avoids complaint from any of the rice eaters when served. In other words, I don't see anyone hate it.

fucking baka gaijin you don't heat things up with the boiling water thats how you get a mushier product, the water has to be at its highest boiling point for efficient cook of whatever it is that is meant to be boiled, not fucking brought up to boiling temperature with the water.

you literally know nothing

Kill yourself, flyover.

Golden Phoenix is probably the best brand that is widely available in western market.

Glycemic index and glycemic load are nonsense pushed by the animal agriculture industries, yes. And by a select few retards who built their careers on it (Ludwig at Harvard, media whore extraordinaire)

I'm not sure exactly who "we" is, given that the glycemic index is controversial at best in the scientific literature and hasn't found its way into any dietary guidelines or position papers of note. It's a failed hypothesis.

All of the healthiest and longest-living populations on earth have diets with a very high glycemic load due to a very high intake of carbohydrates (including the humble potato which has a very high "glycemic index", which doesn't stop it from reversing diabetes and atherosclerosis when it forms the basis of a diet).

>insults only thing shittier than his rice

>I'm not sure
Fucking do a cursory google search on how to cook rice and every 'recipe' says bring water to boil before adding the ingredient.

What the fuck is wrong with you that you think you can just throw it all in at the same time.

Fucking white people where a mistake.

Of course, because this is the only way that you can establish a standard for the thermal energy in the water
There's no reason that this NEEDS to be constant for the entire cooking duration, but otherwise, it's impossible to give cooking times
The boiling is a convenience for us as cooks, not the rice

Bro, arborio chicken risottos are the tightest shit, literally could stuff my face until death with it.

justonecookbook.com/how-to-cook-rice/

hapas are worse than niggers
why so angry Chris?

Too bad risottos look like vomit.

Bro, how can you not like a bowl of juicy, aromatic, mouthwatering, chunky blob of deliciousness.

Damn, im really craving some now...

>Glycemic index and glycemic load are nonsense pushed by the animal agriculture industries

that's bullshit and i don't believe it

redpill me on jasmine rice

its the easymode of rice.

This rice is pretty good.

As over hyped chipotle is, I do like how they do their rice. Just adding a bit of lime juice, salt and cilantro really does taste quite well. Goes very good with chicken.

Lime makes everything better.

what about unclebensricearonizatarains?

>Also, just curious... How would you guys make a Cajun/Creole inspired Rice?
just douse it in tony chacheres lmao

jkjk. but easy modo would be to
-fry you up some bacon
-Set bacon to the side
-Saute diced onions and bell peppers (colors of your choice) and minced garlic in bacon grease
-Add in some canned diced tomatoes towards the end
-Crumble your bacon
-Toss everything in with your rice, season to taste with cayenne, salt n pepper etc

>rice general
Holy shit, it's just fucking rice. It doesn't even taste of anything. You weebs would love been force fed diarrhoea as long as it came out of a jap's asshole.

Unrefined tastebuds.