So I'm a pretty decent cook. Nothing special but basically, I can make most things and they'll taste like what they're supposed to taste like and be enjoyable to eat.
But I cannot for the fucking life of me cook rice properly. Seriously. I love rice when other people cook it. Chinese restaurant rice? Sticky rice balls? The rice with sushi. Fucking anywhere that serves rice, it's always great.
And when I do it it's christ awful. How do you cook rice like a chinese restaurant? Or just how do you cook rice well? I truly don't know.
Measure out 2 parts water or stock to 1 part rice Heat liquid in a pot on the stove with some salt and whatever other flavorings Once it's at a boil, add rice. Bring back to boil then crank almost all the way down and lid the pot. Come back in 20min (for white rice) and fluff up with a fork. You now have rice.
Justin Powell
Almost all the way down being a 1 on my burner? I have one of those induction stoves.
Angel Kelly
>How do you cook rice like a chinese restaurant? With a rice cooker.
Also note that there are many different kinds of rice. They have different flavors, textures, cooking methods, and so on.
"sticky rice balls" will be made with short grain aka glutinous rice.
Sushi rice uses special types, and once the rice is cooked it's seasoned with vinegar as a minimum, and sometimes salt and/or sugar as well.
Noah White
Anything particular that's wrong when you cook rice, or it's just not the same? What type of rice are you buying? It sounds like you want Jasmine rice or a similar long grain.
Ryder Reyes
I've spent basically a year figuring out how to cook rice. Fuck anyone who says 2 to 1 water to rice.
First off you gotta wash that shit before you think about cooking it. Wash off all the excess startch. Basically rinse it until the water isn't super cloudy. Then base your amount of water off of what kind of rice you are cooking. Short grain = a tad bit over 1 cup water to 1 cup rice. Like not even 1/4 cup more. Just a bit. Medium and long grain is 1 to 1. Then let the shit soak for a good 15-20 until the rice starts to get pearly looking. If you do it you'll know what I mean. Once it's pearly, provide pressure to the lid of your pot creating the best seal possible and bring to a boil. Once at a rolling boil kill the heat. Then leave it with the lid on with pressure for AT LEAST 20 min. Shoot for a little longer if possible. Then remove lid, transfer to a wooden bowl and fluff. Tada. Perfect rice.
Nathan Cox
I dunno. It's overcooked or undercooked, it doesn't have that sticky/good texture. I dunno. Plain white. I'm trying parboiled right now with slightly better results.
I'll write this shit down and try it.
Nolan Fisher
>I'm a pretty decent cook It's not good to be delusional.
Basically: 1. Wash rice grain. 2. Soak rice grain. 3. Boil rice grain. 4. Remove from heat source and wait.
In any case, it's unlikely your result would be better than using Made in Japan Zojirushi or a pressure cooker. When using pressure or rice cooker, you obviously can skip soaking phase.
Benjamin Sanders
this man is correct, when i make rice, I always make it like this and it is perfect every time. sure, it takes an hour, but its good
Gabriel Ward
buy basmati rice rinse it in a sieve with cold water put in a pot season with salt and pepper add water so that it's 3 parts water to 2 parts rice (e.g. 300 ml of water if you put in 200 g of rice) bring to a boil turn down and cover the pot cook for around 6 minutes keeping the pot covered turn off when the water has "disappeared" run through the rice with a fork, the bottom should still be a tiny bit wet, as the water will keep evaporating for a while let it rest and eat
Noah Martinez
These threads are always funny to me as an asian person. There's people who swear by 1:1 and others to 1:2. You specifically asked chinese places. Chinese places are either gonna use medium grain rice or long grain rice, usually thai jasmine. Japanese and koreans use short grain rice. Shorter rice = stickier, longer rice = falls apart.
Your average chinese grandma is going to wash medium grain rice a couple of times, stick her index finger on top of the rice, and fill water up to the first knuckle. Koreans do this too. They don't have the time or patience to do that soak for 30 minutes thing. That's the result of japanese autism for the perfect sushi rice. That's also why they have a water ratio closer to 1:1, because the rice already soaked some. 1:1 is basically never enough water if you're not soaking for medium and long grains, unless you like your rice chewier/tougher. I typically range from 1.25-1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice, depending on who I'm cooking for. Also don't forget to estimate the water stuck on your rice after you washed it.
If you're not using a rice cooker, then bring the water to a boil on high, stir the grains a bit, and bring to low (1). Most importantly, cover the pot and make sure as little steam escapes as possible. If too much steam escapes, you fuck up the water ratio, and if it's too hot, the bottom will burn or it will overcook. Keep it on low for AT LEAST 20 minutes. Keep in mind a good rice cooker will take around 40 minutes to cook two cups of rice.
I've only tried the turning heat off method for jasmine rice in this recipe: budgetbytes.com/2011/07/yellow-jasmine-rice/ and tbf it worked out great. But chinese places won't be doing that, because again, fuck waiting.
Non-negotiable: heat, lid Depends on rice: washing, soaking, "resting" the rice Complete bullshit for chinese rices: 1:2 water ratio Depends on your preferences: >20m cook time, >1 to 1.5 water ratio
Nathaniel Collins
>They don't have the time or patience to do that soak for 30 minutes thing. >Keep in mind a good rice cooker will take around 40 minutes to cook two cups of rice. Because your rice cooker soak your rice.
Chase Bailey
It definitely doesn't spend 30 minutes though. Rice starts to audibly cook at around 10-15 minutes in, meaning it barely soaks, if you subtract the heating time.
Daniel Evans
2 cups water, 1 cup rice set it in the pot bring it to a boil put a lid on, reduce to simmer check after 15 minutes if the water has been absorbed
Cooper Thompson
Is cooked rice a thing you can buy in Amerilard?? I have a feeling it is lel
Bentley Brown
Get a rice cooker, honestly. If you don't want one, the botan rice packages have good instructions on the back for making rice on the stove. I'd show you a pic but I just ran out of rice the other day and tossed the packaging.
Adam Lee
Thanks bro. Rice is the one thing I fuck up on a consistent basis, and chinese places always seem to have the rice I like best.
I mean I want one but I have like no money right now. I'm about to move and have to buy a fridge and freezer of some variety. That's gonna eat up a bunch of money I already don't have.
Thomas White
>cannot make rice >calls himself decent
Mason James
Veeky Forums is filled with delusional cooks. The same with any cooking forums and subreddits.
John Gomez
Listen to this guy.
Jaxson Long
I have a Rival rice cooker (model RC101) and the thing is foreign to me. It has its own fucking measurements and I can't wrap my head around it.
It comes with its own "cup" which isn't normal cup measurements. Apparently it's 3/4 of an actual cup. But I fill this "cup" with rice and then I put it in the bowl. Now in this bowl there are measurement lines. It has a 1 near the bottom and a 5 near the top.
So 1 "cup" of rice is added to the cooker and then I add water until it hits the "1" line measurement in the cooker bowl. And if I was doing 2 "cups" I'd do the same thing only add the water to the 2 line.
I don't know why it's so fucking hard. I'm used to using real cups and real measurements, not some stupid Rival system of measurements.
Adam Reyes
pictured method never fails (from a cookbook by a fairly well known HK chef)
i'm asian, and this is the most consistently excellent method i've come across.
Joshua Stewart
heres the secret. Put rice in pot with no water, add some olive oil and garlic and cook it at low for about 5 min. Stir constantly so that it doesn't burn. Then add water after the 5 min and boil normally after you turn the temp to w/e you stove boils rice at. Surprised no one has said this yet at the same time everyone here is pasty white autists and cook without spices and eat microwaved meals.
This is how you get that "restaurant" taste.
Xavier Gray
Always trust asian. I'll check it out, thanks bro.
Jeremiah Reyes
thanks samefag.
Jaxson Gonzalez
yes
Wyatt Adams
Depends on the rice.
Here's my Japanese mother-in-law's method, that I find foolproof.
You need a heavy pot with a heavy lid.
1. Wash 1 cup of short grain Japanese rice (I like koshihikari). 2. Put in pot. Add 1.2 cups of water. 3. Bring to a boil good boil. 4. Pop that heavy lid on and cut heat to 1 or 2 depending on stove. 5. Wait 12 minutes. 6. Open and fluff gently. Close lid. 7. Wait 2-3 minutes. 8. Serve or keep warm as needed.
You can fill small small containers and it freezes well. Pop the lid open and nuke for 2 minutes to eat. Top as preferred.
Evan Cook
I should note that a lot of old ladies in Japan just leave the lid on from cold and turn the head down when it starts to rattle. That's actually how I do it, but its a bit dangerous from a possible overflow scenario. You can get whistling pot lids as well, like a tea kettle. I have one, it rules.
Elijah Powell
the standard viet/chinese/jap... way is : >rinse and wash rice heavily in your ricecooker,kneading it in the process, exchanging water a couple of times til no more starch is released >add water til it its about 1cm or 1/3 inch above the rice >cook
type of rice matters a lot, my standard is chinese/japanese round rice which i buy in 5kg bags at the asian store. ricecookers are a quality of life improvement and guarantee perfect rice, its impossible to cook perfect rice on a normal stovetop all the time if you dont monitor the process consistently.
so thats for eastasia, basmati and middle eastern rice etc are all different and work better with different methods.
id say the most common mistake is using too much water/overcooking. Mix your rice up with a little seasoning, like a small amount of drippings/sauce from your meal, a drop of vinegar etc - you would do this when your ricecooker is done, at which point you should release it from the sides of the ricecooker, basically increasing volume which prevents sticking nd gives better consistency
