Stovetop White Rice Recipes

STOVETOP WHITE RICE

Steps:

• Rinse rice: Pour rice into a medium mixing bowl and cover with 3 inches of lukewarm water. Swirl water and rice with your hands to release starch, about 30 seconds; water will appear cloudy. Use a fine-mesh strainer to drain the rice; shake strainer to remove extra liquid. Transfer rinsed rice into a pot and add 1⅓ C of lukewarm water, along with a small pinch of salt and sugar.
• Cook rice: Over medium-high heat, bring rice to a low simmer, about 3 minutes. When bubbles appear around the edges of the pot, reduce heat to lowest setting on your burner. Cover the pot and simmer, 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and let the covered pot rest for 2 minutes; then gently fluff with a wooden spoon before serving. (Note: You can double this recipe, but make sure to use a bigger pot.)

PERFECT WHITE RICE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add rice and stir to coat. Cook until rice grains begin to turn opaque, 1 to 2 minutes; do not brown. Add water and salt.
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid.
• Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

BASIC STOVETOP RICE

Steps:

• Pour rice into a bowl, and fill it with cold water. Swirl the grains, using your fingers. Tip out any starchy water, and repeat until water runs almost clear.
• Combine rice and water in a pot: For most long-grain and medium-grain rice, pair 1 cup rice and 1 1/3 cups water. For short-grain rice, use 1 cup rice and 1 cup water. For most brown rice, combine 1 cup rice and 1 3/4 cups water. The rice and water should not come more than halfway up the sides of your pot; the mixture will double in volume as it cooks.
• Bring water to a hard boil over medium-high heat. The water's entire surface should break with big, constant bubbles. As soon as water is boiling, give it a vigorous stir with a spatula or wooden spoon, making sure to scrape at any grains at the bottom of the pot. Cover it with a lid and turn the heat to low.
• Cook long-grain and medium-grain rice for 15 minutes; short-grain varieties for 20 minutes; and brown rice for 30 minutes.
• When allotted time has passed, or when you hear a change in sound - if you listen closely, you'll notice the sounds will slowly change from a bubbly simmer to a steamy sort of flutter - turn off heat and let rice rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

CLASSIC STOVE-TOP METHOD FOR PERFECT WHITE RICE

Steps:

• Bring water, butter, and salt to a boil in medium saucepan. Stir in rice and return to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid, 16 to 18 minutes (check only toward end of cooking time). The rice should be studded with craters, or steam holes, when it is ready. Remove from heat and let steam, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

PERFECT WHITE RICE

Steps:

• Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in rice and salt and return to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid, 16 to 18 minutes (check only toward the end of cooking time). The rice should be studded with craters, or steam holes, when it is ready.
• Remove from heat and let steam, covered, for 10 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and serve.

PERFECT SHORT-GRAIN WHITE RICE BY LISTENING (JAPANESE, KOREAN, C

Steps:

• You will probably want to start preparing the rice before the rest of the meal; if it is ready first, it will stay hot for a while in the pot.
• First, wash the rice with water, by swishing the water through with your hands or a wooden spoon, and then draining-- some older cookbooks will tell you to rinse thoroughly, but most modern rice says on the package"no talc," (that's what they use to polish it), so all you are doing is washing off the surface dust.
• Put the rice and measured water into a medium flat-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid.
• Ideally, you will soak the rice for 15 minutes to 3 hours before starting to cook it, but if you are pressed for time, you can add an extra tablespoon of water and skip the soak.
• Cover the pot, turn the heat on high, and bring the rice to a boil (about 4 minutes): you will know it is boiling because you will hear it bubbling and"dancing" inside the pot.
• Do not remove the lid.
• Turn the heat to low (if you have an electric stove you may need to switch to another burner) and simmer (about 15 minutes): you will hear the rice burbling a bit.
• Do not remove the lid.
• When the water is all absorbed, the sound will change to a low hiss.
• When you hear the hissing sound, turn the heat up to high again for just 20-30 seconds to help"dry off" the bottom of the rice.
• Do not remove the lid.
• Turn off the heat completely (especially if you have an electric stove, remove the pot from the heat altogether) and let the rice stand covered (do not remove the lid!) and steam itself for another 10-20 minutes.
• Dampen a wooden spoon or wooden rice paddle.
• Now remove the lid!
• Toss the rice lightly with the spoon or paddle so that it is fluffed a bit but still clumps enough to be picked up with chopsticks.
• If you need to keep the rice hot a while longer, hold a kitchen towel to the lid of the pot to absorb the moisture, then put the lid back on the pot.
• Serve in individual rice bowls.

FLUFFY WHITE RICE

Steps:

• You will need a small pot with a lid. A capacity of 1 to 3 quarts is good.
• Bring the water to a strong boil at highest temperature.
• Add the rice to the boiling water. Swirl the rice once with a spoon so that it covers the bottom of the pot uniformly.
• Watch the rice boil until you see the bubbles form a pock-marked pattern with its vigorous boiling. This takes 1 to 2 minutes.
• Lower the heat to simmer. About 2.5 out of 10 on the dial is about right on my stove. Your stove may need to be set slightly higher or lower. You want the heat to be high enough so that steam is always being formed in the pot, but not so hot that the rice scorches on the bottom of the pot.
• When the boiling dies down a bit, cover the pot and set the timer to 20 minutes.
• Remove the lid of the pot, and your rice is done. For your first batch, test the rice with a fork and give it a taste test. It should be fluffy and tender.
• (The texture of fried rice benefits from a firmer rice kernel. Use 1 1/2 cups of water instead of 1 2/3 cups of water to achieve this texture. When it is done, leave the lid off the pot and allow the rice to cool. Then use the cooled rice in your fried rice recipe. The cooling is optional.).