Know Your Rice
Cooking Skills: Rice 1
Chapter 1 · Know Your Rice
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
There are thousands of kinds of rice, but a cook only needs to understand one idea: starch. Rice is mostly starch, in two forms. Long, slender grains (basmati, long-grain) are rich in the form that stays firm, so they cook into separate, fluffy grains. Short, round grains (sushi, risotto, pudding rice) are rich in the form that turns soft and sticky, so they cook into clumps or a creamy mass. Choosing the right rice is more than half the battle: no technique makes basmati sticky enough for sushi.
| Rice | Grain and feel | Cooks up | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-grain white | Slim, firm | Separate, fluffy | Everyday side dish, curries, salads, fried rice |
| Basmati | Extra long, slender, fragrant | Separate, light, delicate | Curries, pilaf, biryani |
| Jasmine | Long, soft, floral | Slightly clingy, soft | Thai and Chinese food, stir-fries, rice bowls |
| Short-grain (sushi-style) | Short, plump | Sticky, holds together | Sushi, rice balls, rice bowls |
| Risotto (arborio, carnaroli) | Short, fat, starchy | Creamy outside, firm centre | Risotto, chapter 7 |
| Pudding rice | Short, round, very starchy | Soft, creamy, falls apart | Rice pudding, chapter 8 |
| Brown rice | Whole grain with the bran left on | Chewy, nutty, takes longer | Healthy everyday rice, chapter 4 |
"Wild rice" is not rice at all but the seed of a water grass, which is why it behaves differently (chapter 4).
Handling rice properly
- Rinse it. Dry rice is coated in loose surface starch, which turns the water gluey. Swirl the rice in a bowl or sieve under cold water until the water runs nearly clear. Rinse more for fluffy, separate grains (basmati, jasmine); skip it for risotto and puddings, where you want that starch.
- Soak it (sometimes). Half an hour in cold water lets long, delicate grains such as basmati absorb water gently, so they cook faster and break less.
- Measure it. Don't guess. About 75 g dry per main-meal portion, 50 to 60 g as a side.
- Store dry rice in an airtight container in a cool, dry place; it keeps for a year or more. Cooked rice needs more care, and has its own safety rules in chapter 2.
Try it
Plain boiled long-grain rice (your baseline)
Every experiment in this course needs something to compare against. This is it: the plainest way to cook ordinary rice. Make it carefully and remember how it tasted.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g long-grain white rice
- 1 litre water
- ½ tsp salt
- Bring the water and salt to the boil in a medium pan.
- Tip in the rice, stir once to stop it sticking to the base, and let it return to a steady simmer.
- Cook uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes. Scoop out a few grains at 10 minutes, let them cool for a moment and bite one: it should be tender with the faintest firmness in the middle.
- Drain in a sieve, then tip it back into the warm pan, cover and leave for 2 minutes so the steam dries the grains.
- Fluff with a fork (not a spoon, which mashes the grains) and taste it plain, before adding anything.
The rice-type tasting plate
Five common rices, each cooked the same plain way, then lined up on one plate so you can see and taste exactly how they differ. Buy the smallest bag of each: you will use them all through this course.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 30 g long-grain white rice
- 30 g basmati rice
- 30 g jasmine rice
- 30 g short-grain rice (sushi rice or similar)
- 30 g pudding rice
- 2 litres water, split between the pans (about 400 ml each)
- 1 pinch salt per pan
- Label five saucers or a plate in sections. Put 400 ml of water and a pinch of salt into each of five small pans (or cook in two rounds if you only have two or three pans).
- Bring each to the boil and add the 30 g of rice. Stir once, then simmer uncovered for the time in the table below, starting a timer for each.
- Drain each in turn in a sieve, steam dry for a minute, then spoon onto its own part of the plate.
- Look first: grain length, whether the grains are separate or clumped. Smell. Then taste each, with a sip of water in between.
- Press a forkful of each against the side of the plate to see how sticky it is. Write it all in the tasting-notes table.
Cooking times
| Rice | Dry weight | Simmer for |
|---|---|---|
| Long-grain white | 30 g | 10 to 12 min |
| Basmati | 30 g | 8 to 10 min |
| Jasmine | 30 g | 9 to 10 min |
| Short-grain (sushi-style) | 30 g | 12 to 14 min |
| Pudding rice | 30 g | 15 to 20 min |
Easy rice supper: rice, peas and a fried egg
Rice on its own is a base, not a meal. This is the simplest way to turn the baseline rice into supper, and the start of the rice bowls you will build in chapter 9.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g long-grain white rice, boiled as in the baseline recipe
- 80 g frozen peas
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vegetable or rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp reduced-salt soy sauce
- 1 spring onion, sliced
- Cook the rice as in the baseline recipe. Add the frozen peas to the pan for the last 3 minutes, then drain everything together.
- While the rice drains, heat the oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat and fry the egg until the white is set and the edges are crisp (see Cooking Skills: Eggs 1, chapter 3, if you want a reminder).
- Pile the rice and peas into a bowl, drizzle with the soy sauce, slide the egg on top and scatter over the spring onion.
Experiments
Rinsed or unrinsed
How much does rinsing really change the result?
- Take two lots of 75 g jasmine or long-grain rice. Rinse one in a sieve under cold water until it runs nearly clear, and leave the other as it comes.
- Cook both in the same size of pan, with the same water and time as the baseline recipe.
- Look at the cooking water, then at the cooked grains, then taste.
Look for: Cloudier cooking water and slightly clumpier grains from the unrinsed rice. Decide which you prefer for everyday rice.
Soaked or not
Does half an hour in water make a difference?
- Soak 75 g basmati in cold water for 30 minutes; keep another 75 g dry.
- Rinse both quickly, then boil the soaked rice for 6 to 7 minutes and the dry rice for 9 to 10 minutes. Taste a grain from each a minute before.
- Compare how many grains snapped in half, and how long each grain is.
Look for: The soaked rice cooks faster and tends to stay longer and less broken. If you can't taste the difference, you can skip soaking.
The fork test
A quick way to see why the rice type matters.
- Use the cooked rices from the tasting plate while they are still warm.
- Spoon each into a small cup or ramekin, press down lightly, then tip it out onto the plate.
- Pick up a few grains of each with a fork.
Look for: Which ones hold their shape (short-grain, pudding rice) and which fall apart (basmati, long-grain). That is exactly why you pick sushi rice for sushi and basmati for a curry.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline long-grain | ||||
| Basmati | ||||
| Jasmine | ||||
| Short-grain | ||||
| Pudding rice | ||||
| Rinsed vs unrinsed | ||||
| Soaked vs not soaked |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Rice is gluey and clumped | Too much surface starch, too little water, or over-stirring | Rinse first, use plenty of water, and stir only once |
| Hard, chalky centres | Not cooked long enough | Cook a minute or two longer and test a grain by biting it |
| Mushy, broken grains | Cooked too long, or a soft rice used where a firm one was needed | Test early; choose basmati or long-grain for separate grains |
| Rice sticks to the pan | Not stirred at the start, or the heat was too high | Stir once after adding the rice and keep a steady simmer |
| Bland rice | No salt in the water | Add a pinch of salt (about ½ tsp per litre) |
- I can name the main kinds of rice and what each is used for.
- I know why long-grain rice is fluffy and sushi rice is sticky.
- I can measure a sensible portion of dry rice.
- I know when to rinse rice and when not to.
- I have a baseline bowl of boiled rice to compare everything else with.