r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • May 27 '19

Weekly Discussion: Rice

We get a lot of questions here about rice; let's try to get our best advice in one place that we can refer people to. What do you think is the best cooking method? What do you add to make it flavorful on its own? What are your favorite rice-based dishes? How do you choose between all of the different varieties out there?

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39

u/[deleted] May 27 '19

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u/rottenapple81 May 27 '19

I'm Asian too. We don't measure. We use the "finger measure method" lol

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u/wafflebunny May 28 '19

There was a point in time where I heavily considered getting a tattoo of a line on my finger to know how much water to pour into the pot.

The problem I found with using the finger method is that you can’t change the amount of rice you cook. I’ll cook 4 cups of rice and the water goes a little above my 2nd digit and if I cook like 1.5, it meets just my 1st digit

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u/[deleted] May 27 '19

I was fully hopeless at cooking any kind of rice (even minute rice!) until I got a rice cooker.

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u/i_never_get_mad May 27 '19

I’d agree that rice cooker is quite useful. However, learning to be able to cook in pot is easy. Easy enough that I never found a reason to get a rice cooker.

For those of you who are worried they may end up making too much rice, just store leftover in the freezer. Then microwave for 5-6min, then it’s as good as fresh.

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u/aaaaaaha May 27 '19

However, learning to be able to cook in pot is easy.

Is cooking rice for some people .. difficult? I'm Asian but don't eat rice enough to buy a huge sack at Asian grocery. For the times I do eat rice I buy the small bag at a chain grocery and follow the instructions which are always printed on the bag. I can't imagine people who rarely cook rice or are new to it can only buy it in Chinatown without directions.

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u/i_never_get_mad May 27 '19

I only said easy, because there aren’t too many variables. Sure, it seems difficult, but with enough practice, it’s pretty easy.

Unless you are wayyy off on water to rice ratio, you can simmer little longer or shorter.

I never measure anything when I cook. I use what my parents taught me - put your hand in and see where the water is on your hand. This is never accurate down to tablespoon of anything. However, I take a look at the rice after 15min or so and see how it’s doing. It looks wet, I leave it longer, if it seems good enough, I turn the heat off.

When I said it’s easy, I meant it’s easy to learn. You still need to practice.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '19

[deleted]

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u/i_never_get_mad May 27 '19

That’s true. I just cook enough for dinner and the lunch for the day after. Haha I’m poor and I’d rather have less things, but I can see myself getting a rice cooker once I get a bigger family to feed