How to cook the perfect rice?

Question

For me it's quite disappointing when I ta pow chicken rice etc and the rice is bland, tasteless and sticky. I like my rice separated, fluffy and full of flavour.
Am I too fussy? (Or choosy as the locals say)

Mild irritation, your a genius!

Sherwin, I presume you mean expert?

err, I mean Burjor T (sorry Sherwin)

Myra, ya, aku got fed up of traveling, now want to settle down and learn how to cook :-)

Answer 1

1. The best rice that taste good on its own and wont go wrong i would say sarawak Bario rice. Second best would be basmathi. Try and get your self a small pack of basmathi first. The trick of cooking basmathi is dont use too much water. For 2 scoop of rice, just use 3 3/4 cup of water. Another trick of cooking rice my mother taught me was, after u wash the rice clean, when u want to pour in final rice, ensure that the rice in the cooker pot are levelled. Poke in your finger til u touch the base of pot. Mark the level of rice on your finger, then lift up your finger and this time touch the rice top level, and pour water until it reach the marked rice level earlier on your finger. If u use basmathi as i said earlier, pour water slightly less than that marked level.

2. The only reason why the chicken rice u mentioned became tasteless was because they dont put enough butter and the chicken stock wasnt enough. I learnt making chicken rice in Brunei which is famous for their chicken rice at the royal brunei catering cafe (seri begawan airport). Yes, most unlikely place to learn i know...
Ingredients are:
4 cups x rice
1 cup x butter
3 x sliced shallots
1 inch x sliced ginger
1 x sliced garlic
1 x cube of chicken stock
Chicken broth (water from boiling the chicken)

Heat 1/4 of that butter in the pot, chuck in the shallots ginger and garlic. Once aromatic (not burnt), pour them all in your rice cooker.
Pour in rice (washed in advance and drained from excess water), stir.
Pour in chicken broth and chicken stock. Amount of chicken broth would be the same as the amount of water needed to cook rice. Close the lid, let it cook, and dont stir. Thats all, simple. Dont put salt or msg. Its tasty enough already.

they use lots of butter, that's why chicken rice are fattening but yummy and irresistable.

As for the chicken, although they call it steamed, this is what they do. Dab whole chicken with salt. Boil hot water til piping hot in a pot. Put OFF fire and put the whole chicken in it and quickly close the lid. Leave the lid shut for 30-40min. DONT turn on the fire back on. Then take it out and the chicken is ready for consumption. It will turn out soft, not rubbery and overcooked/undercooked. I've tried it believe me. Just chopped off the chicken and put back the bones in the pot. The remaining water and the bones; let it simmer for 20min making it chicken broth to cook rice. After taking some water for the rice, the remaining broth can turn into the chicken rice soup. U can add shallots and garlic to make it tastier, add dash of white pepper.

I am sure u know how the sauce should be. U dont have to cook this. Just explaining to you how they made the rice. have fun :)

Answer 2

Hi dear, this is the way how do you need to do if need to cook perfect rice, if you cook using your rice cooker, put water 3/4 inch higher than the rice level and cook it. It is automatically goes to warm level when water is finish, check whether you can chop the rice by your hand, if not put some more water and cook again, normally it will enough water if use 3/4 inch higher from rice level, make it in warm level another 15 or 20 minits, before severing. Nura

Answer 3

Repairman..aiyah..it's kinda weird..from a traveler to being a chef in this section!! you know what i mean...hihihihi..

anyway...i always love to buy Siamese Fragrant Rice..brands like Jasmine, Faiza and Sunflower..very wangi and taste nice too..never ever buy those cheap ones as it contain so many 'kanji' and its not good for your health and its a no-no to diabetes people...

to cook a perfect rice, first you need to buy a good rice..i'm not so sure what are the rice brand available in UK right now tho'..measure how many portion you need..( 2 cups maybe? )then wash and rinse the rice until the milky water from the rice turns clear... Drain the water and fill in clean water ,measure of 4 cups..then let it be cooked in the rice cooker and always make sure that the lid will remain close until the rice is done..

tips: if you dont like your rice to be sticky, always measure the water slightly less say..3 3/4 cups..if its too dry and not fluffy simply add some water ( not too much ) into the rice and let it cook another few minutes more..

good luck!!

Answer 4

I know I love perfect rice too. If you can get a nice Rice Cooker
at your Asian store or any other place sells them like Wal-Mart etc. The rice cookers are great because you just add the same amount of water and rice and it comes out good. The ratio is one Part Rice to one part of water. If not the rice cooker then cook in a covered pot until the water evaporates. Should be pretty good.

Answer 5

Your probably stirring your rice. Never do that. Remember 2 parts water 1 part rice. You can add spices to the water. Bring your to a boil and simmer with fitted lid. Wait 10 minutes or until rice looks done. Never over cook and never stir.

Answer 6

repairmain i like my rice separated too

i guess chef myra and chef poisonivy have answered you.
actually the water amount varies with types of rice and need experience

in old days people use 'rule of finger' [not thumb] to measure water distance between rice top surface to water surface. it must be about 1/3 or a finger

the japanese used 'rule of palm' - press lightly your palm on rice surface, the water level should be slightly above the back of your palm. but the rice is more soft when cooked

Answer 7

When we lived in Penang Malaysia I bought a rice cooker and it was a good investment for me, but my maid Chu was the best rice cooker I have ever tasted and she told me it is the rice you use. So now back in the states I go to the large Chinese grocery stores and buy that rice.

Answer 8

I love jasmin rice this it top quality rice and cook it in a rice cooker same amount of rice as water and it comes out perfect everytime

Answer 9

what you want to do is first get a good rice cooker

now here is an example
for one cup of rice, make sure you clean it out. the water will turn white and murky, drain that water
fill it with one and a quarter cup of rice
this is my method of cooking rice.
quite frankily i think it is the best way to do so

Answer 10

If you cook enough rice, seriously just invest in a rice cooker. You will never have to worry about it being bad ever again