How really to cook rice

You’d think cooking rice like you have in Indian restaurants would be simple. I did. But when you look around the Net for instructions you find countless different methods, involving “absorption”, washing the rice multiple times, soaking it, straining it, frying it, all kinds of things. You try these methods and invariably end up with a big lump of rice like a rice pudding, with all the grains stuck together. You say to yourself “I followed the instructions exactly!” – but that doesn’t seem to work.

You feel cheated. It ends up seeming like some arcane special secret: how to simply cook rice that is fluffy and separate.  What are these people, geniuses? It seems like Mission Impossible.

Well, it turns out it’s not hard. Put away all those obscure recipes, close down your web browser (after printing this! ) and prepare to cook rice the easy way and get the elusive result you have been seeking.

1. Get the rice. It doesn’t need to be some special brand. Just make it basmati rice.
2. Weigh out 300 grams of it. This amount will serve two people with proper portions (not supermarket ones!).
3. Don’t bother with washing it, soaking it, rinsing out the bleach or any of that business. It’s a waste of time and unnecessary.
4. Measure out some water. 1 litre per 300 grams is about right. The point is you want plenty of water to allow the rice to fly around while it’s cooking: the exact opposite of the fabled absorption method.
5. Put the water in an empty kettle and boil it. While this is happening turn your oven on at about 175° C and turn a ring on to warm it up.
6. Water has boiled. Pour it in a fairly big steel saucepan, so the pan is about half full.
7. Let the water come to the boil on the ring.
8. Once it’s boiling well, tip the rice in and note the time. Stir it around a little, gently, to stop it sticking to the bottom on the pan. You can use a desert spoon to do that.
9. If you fancy having a subtle flavour to the rice, and having it a little yellow, you can stick a few strands of saffron in at this point. It’s expensive but nice. You just need maybe four or five small pieces.
10. Keep the rice busy. Keep the ring on high and the water boiling. Stir it around gently occasionally.
11. We come to a crucial point now: you have to get the rice out at exactly the right time. The right time is when it hasn’t gone soft but it’s no longer hard either. In Italian this is called al dente. You check the rice (I use a small desert fork) occasionally to see when it’s reaching this stage. With the measurements we’re using it happens after 7-8 minutes. You don’t want to miss this moment, so check it before then! You can actually see the rice swelling a bit at this point, but you want to get it out while it still has a bit of “bite”. This is because any longer and it will start sticking together – and it will cook more outside the pan. You’re planning for that.
12. Once the rice seems to have reached the point described above then, take the pan off the boil. Anchor a large sieve above the sink and pour the whole pan load into that.
13. Leave it there for a few minutes and prepare an oven tray or bowl with some foil covering, oiled a little. The foil is simply to protect the container and the oil to stop the rice sticking.
14. After about 3 minutes, when the rice has drained, spread it out in the container. You don’t need to be washing it through with cold water or anything like that.
15. Okay, this next stage is not even crucial, but now you put it in your pre-heated oven and leave it there for about 15 minutes. This will dry it out and fluff it up a bit.
16. After 15 mins is up, you take it out, mix it up a bit with a fork and maybe transfer it to the bowl of your choice. Then just leave it to cool. It goes more separate when it cools. (Rice freezes especially well and this helps with the separation process too. It microwaves fine.)
17. After allowing it to cool for about 10 mins, you’ve got yourself a bowl of separate, fluffy, very tasty rice of exactly the right consistency. Heat it up a little in a microwave if you like, but it’s ready to go now! I recommend a nice hot curry and a pint of something you like.

And that is how really to cook rice.