Rice has been the staple diet for two thirds of the world's population for thousands of years, yet westerners still feel the need for a specialized implement in which to cook it. Have you ever asked yourself “why”?
Let's face it, no-one ever felt the need or inspiration, as far as I know, to invent a special cooker for potatoes, or yams, so why rice?
Is it because recipe books make it seem so difficult with their carefully measured recipes, or simply because anyone following one of them is likely to end up with a burnt, sticky mess at the bottom of the pot?
One such recipe starts of by exhorting cooks to rinse the rice in running water until it runs clear. That must be one reason why very little rice is eaten in the Kalahari desert. Anyone who has tried this will find that with polished rice the water never does run clear. You could stand there for a week.
Both electric cookers and wasteful washing are unnecessary. Cooking rice is as easy as cooking spuds. Easier, in fact. You don't have to keep prodding it to see if it's done. And the only “special” pot you need is a saucepan with a lid, plus a colander or sieve that will sit inside the saucepan.
Start by putting four times as much water in the pot as you have rice; so, four cups of water to one of rice. This will yield enough for two to three people. Add some salt to the water and bring it to the boil.
Pour the rice into the boiling water while stirring, reduce to a simmer and partially cover. Set a timer for exactly 15 minutes, regardless of how much rice you are cooking. At the end of that time, drain the rice into your colander or sieve and rinse it under the tap. This will remove any excess starch and take less than a minute.
Put about two inches (5cm) of water in the bottom of the pot, hang the colander with the rice inside the pot and put the pot lid over the top of the rice. Don't worry if there is a gap between lid and pan, it simply doesn't matter.
Put the pot back on the stove and bring the water to steaming point. Then forget about it while you get on with everything else you need to do. This secondary steaming will do several things including:
Remove any excess starch still clinging to the grains
Reheat the rice after its rinsing in cold water
Keep the rice hot until you are ready to use it
It's important not to miss out this step. The rice needs to be brought back to cooking temperature, otherwise water will cling to it giving you a soggy result. About five to ten minutes should do the trick and it will keep in this way for at least half an hour.
Just before serving, fluff the rice up a little with a fork. You will find that each grain is separate and perfectly cooked, nothing got burnt and dreams of a specialized rice cooker are just a distant memory.
