Silly rice question
November 27, 2018 2:50 AM   Subscribe

This recipe was super tasty but the rice didn’t cook. How to make it cook? (With rice cooker and white rice)

I used brown rice and a small pan. I stopped cooking the rice about 10 minutes before the recipe said to stop because the pan was making crackling noises that I thought was a prelude to burning. I got half cooked (very tastily seasoned) rice. If possible I want to use a rice cooker next time and white rice (ran out of brown) but I’m not sure if there’s a special reason this recipe doesn’t use a rice cooker, I’m not sure how to adjust the water amount for white rice vs brown, and I’m definitely not sure I can produce cooked rice the next time considering I couldn’t following the recipe as written. Rice advice please!
posted by sacchan to Food & Drink (14 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I stopped cooking the rice about 10 minutes before the recipe said to stop because the pan was making crackling noises that I thought was a prelude to burning. I got half cooked (very tastily seasoned) rice

Do you mean that you did this part but only got ~25mins through the cooking?
To prepare rice: Combine water, rice, raisins, olive oil, onion powder (or garlic powder), turmeric, cinnamon, pepper and ⅛ teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the liquid is absorbed, 35 to 40 minutes.
Personally I would have added more water to continue cooking for the 35-40 mins. Possibly you had the hob up slightly too hot so the water evaporated too fast.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:58 AM on November 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Ah, yes, I mean I got about 25 minutes in and stopped cooking the rice, which I suppose would explain why uncooked rice.
What can I say, I’ve mostly just chucked rice into the rice cooker and let the magical rice fairies deal with this...
All righty, less heat. Maybe add more water if crackly.
posted by sacchan at 3:09 AM on November 27, 2018


Did the directions on the packaging for the rice you used have a similar cooking time listed to the recipe? There exist quicker cooking (~15min) packages of basmati brown rice. Maybe that would have messed things up (or could help fix things if you don't work it out otherwise, trader Joe's is where I've seen quick cook).
posted by TheAdamist at 3:13 AM on November 27, 2018


I'd guess you had the heat too high. For rice you want the absolute barest gentlest simmer. But as someone suggests above - if you find the water boiling away too quickly, you can always add more and keep cooking until the rice softens.
posted by something something at 3:23 AM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ideally you want to add more water before it gets crackly ;)

You absolutely can do it in the rice cooker though. Use the amount of water that's correct for the rice you're using. Its just seasoned rice, not magic. Cook your rice the way you usually would but with the seasoning, oil and raisins too
posted by missmagenta at 3:28 AM on November 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


You didn't mention it, but did you keep the pot covered? This can prevent too much evaporation and keep the necessary water in the pot. Cooking in a rice pot should fix this issue (as long as you add the proper amount of water in the first place).
posted by jraz at 5:21 AM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah, the trick is to taste and if the rice is undercooked, add a quarter cup of liquid and give it 5 more minutes, until it's enough. Brown rice usually needs a little more time.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:52 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Seconding/thirding the stuff above about making sure it’s covered, using very low heat, and also - on the off chance you’re using a gas stove and don’t already know about how the different size burners put off different amounts of heat: use the smallest burner, especially for a small pot for a small amount of rice.
posted by needs more cowbell at 5:53 AM on November 27, 2018


Standard brown rice and brown basmati rice are also not the same thing. Basmati has a narrower grain, and tends to cook quicker. So you would probably have needed to increase your cooking time by a few minutes anyway.

Ultimately, as others have said, add more water. Rice cooks by absorbing water. If the water runs out before the rice is cooked, you needed more water.
posted by pipeski at 6:35 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yep. there's a lot of silly "exactly this way" advice about rice, that for folks with a certain pot and consistent rice works well. But change elevation or brand or recipe and oops. It's ok to stir, add water a little at a time, change the temp, bring to a boil a second time, or just fiddle and it will be fine or at least ok. Is there a perfect rice, probably for some and not a fad of mushy rice but better than too crunchy.
posted by sammyo at 6:42 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


You absolutely can do it in the rice cooker though. Use the amount of water that's correct for the rice you're using. Its just seasoned rice, not magic. Cook your rice the way you usually would but with the seasoning, oil and raisins too

You'll need a bit more water than usual because the raisins will absorb some of it. But other than that, yes: a rice cooker is fundamentally just a pot that has a thermostat built in to make sure that the heat doesn't get too high. So long as the rice recipe is basically just "put everything in a pot, bring to a boil, lower heat & cook for a while", you can do it in a rice cooker.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:13 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don't see anything going on with the rice in the recipe that you can't just put it all together in your rice cooker and walk away. If you haven't made a lot of basmati rice you made do a test batch to get the water to rice ratio right for your climate. I live in a dry climate and with some altitude so I usually add 10-15% more liquid.
posted by ShakeyJake at 7:38 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would and have made recipes very similar to that in my rice cooker with no problems.

If you're interested in more recipes that use a rice cooker for more than plain rice, The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook is pretty good.
posted by Lexica at 11:39 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Hey everybody! I made it again, this time in the rice cooker with white rice. I doubled the amount of everything (rice, raisins and spices) because 1/2 cup of rice seemed like not much. Added as much water as normally needed for that amount of rice/raisins plus a little extra water as recommended, pressed button, let rice fairies deal with it. Very tasty and totally cooked. Will keep rice cooking in pan tips in mind next time I try cooking on stove.
Thanks everybody!
posted by sacchan at 1:57 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


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