Why does my rice always come out mushy?!!! what am I doing wrong?!
Why does my rice always come out mushy?!!! what am I doing wrong?
Answers:
To Make Perfect Rice
Long-grain rice - 1 cup
Water - 1.5 cups
First, you need to wash off the excess starch from the rice. This will prevent it from making a sticky mess. Put the rice in a deep bowl, and in your sink, run cold tap water over it. Once the bowl is full of water, use your fingers to swish the rice around. The water will start getting murky. Now gently pour this water out. Repeat this process till the water is mostly clear. This will take at least 4-5 washes.
Now fill it up one last time. Don't wash the rice again. Just leave it in there, covered with water, for about 30 minutes or so. Why am I doing this? I freely admit I'm still trying to figure out the science behind it, but it results in a much fuller, softer grain. After the soaking, you will notice that the rice grains have turned a nice milky white.
OK, let's drain the water out carefully again. Try and get as much water out of the bowl as you can without pouring out the rice grains as well. This takes patience.
(All this isn't as complicated as it's beginning to sound. I just like to ensure I've covered everything.)
On to cooking the rice...
Put the rice in a heavy-gauge pan that has a flat bottom. This bit is important. If your pan is made out of some thin flimsy metal, your rice will get nicely burnt at the bottom while the grains at the top may not cook properly. You also need one with a tight lid, or else the precious steam will leak and your rice won't cook right. The flat bottom is required.
Now put in the water. Normally, a long-grain rice recipe calls for twice the amount of water as rice. Why then are we using only 1.5 cups of water? Because our rice has already been sitting in some water for a while, and has absorbed a bit of it. Moreoever, there is still some leftover water after you drained it, because no one can drain it absolutely dry.
I like to add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the rice. This is your choice.
Put the pan on medium high heat. Wait till the water boils and starts bubbling. Now turn the heat down as low as you can, cover with the tight lid, and let it just sit there for about 15-20 minutes. Resist the urge to lift the lid and peek at the rice. No, I'm sorry, you can't have even one peek! If you do that, I will rap you on the knuckles with a cane, you hear?
After the 15-20 minutes is up, turn off the heat. No, you still can't lift the lid. Now you have to let it "stand" for another 10 minutes or so. This will help the rice to "settle" so you don't have dry grains on top and wet grains at the bottom.
After 10 minutes, lift the lid, admire the rice (yes, it will look that good), take a fork and fluff the rice. You will have nice separate grains without having used any oil, butter, or other fat in the cooking process.
Your rice is ready to serve with whatever you choose.
This method of cooking rice is known as the "absorption method".
Source(s):
http://shiokfood.com/notes/archives/0000...
You might be using too much water. I think it's 1.5 cups of water per every cup of rice. Depending on how you are cooking it. That's the standard for a rice cooker..
It's either too much water or if you're not using a rice cooker then you might not have enough heat for it to cook properly.
Are you cooking at a high altitude? This can cause many cooking problems... the worst spaghetti I ever made was when camping and didn't realise we were high altitude. I made a pot of glue -yech... rice at altitude, I'm not sure..
But, to be a bit more helpful, at normal levels...
I cook perfect rice on the stove top. 1 3/4 cups water for 1 cup ordinary rice (not instant, or parboiled, like Uncle Ben's etc!!)
Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a very low gentle simmer. Do NOT lift lid after this. Allow to simmer 12-15 minutes. Turn off heat, but still do not lift the lid! let steep with latent heat for another 15 minutes.
People that like non-sticky rice and perfectly separated grains will boil a cup of rice in a big pot of water(like 10 cups of water) and boil for 15 minutes then drain.
1. Too much water
2. What kind of rice are you using?Instant/the normal once
3.When I boil my rice I put the water in put my hand flat (the wrist should be L shape)water should just be at the middle or a little above the middle knuckle
you;re overcooking it and stirring it...should fluff it with a fork
TOO much water!
You are cooking it too long. If you like it al-dente, try pulling it off the stove about 2-3 minutes sooner.
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups water
bring to a boil, stir once, place lid over rice.
Turn temp. down to low (between 2 & 3)
Let simmer for about 15-20 mins.
Fluff with fork. (This will break up the rice grains)
Probably too much water and cooking too long.
Depending on what kind of rice you are using is how it will turn out. I like using Uncle Bens 5 min rice because it comes out great. Good Luck.
My guess is that you are using a sticky rice, one that is high in starch. If you use a converted rice, like uncle ben's, it will cook up in separate grains because the process to convert it removes a lot of the natural starches. I like sticky rice, so I use jasmine myself, so you may not want to try that one, or arborio. One you may like is texmati or basmati.
This is the only way i ever have made rice.Take and pour your rice in the pot.Rinse well(slowly).then put the water in the pot.To measure the amount of water,put your thumb on top of the rice and add water til it comes up to our knuckle.Then put on high fire,add salt.When it comes to a boil wait about 3 mins,then lower fire to really low and cover the pot.Every once in a while take the lid off to let out steam.Cook for 10 muns and check if rice on top is fluffy,turn off pot and let it sit,then serve.I been serving rice for 40 years same way.Mushy?too much water...