I entitled this 'Some notes', because it definitely is not definitive. For a start, I cannot tell you how to cook long-grain white rice because I haven't personally done so since I was around 20 years old. However, if you are a veg~an, chances are that you are interested in both food and health (as well as being compassionate towards animals), so I will assume that you, too, will want to eat brown rice, with its extra nutrition and fibre. In a nutshell, the bran and germ, the two outer layers of brown rice, contain most
of the vitamins and minerals in the grain. Those layers get removed when
manufacturers make white rice, and that’s why brown rice is the
healthier choice. You can find out a lot more on the Internet - there are thousands and thousands of websites comparing and contrasting white and brown rice. In my opinion, white rice, like white flour and white sugar comes under the description of 'pure, white and deadly'.
For me, the best of them all is brown basmati rice and while I will endlessly sing the praises of brown basmati rice, if I don't actually state it in the ingredient list, assume the recipe is written for 'brown rice', which takes longer to cook, although any Indian recipes can be assumed to include it.
To cook perfect brown rice in a saucepan
2 portions
1 cup water OR 1/3 cup seawater + 2/3
cup fresh
1/2 cup brown rice
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
- Put the water and rice in a medium saucepan. Add the salt if you're not using seawater.
- Bring to the boil and cover.
- Put the pan over a low heat and cook for 35 to 40 minutes. Use a flame tamer if necessary, but the water should be just simmering. If it boils too quickly, the water will steam off rather than beaing absorbed
- Take off the heat and let the rice stand for a few minutes to absorb the last of the water, if necessary.
- Brown basmati rice, as well as tasting the best, in my opinion, is much quicker to cook - 20 - 25 minutes - and much more likely to absorb the water perfectly and end up with nicely separated grains. I really recommend it.
- If you are buying 'long grain, brown rice', it will vary tremendously from one brand to another. While the 2 of water to 1 of rice has always worked for me, the cooking time can vary from about 25 minutes up to 45 minutes, obviously depending on the varietal. When you stock up with new rice, its worth spending a bit of time getting to know it.
- If you have only one burner, you can cook the rice for 5 minutes, take it off for 5 minutes, put it back on, etc.
- If you don’t want to juggle or use more than one burner, cook the rice for 20 minutes and then leave it to one side. It will continue cooking. About 5 minutes before you intend to serve it, check to ensure that it’s fully cooked and that all the water is absorbed. If it isn’t or hasn’t, put the pan back on for 5 minutes. This method is not entirely foolproof, however, and you might end up with a less-than-perfect result, although the rice will still be satisfactory.
- If you have good appetites, you might find 3/4 cup a more appropriate amount for 2 people. I find 1/2 cup makes me two ample portions.
Pressure cooker rice
It's
hardly worth doing this with brown basmati, but the other types vary
tremendously. It appears to me that the longer and thinner the grains,
the easier and quicker brown rice is
to cook. You will have gathered by now that to me, brown basmati is the
queen of
rice, and well worth investing in if you find some
that is affordable. Because I am now almost vegan, I have a bit more
money to spend on food, and so basmati rice is one of my primary
indulgences.
Cooking
rice in the pressure cooker is a bit more
hit and miss than in the saucepan, simply because of its
variability, so you may need to experiment a little with the timing.
However, the good news is that the longer it needs to cook, the less
chance you have of overcooking it. Moreover, I think that brown rice
is anyway much more forgiving and much less likely to dissolve into a
horrid mush. (To be perfectly honest, it is literally decades since I
cooked long-grain, white rice, so forgive me if some of my comments
about it are awry.) I have also come to realise that there is a big
difference between cooking on paraffin and cooking on meths, for
example, so it's hard to be too definite with timings, something which
is only exacerbated by the facts that not all pressure cookers announce
at what pressure they cook and a big stainless steel pressure cooker
will take a lot longer to heat up than a small alloy one. All in all, I
am rather flabbergasted at how the majority of recipe bloggers can tell
me that my onions will be cooked to perfection in 7 minutes and similar
statements! I find cooking - well at least cooking on a boat - much
more art than science. Anyway, back to the pressure cooker rice,
assuming 'standard' brown rice.
2 portions
Ingredients
1 cup water OR 1/3 cup seawater + 2/3
cup fresh
1/2 cup brown rice
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
- Put the water and rice into a pressure cooker. Add the salt if you are using all fresh water.
- Bring up to pressure.
- Lower the flame and cook over a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, just keeping the pressure going.
- Take the pan off and let the pressure reduce naturally. The rice will stay hot for a long time in the sealed pressure cooker, and, within reason, the longer it stands, the drier it will be.
Note:
- As mentioned above, brown rice varies widely from varietal to varietal and brand to brand. If you eat a lot of rice, like I do, you will probably be buying at least 5 kilos at a time, so it's well worth carefully experimenting with cooking times, when you restock. When I was voyaging I would often buy 20 k at a time.
Wild rice takes a long time to cook - you want to give it 45 minutes. However, It will cook in the pressure cooker in 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the usual variables) and when I mix it with basmati, I find the latter hasn't suffered from the extra time. If I am cooking it on the stove top, I put the wild rice in first and put the basmati in about 10 minutes later.
Black rice and red rice also take a lot of cooking. I can't say I am impressed with black rice and that being so, I'm afraid I haven't tried red rice. But then, I'm besotted with basmati!
Short grain, eg Arborio I'm about to make a liar out of myself here: I use Arborio rice for risotto and paella and it confess to using white. This is because my attempts with brown shot-grain rice have been less than successful. Because New Zealand is a small country and because I live far away from cities in the Far North, there is little demand for 'exotic' foods. Possibly there are types of short-grain, brown rice that go satisfactorily starchy, but the are not available to me. To cook this type of rice, simply follow the instructions in the recipe, because sometimes you want obviously separate grains and other times you want the result to be creamy.
There is a lot more about cooking rice here.
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