Ingredients:
- A glass of rice;
- Two glasses of purified water;
- Half a spoon of salt.
How to properly cook rice for a side dish
Wash the rice grains well before cooking. It is recommended to use cold running water. Since rice contains a large amount of starch, a kind of sticky substance is released. The viscosity is washed out with ordinary water. Pour the grains into a deep saucepan, add some water and drain. Washing can be done several times.
This recommendation is suitable for preparing a side dish. Other rice dishes (such as risotto) require the use of glutinous rice.
Fill a metal pan with purified water. It is advisable to use dishes with a thick bottom. It is recommended to monitor the water level - the liquid level should be twice the amount of cereal. Add a little table salt (half a teaspoon per glass of grains is enough).
When the water boils, add a glass of rice. There is no need to mix the grains. Just cover the dish with a lid and time it for exactly ten minutes. Cook the rice side dish over medium heat. After the specified time has elapsed, reduce the heat and cook for approximately seven minutes.
The surface of the rice porridge will be covered with small depressions. Remove the pan from the heat and wrap it well with a towel to keep warm. Wait about ten minutes. Excess liquid will evaporate from the porridge. Now all that remains is to serve the dish on the table.
You will get delicious, fluffy rice without much difficulty. The considered method of preparing a side dish goes perfectly with vegetable gravy, meat or mushrooms. You can use ready-made rice porridge to create cabbage rolls. Or serve as an independent dish.
How to wash rice
If you wash rice before placing it in a pot or rice cooker, you need to use a significant amount of water. In any case, begin rinsing by mixing the cereal with your fingers in a circular motion. You can also gently rub it between your palms to remove excess starch. This component can influence how many times the rice expands when cooked.
Don't expect one wash to make the grain clean. As a rule, the first water becomes dirty and cloudy. Your goal is to repeatedly rinse the rice with clean water until it runs almost clear. If you are measuring the exact ratio of water to rice, drain it into a sieve before adding it to the pan.
How long does it take to cook rice in water?
There are different varieties of rice, so it is recommended to choose the cooking time based on the appearance of the grains. In addition, the variety determines the proportional relationship between water and grains.
- Long rice is cooked for about twenty minutes. For two glasses of grains, about four glasses of drinking water are consumed.
- Short (round) rice takes the same amount of time to cook – exactly twenty minutes. However, it is recommended to add less water. Two cups of grains require three and a half cups of liquid.
- Brown or wild rice takes quite a long time to cook - thirty to forty minutes. You need to regularly monitor the amount of water. And to prevent the liquid from accidentally boiling away, it is advisable to pour in more water. For two glasses of cereal, about five glasses of liquid are allocated.
Cooking secrets
The grains must first be rinsed in a saucepan, pouring and draining water several times. This will remove large dirt and small dust particles.
In addition to using deep dishes, there is an additional option for washing rice - using a sieve. It is necessary to pour the cereal into a sieve and place it under the water tap. The main thing is that the size of the sieve cells is smaller than rice grains.
After washing, the cereal needs to be soaked. Experienced cooks know the benefits of soaking. The grains become crumbly and cook much faster. Round rice soaks for about a quarter of an hour. Long - you need to scald with boiling water, then immerse in cool liquid for a couple of minutes. Soak small rice in brackish water for 8 hours. Then rinse well.
Rice rinse
Since we mainly consume imported rice, the rice is “glazed” to improve its appearance, as well as to preserve it during transportation. “Glazing” involves coating the beans with a mixture of glucose and talc in special glazing drums. Therefore, it is necessary to wash the rice in order to remove the talc that was used to process the rice. Some rice is treated with starch derived from grains, and washing is not necessarily necessary, but it is still better to wash off excess starch - this will only improve the final result.
The exception is Italian Arborio, Vialone Nano, Carnaroli, if used to prepare risotto.
Risotto
How should you cook rice in a saucepan?
You can use almost any utensil to cook rice. For example, some chefs prefer to cook rice cereal in an ordinary frying pan. However, let’s pay attention to the classic cooking option, which involves the use of a metal pan. Thick-walled cast iron cookware is best suited.
It is not advisable to use pans with thin walls, since the rice does not heat up well and is poorly cooked. Raw grains remain on top, worsening the taste of the finished product. Since you cannot mix the cereal, it is better to choose the appropriate type of cookware. Cooking the rice itself is quite simple.
You need to take:
- A small pinch of table salt;
- Rice of your favorite variety;
- Oil;
- Greens - to taste;
- A little spice.
Cooking sequence:
- Before cooking rice cereal, rinse the grains well. You can use a metal fine mesh sieve. Place the rice in a saucepan and cover with drinking water.
- Wait for the liquid to boil. Salt the rice a little to taste. Half a teaspoon of table salt will be enough.
- Wait a few tens of minutes. The exact duration of cooking the beans varies depending on the variety. White rice cooks much faster than brown rice. You can regularly check the readiness of the rice.
- When the water boils, add 50 grams of butter.
- Cook the rice until the excess liquid evaporates.
- If the rice turns out to be quite hard, add water and cook until the required softness is obtained.
Useful tips
- It is not recommended to over-salt rice. If you are preparing a dish for four people, a teaspoon of table salt is enough. You can always add salt to the porridge after cooking.
- If the finished rice is too soft, the situation will not be corrected. It is recommended to cook another rice, strictly following the recipe. Soft grains can be used for casseroles. Fry the rice well with the chicken egg. You can also use rice to stuff cabbage rolls.
- Do not stir cooking rice. Otherwise, the grains will become too soft and lose their shape. The result will be a homogeneous mass, unsuitable for garnish. If you make a mistake, use the method described above. Prepare a casserole from the resulting mixture or stuff peppers with it.
- Rice can be dyed. It is not necessary to use chemical dyes - ordinary natural products will do. For example, turmeric can give the grains a yellowish tint. To get a pinkish color, you can throw in a small beetroot. The boiled fruit will color the future garnish.
- To prevent rice grains from sticking together, use vegetable oil. Adding a teaspoon of sunflower oil will be enough. It is not recommended to add more product, as the side dish will turn yellow. You can also replace the butter with milk or lemon juice.
Before serving, decorate the dish with herbs.
Sushi rice dressing
For 200 grams of rice we will need the following ingredients:
- juice from one lemon (or 25 ml rice vinegar)
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp. water
- 2 tsp Sahara
- 1 tsp salt
Mix all dressing ingredients until dissolved. Taste the dressing - if it's too sour, add more water. When the rice has cooled, pour in the dressing and mix thoroughly with a wooden spatula so that all the dressing is evenly distributed over the rice. You will immediately see how the density and structure of the rice will change. The rice will spread very easily over the seaweed sheets.
That's all, now you know how to cook sushi rice, and how to cook sushi rice using dressing. Good luck with your culinary experiments!
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Tips for cooking rice in a saucepan
Rice is a truly universal grain, on the basis of which side dishes, porridges and other complete dishes using vegetables or meat are prepared.
It is important to boil the grains correctly to get the perfect taste of the finished dish. If you do not follow the recommendations, adding rice will only spoil the taste of the remaining ingredients. What you will need:
- One glass of rice;
- Two glasses of purified water;
- A teaspoon of sunflower oil;
- Salt – a small pinch;
- Seasonings - to taste.
Cooking sequence:
Before cooking rice, you need to choose the right variety. For example, to obtain a crumbly side dish, it is recommended to use long grains, which do not absorb water well and release very little sticky substance. If it is impossible to put long rice, round grains, but pre-steamed, will do. Steam treatment prevents the grains from sticking together.
To prepare the pudding, round rice (polished) is suitable. This variety absorbs the largest amount of liquid and boils well.
The soaked cereal must be washed. Fill a shallow bowl with clean water, then add the rice grains. Rub the grains between your fingers to remove fine dust and various contaminants. Drain the cloudy liquid. Repeat the procedure several times until the liquid becomes completely transparent.
Place the washed rice grains on a fine-mesh metal sieve. Wait for the water to drain. To obtain crumbly cereals, it is recommended to fry the grains a little in a small amount of sunflower oil. Frying usually takes about two to three minutes. The rice is completely enveloped in vegetable oil, so it stops sticking together.
To get tasty rice, it is important to maintain the exact proportions between cereal and water:
- 2 cups of water per cup of cereal ensures fluffiness.
- 3 cups of liquid per cup of cereal adds viscosity.
To prepare the side dish, fill a metal pan with purified water. Bring the liquid to a boil. Be sure to add salt and the required amount of rice cereal.
If you want to get a viscous mass, you need to throw the rice into cold water. As a result, the grains will absorb the largest amount of liquid and begin to secrete a sticky substance. This option is suitable for puddings.
Note! If the water has completely boiled away, but the rice grains remain raw, add a small amount of boiling water and wait about five minutes. When cooking rice, you do not need to open the lid of the pan and stir the side dish with spoon - otherwise the integrity of the grains will be compromised. They will stick together.
The finished dish should be infused for about ten minutes.
Useful tips
When buying cereals, give preference to parboiled rice instead of polished rice. This cereal has an impressive amount of nutrients even after cooking. Steamed grains take longer to cook. However, the finished result is pleasantly surprising. The cereal turns out tasty and crumbly.
It is convenient to use a deep bowl to wash the grains. The dishes can hold a large amount of water, so you only have to change the liquid a few times.
Rice cooks well in cast iron pans with thick walls. This type of cookware allows you to heat the cereal evenly. Thus, burning is excluded.
Add a small amount of table salt. One teaspoon is enough for four servings of rice.
If you want to get a flavorful side dish, use different seasonings when frying rice. Ground pepper, turmeric, paprika, etc. will do.
How much rice for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 servings?
When preparing a dish, two questions often arise: what to use as a base (meat, fish, vegetables) and what side dish will go with it. Rice is an excellent side dish for any base, as it goes well with almost all types of meat, fish and vegetables.
In addition, this is a fairly healthy cereal for humans, since it is good, proper carbohydrates that take a long time to digest and provide energy for a long time, plus they are necessary proteins. And at the same time, it is easy and quick to prepare, which is also very convenient.
Often people tend to cook food in portions so that they can eat everything they have prepared and not leave it for other days when the dish changes its taste. This raises the question of how much to put in to get the required portion (Additionally read: How much water for 100, 300, 500, 900 grams of rice).
It is optimal to put two heaped tablespoons of rice per person, then you can perform some simple calculations to get answers to the question asked:
- for 2 servings - four tablespoons of rice (read more on the topic: “What to cook from rice quickly and tasty”);
- for 3 servings - six tablespoons of rice;
- for 4 servings - eight tablespoons of rice;
- for 5 servings - ten tablespoons of rice;
- for 6 servings - twelve tbsp.
Read more on the topic: How much salt for 1, 2, 3 cups of rice and 50, 80, 100, 150, 200 grams of raw rice - this is how much boiled.
How to cook fluffy rice in a saucepan with water
To prepare delicious cereals, consider various nuances. Today we will look at the secrets of cooking rice in a saucepan. The finished result is suitable for stuffing cabbage rolls. Boiled rice is also an ideal side dish.
Details of how to properly cook rice
The main recommendation concerns the correct choice of cookware. Regular cast iron pans that heat evenly are best. However, you can use a double boiler or an electric multicooker.
It is recommended to choose the correct pan size. Since the cereal increases in size many times over, maintain certain proportions. For example, cooking one glass of rice will require the use of a two-liter pan. It is highly desirable that the container has thick walls.
Proportions of water and rice
To get delicious fluffy rice, be sure to maintain the ratio between the amount of liquid and grain. Experienced chefs suggest using several additional secrets, however, this is the main nuance of creating a quality dish:
- Long rice - 1 part grain to 2 parts water.
- Medium and round rice - 1 part grain to 2.5 parts water.
How many grams of rice in a glass
| Name of the glass | Rice weight in grams |
| Full faceted 200 ml. glass of rice (filled to the brim) | holds 225 grams of rice |
| Faceted 200 ml. a glass of rice (filled to the brim) | holds 180 grams of rice |
| Full 250 ml. glass of rice (filled to the brim) | holds 280 grams of rice |
| In the usual 250 ml. a glass of rice (filled to the brim) | holds 225 grams of rice |
A glass of rice 200 ml contains 220 g of cereal. (filled to the brim)
200 ml glass – contains 180 g of rice. (filled to risk)
A glass of rice 250 ml contains 280 g of cereal. (filled to the brim)
It is necessary to take into account the extent of its fullness. If a 200 milliliter container is filled to the brim, it holds 220 grams of rice, but if the cereal is poured only along the line, its weight is no more than 180 grams. If a 250 milliliter container is filled to the brim, it holds 280 grams of rice, but if the cereal is poured only along the line, its weight is no more than 220 grams.
Questions often arise about how much rice fits in a glass that is not completely filled. We will calculate frequently used proportions for you; we will do this calculation for both types of glasses (200 ml / 250 ml). See table below.
| Glass fullness | Glass 250 ml. | Glass 200 ml. |
| 1/2 cup rice | 140 grams | 112 grams |
| 1/3 cup rice | 93 grams | 75 grams |
| 2/3 cup rice | 187 grams | 150 grams |
| 1/4 cup rice | 70 grams | 56 grams |
| 3/4 cup rice | 210 grams | 169 grams |
| 1/5 cup rice | 56 grams | 45 grams |
| 2/5 cup rice | 112 grams | 90 grams |
| 3/5 cup rice | 168 grams | 135 grams |
| 4/5 cup rice | 224 grams | 180 grams |
Of course, if you need to measure a small amount of rice, it is best to use a tablespoon and a teaspoon. With their help you can measure small volumes with great accuracy. Read our article how many grams of rice are in a spoon (tablespoon and teaspoon).
Cooking process of real fluffy rice
To make rice very crumbly, you need to choose long-shaped grains.
- Pre-soaking will help make the rice fluffy. Long varieties of rice can simply be poured with boiling water and cooled in cold liquid. Round rice is usually soaked for twenty-five minutes.
- The second secret to making fluffy rice involves pre-frying. Place the grains on a hot frying pan. Stir for a few minutes.
- In addition, many cooks use ordinary vegetable oil to prepare delicious fluffy rice. A spoonful of butter per glass of grains is enough.
Sequence of cooking rice in water
- Sort through the cereal. Remove all contaminants. Measure out the required amount of rice with a glass. Wash off fine dust.
- Place the rice in a deep saucepan. Pour purified water over the grains, following the correct proportions.
- Add some salt. Usually a teaspoon of table salt per glass of rice is enough. It is recommended to throw in some spices and add vegetable oil.
- Turn the heat to low. Wait for the water to boil – it usually takes twenty minutes.
- Make sure the lid is closed. Do not open the pan unnecessarily as the cereal will stick together. The rice should cook without stirring.
- After cooking the rice, turn off the heat. Wrap the pan in a towel to allow excess moisture to evaporate. Wait about ten minutes until done.
Checking readiness
A distinctive feature of ready-made rice is the complete absence of liquid. Experienced cooks use pans with glass lids. Otherwise, you will need to note the time and regularly test the readiness of the rice. The finished product has soft grains.
Risotto - Italian side dish rice
What do you need:
- rice - 1 tbsp.;
- broth or warm water - 0.5 l;
- olive oil - 40 ml;
- butter - 25 g;
- dry white wine - 50 ml;
- parmesan or similar cheese - 25 g;
- onion - 100 g;
- salt, pepper - to taste (if broth is used, they can be omitted).
How to cook:
- Heat the oil and fry finely chopped onion in it.
- Add rice, fry, stirring. About 5 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and add spices to taste. Cook, stirring, until the wine has almost completely evaporated (some of it has been absorbed into the rice).
- Pour in half a glass of broth. Stir until it is absorbed into the rice. Pour in the same portion of the broth. So, each time waiting for the broth to be completely absorbed, use it all up.
- Finely grate the cheese, cut the butter into thin slices
- Add them to the rice, stir it and immediately remove from the heat.
After this, the risotto can be served immediately as a main dish or side dish. In the first case, it is better to cook it with vegetables, adding them at the same stage as the wine. It will be delicious in any case.
How long does it take to cook rice?
Cooking time is determined by the type of rice:
- Long rice takes about 20 minutes to cook. Rarely sticks together.
- Medium rice may be a little sticky. The product is ideal for preparing porridge or pilaf due to its viscosity. It is recommended to pre-soak the grains for 20 minutes. Cooking time is 15 minutes. After turning off the heat, let the rice sit for 10 minutes.
- Round rice is ideal for sushi and rolls. Cook for about 20 minutes after the water boils. It is important not to remove the lid of the pan.
