Background: We eat a lot of rice. Usually it’s brown jasmine rice cooked simply in water. It’s the base layer for many other moves.
1. Get some rice you like to eat. Keep it on hand.
2. Get an electric pressure cooker.
3. Get a cup or two of rice and put it in the cooker.
4. Drizzle with oil and stir the dry rice with a chef’s fork so all the grains are coated with a thin layer of oil.
5. If using a pressure cooker, add the same amount of water, by volume, as you did rice.
6. Set the cooker for rice and let it cook.
7. Release the pressure, turn with a fork, and serve the rice.
8. Store leftover rice in the fridge in single serving takeout containers. Throw some in the freezer too.
Why It Works
1. Having dried rice on hand is always a good idea. We source the brown jasmine rice we like in 5 pound bags from an Asian market. I portion them out into reused glass peanut butter jars.
2. The pressure cooker method means I can dump a jar of rice in the cooker and then fill that same jar with water to get the ratios just right.
3. Use equal amounts of water for however many portions of rice you put in.
4. Coating the grains of rice in oil will keep the starch from bursting out of the grains, resulting in a pot of rice with individual grains instead of a goopy mass.
5. Add the water after you coat the grains in oil.
6. If using a rice cooker instead of a pressure cooker, you may need to add more water. Follow the directions that came with the cooker.
7. You can let the pressure release naturally or speed it up by turning the valve.
8. I serve some right away, store a couple servings in the fridge, and freeze the rest.
Mods.
1. Try using stock (veg or chicken) instead of water.
2. Make a pilaf by adding additional ingredients after the rice is cooked. I like slivered almonds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.
3. Add dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, or dates.
4. Add spices.