Believe it or not, cooking rice is not always as easy as it seems, there are many ways it can go wrong. It’s very easy to accidentally end up with too soft or too hard rice, however once you get the technique down, you’ll never get it wrong again.
The first step would be to rinse your rice to get rid of any excess starch. The process is actually very quick, simply put your rice in a strainer and run some cold water over it for around 20 seconds or until the water runs clear.
In terms of water to rice ratio, it’s best to stick to 2:1, so 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. If you want to add some extra flavor to your rice, try cooking it in a different liquid like vegetable or chicken stock.
Put your rice and cooking liquid into a pot and bring to the boil. Add a dash of salt or butter to add in some extra flavor to your rice.
Once the water is boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. It’s important to keep the lid on throughout the cooking as the steam is very important. Follow the directions on your rice packaging and take the lid off once the cooking time has elapsed. One thing to be aware of is that cooking times will vary depending on the rice variety you are using.
Once your rice has finished cooking, turn off the heat and leave to sit for a few minutes, you can then use a fork to fluff your rice so that the grains don’t stick together.