Kitchen Tips: How to cook brown rice
By Tali Simon | October 12, 2012
How many pots of brown rice have you cooked? How many times did you have to try it before it came out perfectly?
Maybe you have a better track record than me, but even with all the tips available online, cooking rice involved a lot of trial and error over here.
At first, I felt pretty stupid about it. Anyone can cook rice, right? Why was this so hard? But then I started talking to people about it, and I realized something funny — a lot of people struggled with rice. They just didn’t advertise it.
Seems you just need a good set of directions. Here’s what I’ve learned:
Start by heating oil in your saucepan. Dump in the rice and saute it for one minute. Don’t skip this step!
Add boiling water (the proper ratio is 2 cups water for every cup of uncooked rice), and wait for the contents of the pot to come to a boil. This only takes a minute if you added super hot water.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer for exactly 25 minutes. Not 23, not 27, and definitely not 30. Just 25.
And don’t lift that lid while your rice is cooking. Just follow the directions in the recipe below, and you’ll have it — a successful pot of brown rice. See how it didn’t stick to the bottom of the pot?
At this point, the stage is yours. Spices, fresh herbs, fresh/sauteed/roasted vegetables, soy sauce, and cheese are all good ideas. Not necessarily all at the same time, though.
Today I felt like some teeny-tiny cubes of feta and a sprinkling of zaatar, but just about anything would work.
And after all those yom tov meals, a brown rice dish hits just the right note.
…Happy Friday.
Want some ideas for things to do with your brown rice?
- Broccoli quiche in a brown rice crust
- Teriyaki tofu over brown rice
- Potato, panir, and pea curry over brown rice
- Curried eggplant and chickpeas over brown rice
- Lentil vegetable medley over brown rice
- Lemon egg drop soup
One year ago: Upside-down vegetable towers
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp oil (olive or canola)
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 2 cups boiling water
Directions
1. Heat oil in a saucepan (I use a 2.4-quart) over medium heat for 1 minute. Turn heat to low, add rice, and saute (stirring constantly) for 1 minute.
2. As you saute the rice, put up two cups of water to boil in an electric water kettle (if you boil water the old-fashioned way, you should get that going before beginning the recipe).
3. Add boiling water to the rice and raise heat to high. Within a minute, you should have a nice, healthy simmer. Turn the heat back to low, cover, and let simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat after exactly 25 minutes and let the pot sit untouched for 5-10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork, then add seasoning or mix-ins as desired. For best results, serve hot and right away.
2 Comments
malka on October 12, 2012 at 10:45 am.
Another easy way to cook brown rice is to cook it in the oven. Pour all ingredients in a large pan, add water, mix, cover, and stick in the oven. You’re allowed to peek to check if its ready. Brown rice takes a while in the oven though, but its no-fail that way!
Tali Simon on October 12, 2012 at 11:42 am.
Sounds like a good method for when the oven is on for a long time anyway.