Three simple rice recipes

Are you looking for some quick and easy rice recipes? Read on to get some get ideas for cooking with rice.

Rice Cooker Rice Pudding

This is a very easy recipe to use your rice cooker to create rice pudding.

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

150g short grain rice

250ml water

1 tin of evaporated milk

½ teaspoon of slat

1 teaspoon of vanilla

100g sultanas

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Preparation

1. Wash out the rice before use

2. Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker

3. Cook on high for between 2 and 2½ hours, stirring once during the cooking cycle.

 

Mexican Rice

This is an easy recipe to create some fantastic Mexican rice.

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

12oz (350g) long grain rice

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

8oz (225g) passata

1 teaspoon of ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon of salt

1 pint 14 fl oz (950ml) of water

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

Preparation

1. Using a medium heat the vegetable oil over a medium heat.

2. Sauté the rice in the oil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Reduce to low heat

4. Stir in garlic, cumin, passata, salt & pepper.

5. Stir in Water

6. Cover and leave on the low heat for around 20 minutes.

Easy Egg Fried

A nice simple and straightforward recipe for egg fried rice

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of oil

4 spring onions

1 carrot

1 large bowl of cooked rice

1 large egg

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

Preparation

1. Slice the clove of garlic and the spring onions

2. Cut the carrot into matchsticks

3. Whisk the egg

4. Heat oil to a medium heat

5. Pop in the garlic and fry until golden

6. Add carrot and fry for 3-4 minutes

7. Add spring onion and fry for 1 minute

8. Add egg and stir into the vegetables

9. Once the egg has cooked add the rice

10. Stir throughout to mix the egg, rice and vegetables

11. Add soy sauce and serve

To make the process easier you could consider using a rice cooker. Click here link to read some rice cooker reviews.

How to Cook Rice the Correct Way – Tricks and Tips for Delicious Rice Dishes

How to cook rice the correct way is one of the great culinary mysteries any beginner cook – sometimes even more experienced cooks – encounter. How does rice become so white, fluffy and delicious like in Chinese, Thai and Japanese restaurants? How come they never burn the rice, it never becomes too sticky or too dry?

First Things First…

To learn how to cook rice properly, first of all, you must know that there are many different types of rice, each of them requiring different processing times and different temperatures, and the end product will also differ in terms of stickiness and consistency.

One way of categorizing rice is by the size of the grains:

• short grain rice becomes sticky when cooked and is used in dishes like sushi and paella;

• medium rice is somewhat less sticky when cooked and becomes really tender;

• the dishes made from long grain rice are drier so they must be used with sauces.

There are two subcategories in the long grain variety that are favored for their special flavor: jasmine rice got its name from the jasmine flower, as it actually smells like it, and basmati rice is also easily distinguishable due to its smell.

Another way that rice is categorized is by the amount of hull or husk removed from the kernels: with brown rice, only the hull is removed – it is nutty in taste and chewy in texture, but very healthy; polished rice is completely cleaned – this is the type we most frequently use.

And now…let’s get cooking!

The answer to “how to cook rice properly” depends on the type of rice you are using – the longer the grain, the more water it absorbs, so the more water you need for cooking it, but as a general rule, you need 1 1/2 cups of water for each cup of rice. After washing the rice, place it in the water and bring it to the boil at medium fire without a lid. Put the lid on only after it started boiling and make sure the lid is not tight, to allow for the extra steam to evaporate; then, turn the heat down a bit. When you see little holes appearing in the rice, turn the heat down, put the lid on tight and boil it like this for another 15 minutes.

If this seems a little too complicated, you can learn how to cook rice in an easier and more comfortable way.

Using a rice cooker may the most comfortable solution. These items usually come with easy-to-follow instructions which will tell you exactly how to cook rice in the machine, and the more modern models also have measuring cups included in the package. The measurements on the side of the inside bowl will tell you exactly how much water is necessary for the amount of rice you want to make.

Most rice cookers usually take care of the timing problem as well: the machine will automatically turn off or switch to keep-warm mode when it “senses” that the rice is ready. It is not recommended to try and check on the rice being cooked as it will imply removing the lid, thus letting steam evaporate – and your rice needs all the steam to reach exactly the right consistency. Though adding salt and butter to the rice is usually not recommended when you cook rice in a stovetop bowl, you can add these extra ingredients to the rice when the dish is made in a rice cooker, because, this way, the steam can bring out even more flavor from the rice.

Rice dishes are not only delicious, but also very healthy, excellent sources of vitamins and fiber. Learning how to cook rice the proper way in your favorite bowl or with the help of a rice cooker will make your diet varied and the cooking process enjoyable.