Tip of the Week: Rice!

You know how there are certain kitchen appliances you never use and others you use all the time?  My Rice Cooker gets used all the time, and what's funny is that I rebelled against the whole idea of one until a couple of years ago when the clouds parted and the bright light of morning streamed through.  What was I thinking?  That I enjoyed standing over my stove with my ear to a covered pot, listening for the beginnings of a simmer so I could start timing, casting kitchen prayers heavenward that when the timer dinged and I opened the lid it would be one of those infrequent moments when the water had all disappeared and a lovely pan of fluffy rice appeared to grace my table?  More often, I settled for either dry, undercooked kernels or soggy, glumpy clumps, with the occasional glorious success in between to sustain me.

Well no more. With the advent of Christmas 2012 dawned a new day of happiness, when daughter number two presented me with the beautiful, gleaming machine you see below.  I really think it deserves a cute name, I love it so much.  But for now, let's just call it Rice Cooker.  Rice Cooker leaves all guesswork out of the picture.  You dump in rice, water, salt, and butter, shut the lid, turn it on, and never think about it again until some 20 or 30 minutes later (who knows how long?  I don't care anymore!) when it decides--it decides--that the rice is perfectly cooked.  Then a sweet little bell rings, and Rice Cooker switches to a keep-warm feature until the rest of the meal is ready and you can fluff and eat--right out of the pan if you wish.  It's so beautiful, who needs a serving bowl?

Life has a whole new meaning since Rice Cooker came, and even yesterday, when I had to make 130 servings for the YSA Hawaiian Haystacks dinner, every batch turned out perfectly (all ten of them).  By the way, when you have to make a large quantity of rice like I did yesterday, just cool the rice in fridge, spoon into gallon sized zip-lock bags, heat the individual bags one at a time in the microwave when ready to serve (squishing the rice around a bit in the bag to break it up) and it comes out tasting like you just made it.

One thing I should point out:  Even though you can usually just follow the instructions on your bag of rice, for large quantities like this the water/rice ratio may have to be experimented with once and adjustments made.  Then make note of the proportions (like I did for the Jasmine rice I made yesterday) so that when you go to do the same thing again you won't have to reinvent the wheel.  The 15-serving batches I made yesterday consisted of  4 cups of rice, 6 cups of water, 3 teaspoons of salt, and 2 Tablespoons of butter.  It was perfect.
  
NOTE:  If you desire your rice to have a less sticky texture, rinse well and drain before cooking--especially imported rices such as Basmati and Jasmine.  You will see the water turn cloudy, which means you are rinsing off the starches that can make the rice more sticky.  Rice grains are so small, they may fall through the holes of a regular colander, so I recommend using a wire stainer for this task.  (For Basmati rice, soaking for an hour or two is recommended as well).