I know some of you may laugh when you see this post. For the most part I’m sure it’s a very simple task, but for the novis cook it can be quite the challenge to get right. But I kid you not. I remember a time when I was a teenager and a dear friend of mine asked me a pretty straight forward question.
How to cook rice?
Our conversation went like this.
Him. Saba, how do I cook rice?
Me. Mate, that’s easy, wash the rice grains, add water and turn the rice cooker on.
Him. But Saba I don’t have a rice cooker.
Me. Oh.
I didn’t know what to say as I had never cooked rice without a rice cooker before. So that day we both went back to my house and I asked my mother to teach us how to cook rice without a rice cooker. In this day and age, we have all these fancy appliances and gismos to help us in the kitchen, some of which are great! And other of which are just there to clutter our kitchen. Sometime I think we need to take a step back and learn things the good old fashion way. That’s why from that day I made it a point, whenever I ate and loved something I would learn how to cook it from scratch. You just don’t know where you will end up in life and if you will be able to purchase the foods you love there, hey you might even get caught out without a rice cooker too.
For this recipe, we will be cooking short grain rice, but if you want to cook long grain just change the rice to water ratio to 1 cup of rice and 1.5 Cups of water.
THE SHOPPING LIST
1 Cup Short grain rice
1 1/4 Cups Water
OK. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT.
In a strainer, place the rice grains and rinse under running water. Move your fingers through the grains to ensure they are all getting washed. Continue this to the water runs clear.
Leave rice aside for 5 minutes to dry a bit.
To a small sauce pan add your washed rice grains and cover with the water
Bring to a boil uncovered over a med-high heat. Stir a few times to loosen the bottom
Turn to low and simmer covered for 12 mins. It’s important not to lift the lid and peak during this time.
Now turn off the heat, and then let rest it for another 10 mins
Fluff the rice up with a fork.
That’s it folks. Saba’s old fashion way to cook rice.
Now serve and enjoy!!
