Rice.
 

Okay, I know nothing of rice beyond the 5 minute instant-rice you can buy at any grocery store. Wait, that's not true; I know that the rice I get when I order Chinese take out is 10 times better. It's that kind of rice that keeps the shape of the box when you take it out. This is what I want. I've heard it called "sticky rice" before but I can't seem to find anything on google that resembles it. I just want some quality rice, damnit. I realize it won't be a 5 minute job but I'm willing to make a commitment. ...though I probably won't buy one of those dedicated cookers.

Do you like sushi?

Sticky rice is commmonly eaten by Koreans and Japanese. The rice you are talking about is "fluffy" right? Well that's why in Chinese movies, when they eay rice they put their bowl put their bowl up around to their chest. (So rice doesn't fall down from their chopstick.) And I don't know why Japanese does it when they got sticky rice... must be custom or something.

These are what you're talking about.

If you have any Asian supermarkets in your area, you can surely pick up a bag there. If you're going for convenience, there are microwavable bowls available, but I haven't tried them.

Doesn't rice tend to stick together if you steam it properly? The rice I get at every Asian place in Montreal sticks together.

I assumed this was what he was referring to, but sticky rice is different, I think. Then again, I've never had sweet sticky rice from any Chinese restaurant when ordering take-out. It's just steamed white rice.

Yes, sticky rice and normal rice is different. I eat rice every day, being Asian and all. I Just LOVE sticky rice. I don't eat it much, however, as we only get it when we go to dim sum, and we hardly ever go to dim sum. I love the, uh, stickiness and the flavour. Mmmmm....I love Uncle Ben's instant rice, but instant rice has no nutritional value whatsoever.

Eating too much rice supposedly makes you fat though.

Rice. I eat it everyday. Rice is good. <3. How many rice cookers do you own? Do you have a rice despenser too? How many sacks of rice is in your house/apartment at any given time. Go.

I don't like sticky rice as much. And I never trust fried rice at restaurants (as it is just old steamed rice). It's all about steamed rice.

Jerry Rice was an amazing wide receiver as well.

Oh, I've never heard about this one before.

naz: To answer some of your questions, I have two rice cookers at the moment (one of them is packed away), and two 20 lb. bags of rice. No dispenser right now.

Eating too much of anything will make you fat. Why? Because you'll be consuming more calories than you need, hence, putting on weight.

That's what my parents have always told me. It's something in the rice that will make you put on pounds if you eat a lot.

We have a big barrel full of rice, with an actual bag of rice in reserve when supplies run low. No rice depenser, but we have 2 cookers.

I've never heard that one before too. I eat a lot of rice every fucking day... and I'm not fat at all. This is a good thing, so I can eat all the rice I want.

Nah, it's only if you eat a LOT of rice. I doubt you eat a LOT of rice every day, do you? You're fine.

Oh true. Yeah, not a LOT. Just a lot. It's probably about 4 cups of rice every day.

Ok, let me clarify then, I'm probably not talking about "sticky rice".

I'm not an expert at asian cuisine so basically I mean when you go to any local Chinese place in America and ask for "white rice" or "steamed rice". Like I said, if you get it from a take-out place and it comes in one of those little boxes, it keeps the shape of the box because it all sticks together. It has a totally different texture to me compared to 5-minute instant rice, and a moderately different taste too. If it's simply properly steamed rice, how can I go about accomplishing this?

I'm no expert on rice, but I think that it's related to what type of rice you're using.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/3426/511014mi.gif
You can probably find these at an Asian grocery store. A lot of the other varieties of rice, especially instant rice, don't stick.

As for the method of cooking, we've always used these rice cookers:
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2...ybac6oz6sy.jpg

With the right amount of water, we're able to get rice that clumps together. There's no "magic number," so you'll have to experiment. Too little water will yield drier rice that won't stick, and too much water will yield gooey rice.
There's probably more behind this...

I usually do a 6 cups of rice to 7 cups of water ratio. The results have been pleasant since 1984.

I thought the 'stickiness' of the rain was determined by how long the grain was? Isnt' short grain and medium grain rice stickier than long grain rice? The sticky rice mentioned above isn't the one served at restaurants, that's not the type of rice you would want everyday with your meals as that is REALLY sticky!

It has to do with the type of the rice, how much water you put in, and how long you cook it. For stickier rice put in more water and cook a little less time, for drier rice put in less water and cook for a little less.

Can anyone tell me what the huge benefit of using a rice cooker over cooking it in a two quart pot is?

Rice cookers are generally easier to clean than the pot of water, especially if you are willing to spend more than $10 on it. The rice cooker is also something you can leave and forget about, but if you do that with rice on the stove, you are in for trouble! Mine was $3 at a thrift store and is one of my favorite kitchen items.

If you are willing to spend a hundred dollars or more on a rice cooker (crazy I know) you can get one of the ultra models that you can preprogram. Everyday at a set time, it will automatically make the rice for you. That's Japanese ingenuity for you. ;)

Mexican Rice with a Sunnyside Egg rolled up in a tortilla always hits the spot.

Egypt, can you put other food in the rice cooker to cook with the rice? For example, I like to make Jambalaya, and it needs to cook with the sausage, peppers, onions, and other random things to make sure that the flavor is as kickass as possible.

It depends on the cooker I think... The one my mom uses came with very direct directions that said don't put anything in it but water or the cooker would absorb the flavor and transfer it to the next dish. Another one a friend bought encourages things like coconut milk and herbs added to the dish.

I just found some encouraging links that indicate you could cook jambalaya in a rice cooker pretty easily:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1742,...251195,00.html
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1942,...247201,00.html
http://damned-colonial.livejournal.com/285932.html

Those rice cookers have numbers inside, so I basically use the cup provided when purchasing the cooker for the first time to measure out cups of rice. 4 cups of rice needs water that reaches the "4" mark inside.

There's also a trick using the first line from the top of your middle or ring fingers. If the water touches that line on your finger, there's enough water.

._.;; It...um...keeps your rice warmy and steamy...?

Anyways, I *heart* rice. Delicious stuff! I'm not sure what the exact difference is between "American rice" to "Asian rice", but I think it might have something to do with the grain size, species of rice, and cooking style...?

I'm not exactly sure about water-to-rice measurement ratios, but my mom taught me that you need to clean the rice several times in cold water (although I realize now that this kinda washes away any sprayed on nutrients and such =/...), and then fill the pot with water until it the water level touches the knuckle of your middle finger.

I've always made rice like this, and it always turns out cute and fluffy.

Has anyone had any purple rice before? I think it's actually normal rice, but with a certain kinds of bean/grain mixed in....I'm not sure what it's called in English, but I would like to buy some from Safeway or something if it's avaliable...

EDIT: W-What's going on...? Why am I a moderator...? ;__; (Is this the April Fool's joke? It's not very funny...)

There are many different kinds of rice. Each has different application. For example, you cannot use sticky rice more making jambalaya since they will become sticky. The best to use there is long grain.

For Chinese Restuarant, I think they often use "Jasmine" Rice which I think you cannot by in ordinary grocery store. I think Jasmine is the well rounded rice that too much water yield softer and stickier rice. Usually, 1:1 is the water ratio for just the right softness of jasmine rice.

The only problem with Jasmine rice is that they absorb water over time. They become softer and stickier. Do not use this rice if you are making a soup with rice. This is only great with Aroz Caldo (Lugaw) which is a Filipino dish.

This site is quite good at explaining the general application of different kinds of rice: http://www.ricegourmet.com/About_RiceTypes.htm

RacinRacer, the nice thing about rice cooker is that it is easier. You do not need to keep track of the rice that you are cooking. Also, I believe that rice cookers are insulated so that the heat are distributed almost evenly. The problem of using a pot is that majority of the heat is applied on the bottom while the rest of the sides are losing some heat. Because of this, the bottom tends to burn easily. However, if you do not have any rice cooker, you can avoid this problem if you watch it carefully and stir it occationally or if you are already an expert.

i think i'll buy a rice cooker soon, but are you forced to used sticky rice to make rice sticky ? isn't there another kind of rice that you can find in every occidental store ? because not every store sells sticky rice :(


also about the pot... once, the rice i cook was so burnt on the bottom :( it was impossible to get the rice off so i tried with my fingers and nails (yes i'm stupid) and a rice grain went under my nail ...... :( and THAT was painful...

I think every rice has the same property that if you put too much water, it will become sticky. If you are really desperate, you can just add more water on those long grain types. However, I do not really know if the texture would be the same as the appropriate sticky rice.

I'll second that, the more water you place, the stickier :3


We cook it here with this um... "ratio" 1 cup of water per 1 cup of rice. That makes it, well not uber dry, and not uber sticky. If I remember correctly, we used Jasmine rice back then, but we kinda switched to another one which I dunno is called.

The only problem now is, some parts (closer to the bottom) are kinda harder than normal. We are using a rice cooker and well, I dunno whats wrong :p When they cook it with the pot + stove its all perfect :o The only thing I dont like about cooking it on the stove is that you just cant let it be.. haha.

Have you tried brown rice? It's quite good and very flavorful. :)

Brown rice has to be my least favorite rice of all time.

These people probably make the best rice that I know of. I must eat some Goya rice with ever meal, zomg~

Takeaways (and probably restaurants) use American Long Grain Rice, as it's much cheaper than Jasmine or Fragrant rice. When they make fried rice, it's usually rice from the previous day left aside overnight because freshly steamed rice is too sticky to be fried.

Other types of rice include brown, basmati, Japanese (Pearl), Broken, Glutinous. Glutinous rice is super-sticky and is only really used for specialised dishes. I don't think you can use a rice-cooker for it - it has to be cooked with a steamer. Broken rice is just left overs, and is mainly used for rice wine, rather than eating, although non-ricers who have a lower income tend to buy it because of its low price. Pearl rice is fatter, stubbier than most types of rice, but is very nice. I know little of Basmati and Brown rice though.

I dont really enjoy brown rice >_<

My Hispanic friend taught me this awesome way to make rice.

You rinse the rice, fill the container with water, add about a centimeter of canola oil, add some salt, and squeeze a slice of lemon. Put that in the rice cooker and you get awesome flavorful rice.

if you put a lot a lot of water, the rice turns to congee!!!

My family puts perserved chinese sausages with the rice... cuz the rice cooker is electric and doesn't do anything but cooks.

My family eats "Choi Jai dut mai" hehe chinglish umm... Choi Jai rice
it's that little kid with the body of a bowl with the chinese bowl hair cut lol

My mom actually substituted water with chicken broth before. She didn't put meat in with the rice until it was actually done. She said she was too lazy to make fried rice so she uses that as a shortcut to give it more flavor as opposed to just white rice.

I don't care what people say; chinese sausages are just awesome.

There are some.... "local side dishes" that we cook along with the rice, but then again, it is placed only when the rice is cooked and the rice cooker is set to "warm" :3

I so agree with you

I think to make sticky rice, U need white vinegar and oil and mix them together (i dunno how much vinegar and oil...)
and i dunno... let it set for like 5 mins and they become sticky! and vinegary...

I dunno what its officially called, but from what I hear its some kind of Persian rice, and to put it simply, I found it to be awesome. Its a long grain rice with subtle hint of flavor, enough so you know its there, but not so much as to drown out other flavors. Its fluffy and white with a tint of yellow and it tastes great with grilled lemon chicken wings. Its flippin amazin, unfotunately I haven't had it for more than a year now :(

HEH? Stickrice as in a rice that is STICKY or a DISH that is called sticky rice?

If it is just a rice that is sticky... then you don't need those shit.

Well... my cousin used that method (with vinegar and oil) to make sushi... and it was sticky... he also made onigiri with it

You should be able to find Jasmine rice in a supermarket, I usually don't buy it because it's significantly more expensive, though. I generally keep short grained white rice in the house for when I'm making casseroles or stuff where I just want rice as a filler, and brown rice for when I'm making something really spicy (it goes wonderfully with the jambalaya, the little bit of nuttiness adds so much flavor).

I've also seen suggestions for things such as putting apple juice, pineapple juice, and other such things as replacements for 50% of the water used in cooking. I'll usually throw in a chicken bullion cube or two when cooking rice for a casserole since it adds a lot of flavor, haven't tried out the other things yet.

Also, I've found that the amount of water needed really depends on the brand and type of rice. With my brown rice I need 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, while for the white rice I buy (Giant Eagle brand) 1.5 cups of water per cup of rice works out a little better.

I thought I was the only one who did this, glad to see someone else does the same. It's a guaranteed method of making the perfect rice, though maybe not perfect but flawless... As being asian and all I can't escape my friend, Rice. I geuss by the I know it, I'm eating a bowl of rice along with some seasoned beef stew( my special recipie :)) Man, I think I'm actually gonna go eat some rice right now...