How to cook rice without a rice cooker

I've seen a squillion methods of cooking rice lately that are just ridiculous. It's extremely easy to get perfectly cooked rice.

1. Wash your rice in a sieve or colander. This step isn't always necessary, but getting rid of the loose starch does give a nicer result. Also, if the rice is from countries where they're not so much into thorough processing, it's good to check for pebbles or suchlike.



2. Put the rice in a pot, preferably one with a reasonably thick bottom, although it doesn't matter too much. It does need to have a lid that fits.


3. Add water, to around an inch or 2-3cm above the level of the rice.
   

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4. Put the saucepan of rice on the cooker and turn the burner to high to get the water boiling. Regulate the temperature to achieve a gentle boil without too much mad bubbling. Don't put the lid on!


5. Just as the water hits the level of the rice, and you can see little steam vents in the surface, then put the lid on and turn off the heat. Leave for around 15 minutes.
   

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6. OMG, it's done! Remove the lid, fluff up the rice in your colander if desired (I don't bother), and serve.

Troubleshooting hints:

1. Ick! My rice is still wet at the bottom! If the rice is mainly cooked, you may have put just a wee bit too much water in, or not let it sit long enough, or your lid is too loose. Either discard the gooey rice if there is plenty of the edible kind, or if the rice is still a little al dente, put the lid back on and put the burner onto its lowest setting and gently heat the rice for up to 5 minutes (less if your burners don't go very low). Turn it off again and let it sit for another 5-10 minutes.


2. Uh-oh, my rice is still crunchy, and there is no more water at the bottom. You didn't put enough water in at the start, or your lid is useless. It doesn't have to be tight or heavy, but it should fit. Boil the kettle and add 1/2 a cup to a cup (or more) of the boiling water to the pot, depending on how crunchy your rice is. Gently heat on the lowest burner setting for up to 5 minutes, as in the troubleshooting tip above, and allow to sit with the lid on for another 10 minutes or so. If your lid is hopeless, put some tinfoil securely over the pot and wedge the lid on top of that.


3. Brown rice is a PITA. It certainly can be, but it's very nommy for the right occasion. I tend to double the amount of water I add (so 2 inches/5cm above the rice level), and thus boil it for longer with the lid off. I put the lid back on when there is still a small amount of water over the rice, and I leave the burner on - on fairly low - for 5 minutes before turning it off. The rice then has to sit for at least another 20-30 minutes. Follow the above troubleshooting routines if there are still rice imperfections, although I tend not to worry about minor sogginess at the bottom - I just mix it in with the rest of the rice.

The base method works really well for all kinds of white rice, and requires minor tweaks to work with brown rice. Also, depending on how fresh or starchy or sugary the rice is, the results can be a tiny bit variable. But I find this method pretty foolproof.