- Today, we are going to make the best rice on the stove top.
I know that a lot of us
are often confused on the water ratios.
You empty your rice into a container
and then throw away the instructions
and then you're left Googling, how do I make great rice?
That's what we're doing today.
First things first, today I am using long grain rice.
Let me show you.
It is a long grain, thin type of rice,
but this method is also works
if you're using medium grain rice, which makes risottos.
Oh, I have a video on no stir risotto, which is so simple.
Make sure you check that out.
I'll link it below, but basics, rice.
To make rice on a stove top, I do not rinse my rice.
Unlike the rice cooker, which I have a video
on how to make great rice inside of your rice cooker.
How to decipher the lines in side and all that stuff
in this channel, I'll link it below.
So this is my rice.
The thing about the rice to water ratio
is a one cup of rice to two cups of water.
So today, I'm gonna keep it really simple
and I am from Spain, so I grew up, actually,
toasting my grains of rice in the stove top
with a little bit of olive oil.
So that's what I'm going to do.
But if you want to skip this step,
it's totally cool with me.
I like to do that because I feel like the rice
gets a little toastier and the olive oil coats
the grains of rice so it separates them a little bit better.
It's fluffier.
I don't know.
At least that's what my grandmother told me
and I believed her.
So I'm gonna measure out two cups of rice
and I'm using white rice.
If you're using brown rice,
that is a little bit of a different video.
But again, one to two.
When I put one cup, two cups,
and I want to just stir it to distribute the olive oil
throughout the rice grains.
And as you can see, my grains of rice are toastier.
They're kind of shiny.
That's because of olive oil, just a tablespoon or so.
A lot of people use butter, as well, to do this.
And I just leave it on the stove
for about a minute to heat through.
A lot of people ask if they need to heat up their water
before adding it into the pot.
I, personally, add straight cold water into my pot
and bring that to a boil with my rice.
There are other methods, but that's just the way I do it.
That's one less step.
So to my two cups of rice, I have four cups of water.
Give this a quick stir.
Now, if you want to make your rice more flavorful, you could add some bouillon paste or a bouillon cube.
I grew up in Spain with my grandmother
adding a little bit of chicken bouillon cubes in my rice.
It just makes it more flavorful.
Or if you have stock, you could also do instead of water,
you could also add some chicken
or vegetable stock to your rice.
Your rice is going to absorb that and have more flavor,
so that's really the only advantage
of using stock in your rice.
So I'm just going to wait for my water to come to a boil.
So what do you want to do now that the water is boiling
is cover the pot with a lid
and reduce your heat to the lowest setting.
So when I just reduce my fire,
or if your fire is really a large burner,
I usually just move it to a smaller burner
and then set a timer for 20 minutes.
So during those 20 minutes, I just go about my business,
go make dinner, and come back.
So it's been 20 minutes and I turned off my fire
in the last five or so, because I could see
that all the water was absorbed
and I don't really want my rice to cook at the bottom.
But a lot of times people say
that when they get back to the pot
and they look at the rice, it's really sticky
and they don't know why.
And that is because even though it's been 20 minutes
of cooking time, if your lid is closed,
your rice with the heat in your pot will continue to cook.
So what you get is really soft and mushy rice.
Now, one quick way to not have to throw out your entire pot
is to grab a clean kitchen towel.
Well, first of all, let the steam come out a little bit.
And then a trick that I learned from my grandmother
is to take a kitchen towel
or a really thick absorbent paper towels,
put it over your pot, and just wait a few minutes
and the heat the towel is going to absorb
some of that moisture.
So that also helps the rice not be as sticky.
So if you still meal prepping and whatnot,
that's also a really great idea.
But now that our rice is ready, what you want to do
is take a fork or your serving spoon
and kind of give you a rice a good fluff.
So again, it helps release that steam
so it stops it from cooking, but it's still hot in your pot.
One thing I love about cooking rice
is that it's a really basic ingredient
that I can use in multiple meals.
So I often cook more than I'll need for today's recipe
and then once the rice has cooled down or leftovers,
but once the rice has cooled down,
I can transfer into another container,
refrigerate it for three to four days,
and then use it to build other meals or serve it as a side.
So again, you don't have to cook rice throughout the week.
If you're the kind of person that enjoy shortcuts and tips
to help you get meals on the table faster
and want a meal prep and not sure where to start,
make sure you check the link right below this video.
I'm gonna share with you a sample weekly meal plan
where I do just that.
Tell you how to cook ones and use those ingredients
multiple times throughout the week.
And with that, see you next time.
(gentle inspirational music)