Every Wednesday is Domestic Science day at Living Behind the Curve.
Either I’m the last person to learn how to do this, or it’s a huge secret about to bust wide open all over the interwebs: it’s almost impossible to overcook rice in the microwave. No, really. Here’s how:
500g (about 4 cups) white or basmati rice, rinsed
3 cups of water
salt to taste
butter to taste (optional)
1. Rinse your rice. Toss it in a strainer and run the rice under some water until it runs clear. Shake it around a little, to make sure everything gets nice and soggy.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a medium-sized microwave-safe glass bowl, and nuke on high for 5 minutes.
3. Stir. I cannot overemphasize the importance of stirring your bowl after the first 5 minutes. I can’t explain why you need to do this, but every time I forget to stir, the rice always takes longer to cook.
4. Cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the top, and microwave on 50% power for 15 minutes. Cooking times may vary, depending on your microwave. You know you’re done when the rice has doubled in size and there is no more liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
5. Let it sit for a minute, fluff with a fork, and enjoy!
Categories: domestic science| recipes
Oh dear, microwaving food covered with plastic wrap is so bad for you, according to Johns Hopkins. The heat causes cancer-causing… things/globules to drop into the food. Could you do this with a glass top instead?
@Heather: You certainly can microwave your rice in a bowl with a glass lid. I think you might get your best results if you get a tea towel or kitchen towel and lay it over the top of the bowl and then put your lid on over that. Glass bowl sets aren’t particularly well known for having good seals around their lids, and using a towel like that will give you a good seal that will keep the steam in without being uber-tight and not releasing excess pressure. If you’re going to do this, make sure that your bowl is more than twice the size of your ingredients, otherwise your rice will rise into the towel, pop your lid, get linty, and generally make a big mess.
This also goes without saying, but be carefull! Everything is gunna be coated and saturated with boiling water!
As for cancer in my plastic wrap, can you link me? I tried googling it myself, and didn’t come up with anything concrete.
I’ve been making rice in the microwave for years. Microwaves vary in strength, but I’ve found this method has always worked well for me.
Ingredients: 1 cup white rice, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tbs. margarine or butter, 2 1/4 cups water.
Place all ingredients in a glass casserole with glass lid. Nuke on high for 5 minutes.
Without lifting the lid, reset the microwave to cook 25 more minutes at 20% power. Let sit covered for 2 or 3 minutes. Tthen remove lid and stir. The rice always comes out perfect.
You may have to experiment a little to get the perfect texture, as all microwaves are not the same. I used to use 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, but found the rice is fluffier with the extra 1/4 cup water. I developed this method of cooking rice because we used to have well water and I didn’t like having to used purchased water to cook the rice in.
Another tip I would like to share is, did you know that you don’t have to use a crockpot to prepare slow cooker recipes?
Just prepare your recipe the same as always, but instead of placing the ingredients in a crockpot, put them in any appropriately sized casserole dish with a tight fitting lid and cook in a 200 degree oven. This is the same temperature as low on a crockpot. The advantage is that the food cooks evenly, as the source of heat comes from above, below and surrounding your container. It’s hard to find a crockpot that cooks evenly, but using the oven has worked very well for me in the past.
Another added bonus, is you don’t have to find a place to store that crockpot and you don’t have to struggle with clean up. Just throw your pot or casserole dish in the dishwasher.