Cautious Cooking: Know the Rice to Water Ratio in Rice Cooker

Rice, being the important part of so many important dishes, is cooked very often. The rice cooker enables you to shorten the time you spend in the kitchen.Some rice cookers come with steamer baskets in which you can steam vegetables or seafood, while the rice is cooking. However, there are a few tricks and tips that one needs to learn for making delicious rice recipes using the rice cooker. The most important of all is the rice to water ratio in rice cooker.

The best quality of rice is generally achieved when the rice is washed, soaked, blanched, or boiled, and then steamed. Cooking rice in a rice cooker is a fairly simple task. But the area where most people go wrong is the rice to water proportion. Most rice cookers work by boiling the rice and controlling the temperature. The temperature inside the rice cooker begins to rise, when all the water has boiled away, and the rice is done.

The quality of rice depends on the amount of water. If the water is less, the rice will remain uncooked, whereas if you put in too much water, you might end up getting a paste of rice! Rice to water ratio in rice cooker actually depends on the type of rice you are cooking, and how moist you want it. The amount of water needed to cook rice also depends on the different recipes.

➺ Rice to water ratio in rice cooker actually depends on the type of rice you are cooking, and how moist you want it. The amount of water needed to cook rice also depends on the different recipes.

➺ The safest ratio to begin with is 1½ to 1¾ cups of water per cup of rice. Fill the cooking pot with equal parts of rice and water, and then add the needed extra amount of water to it.

➺ Another thing to keep in mind is 'the fresher the rice the less water is needed'.

White rice generally needs less water for cooking. The ideal measurement for cooking white rice is 1½ to 2 cups of water per cup of rice. Short grain white rice usually cooks faster than long grain rice, and requires lesser water.

➺ Long grain white rice - 1¾ cups of water per one cup of rice
➺ Medium grain white rice - 1½ cups of water per one cup of rice
➺ Short grain white rice - 1¼ cups of water per one cup of rice

Brown rice is whole grain, high-fiber, and less-processed, and is therefore preferred by most health conscious people. However, brown rice takes a longer time to cook as compared to white rice. It takes about 40 to 50 minutes to cook, and requires more water.

➺ The perfect ratio for brown rice (long grain) is 2¼ cups of water per a cup of rice.

Indian style rice recipes using Jasmine rice or Basmati rice require a drier rice, and hence the amount of water required is lesser.

➺ For Basmati or Jasmine rice, you may use 1½ cups of water per 1 cup of rice.

➺ If you have washed or soaked the rice previously, you may use 1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice.

➺ If you are using 'parboiled' rice, then you may have to add 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice.

Different rice cookers may require different amounts of water. In such cases, trial and error method yields the best results.