I don’t really consider myself a great cook. Most things I try to make even following a recipe don’t turn out too well. However, there are a handful of things that I do make well and white rice is one of them. I don’t use any fancy rice cooker either. Here’s what I do.

Ingredients

2 cups of long grain white rice (you can use any grain size you like)

Olive oil

1 Tbsp of butter

4 cups of water (remember two cups of water to one cup of rice)

Dash of salt

Directions

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil into a kettle. Turn the burner on high. Add two cups of white rice. Mix until most of the grains are tossed around in the oil. I like to keep mixing until the rice starts to look like it’s toasting. Not actually brown but you can see that the white of the grain has changed color a bit. At that point, pour in your water. It will be loud because the kettle has been on high heat but it’s fine.

Now here is probably the most important part of the directions. Once you’ve poured the four cups of water in, stir with a spoon once around to stir the grains and then stop. Do not stir any more. If you continue to stir or stir at another point while it’s cooking, the rice will become very sticky, clumpy and mushy. That’s because you will break up the grains and activate the starch. So, remember: Pour water in, stir around once and walk way.

I leave the lid on just cracked and not all the way closed. After about 20 minutes or so, check it. If the water has been absorbed it’s done. Sometimes, I cook it a bit longer to get the bottom a little crunchy. Hey, that’s good stuff. 😉

If the water has been absorbed, just throw on a pat of butter (1 tbsp) on top of the rice and then put the lid all the way on and turn off the heat. Focus on whatever else your making with it and prepare to enjoy. If you follow this recipe to a tee, you will always make the perfect rice.

You’re welcome. 🙂