Cooking Rice

"Rice is the best, the most nutritive and unquestionably the most widespread staple in the world." - Auguste Escoffier

Freshly cooked rice

As you start on your very own cooking adventure, rice is one of the cheapest and easiest bases to make which you can then pile your vegetables on top of and spice any way you'd like with actual spices or various sauces.

Rice can be cooked in a small pot on the stove top or in an instant pot.  There are varying types of rice and they all cook at different rates.  We're going to go over how to cook White Jasmine Rice simply because it cooks the fastest.  You're busy, I'm busy, we're all busy in this crazy world we live in and none of us have time to stand around and watch rice cook for an hour.  White Jasmine Rice cooks in 12 minutes so you can have a meal ready in no-time at all.  Shall we get rocking?!

The following recipes will be enough for two meals for a single person or one meal each for a couple.

One Pot Recipe:

-1 Cup - White Jasmine Rice

-1 1/2 Cups - Water

-Dash of Olive Oil

-Dash of Rice Vinegar (Optional)

-Dash of Saffron (Optional)

-Dash of Turmeric (Optional)

Add 1 1/2 cups of Water to your pot on the stove.  Turn heat to high to bring the water to a boil.  Add dash of Olive Oil.  Also add the optional ingredients of dash of Rice Vinegar, Saffron and Turmeric if using.  Once the water comes to a boil add 1 cup of White Jasmine Rice, stir, reduce the heat to low-medium and cover the pot with lid.  Set timer for 12 minutes.  Monitor to make sure the water doesn't boil over.  Once the 12 minutes are done, remove the pot from heat and let sit another 5 minutes.  After the rice has rested for 5 minutes, fluff with fork and serve.

Instant Pot Recipe:

-1 Cup - White Jasmine Rice

-1 Cup - Water

-Dash of Olive Oil

-Dash of Rice Vinegar (Optional)

-Dash of Saffron (Optional)

-Dash of Turmeric (Optional)

Add 1 cup of Water to the instant pot.  Add dash of Olive Oil and the optional ingredients of: Rice Vinegar, Saffron, and Turmeric if using.  Add 1 cup of White Jasmine Rice.  Stir ingredients, put lid on and put on high pressure for 5 minutes.  After that, let natural release for 10 minutes then release remaining pressure, fluff with fork and serve.

The main advantage of the instant pot is you don't have to watch it to make sure it doesn't boil over, you just add the ingredients stir, set the time, let it do it's thing then enjoy.

The advantage of the one pot is you don't have to buy an instant pot and you likely already have a pot laying around.  White Jasmine Rice cooks very fast making it a very easy and affordable base for your cooking.

You can add various spices or sauces to the rice before or after cooking to change the taste further, what is listed above is just a starting point.  But if you're feeling frisky try adding into the water a dash or two of cumin, coriander, chipotle, smoked paprika, and berbere.  That deliciousness will knock your socks off!

You can also get even crazier and add vegetables to your rice, before cooking, so you don't have to steam or saute veggies on the side, they just cook in the rice at the same time as the rice.  It does change the texture of the rice which you may or may not care about.  If I'm short on time then I'm personally more than happy to throw veggies into the pot or instant pot along with the rice to get a meal done super fast.  If I'm using an instant pot I almost always do this because the texture change is a lot less noticeable in the instant pot.

If you want to get absolutely jungle wild, after the rice has cooked put the rice in a pan with vegetables that have been sautéed, put the heat on medium to medium high, add 2 or 3 eggs, cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes, stir the ingredients, cover for another few minutes and once the egg looks like it has been cooked take off heat and enjoy.

There are a ton of possibilities with rice but there you have it, two tried and true ways of cooking rice in a snap for a tasty base to form an amazing meal.

Happy Cooking!