Once it is been stored, the rice is drier, making it ideal to re-heat the rice to serve in a frying pan. To heat it for serving (for example, in a stir-fry pan or curry), add 2 teaspoons water per one cup of cooked rice, cover with lid or plastic wrap, and microwave–the water will once again become moist. After adding rice, your water temperature drops considerably, stopping boiling. So, you are going to rapidly lower the heat, cover the pan, and let the water and rice stay simmering, which essentially means a little under the boiling point. Add 1 cup rice, stir briefly to break up clumps of rice, cover the pan with a lid, and lower the heat to the lowest setting possible, which helps rice cook evenly.
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If the rice is too firm, and there is not any liquid left by the end of cooking, add a 1/4 cup of water, then return the rice to the cooker. You can easily double or triple this recipe; just be sure you are using a large enough pan that will hold your rice while it is cooking and expanding. When cooking rice on a stove, be sure you are using a heavy-bottomed pan (no cheap aluminum pans, please) and that the pan is big enough to accommodate rice swelling up to four times its original volume. You can make any quantity of rice that you want, a single serving or ten, provided that you are using a big enough pot.
The requirement means if you are serving plain rice with meat and vegetables (and there is not any bread-based or potato-heavy dishes on the sides), then one cup of rice per person. Or, if you are serving more than one meal, you need to have 90 grams of uncooked rice for serving at least a half-cup per person. Cooked rice keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge, so you can make extras for serving later in the week, or for using in other dishes.
| Storage | Shelf life |
| Boiled at room temperature | 2 hours |
| Uncooked in pantry | 2 years |
You can also toast uncooked rice with some butter or olive oil before adding the water, or stir cooked rice in some butter or olive oil as you return it to the cooker for steaming. You can use these instructions for cooking brown rice, which has longer grains, but when cooking brown rice, you will have to increase the water by 1/4 cup and cook the rice for 45 minutes.
Soaking the brown rice in cold water for at least 30 minutes, and up to a few hours, will help reduce the cooking time. You can let the rice sit for 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes, and it will remain nice and warm in the cooker, ready when you are, ready for serving.
Cook on low for 13 minutes, not stirring and not taking off lid, at which point 1 1/2 cups of water should have been absorbed (tilt pot to test) and rice should be soft. For White Basmati Rice, follow the directions for plain White Rice (use same 1 1/2 cups of water) and cook rice for 12 minutes. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, lower heat to a very gentle simmer, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until water is absorbed and rice is soft. American long grain rice will take slightly longer than basmati rice to cook.
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Allow the water to return to a gentle simmer (otherwise, you risk the water cooking off quicker than the rice is cooking). If you prefer to avoid losing too much water, try to soak the rice in the water for 10-15 minutes, and rinse it off one to two times. Add the rice into a fine mesh strainer placed on top of a large bowl, and rinse until the water in the bowl is clean. Fluff short-grain rice for risotto with a fork, and serve immediately if desired, but any remaining water will absorb if covered with a tea towel for 10 minutes.
Short-grain pudding rice, rice for risotto (arbrio or carnaroli) and paella rice (bomba) do not need to be cooked, rather, Short-grain pudding rice is cooked along with the other ingredients to impart its flavor. Long-grain rice, such as basmati, needs to be washed prior to cooking, in order to remove any excess starch, then either cooked in boiling water or in soaking methods. Recipes using other types of rice, like basmati, sometimes call for the rice to be soaked or rinsed before cooking to get rid of extra starch.
Long-grain white rice is highly refined and polished, so you do not need to wash it before cooking, though rinsing out the dust and other impurities is recommended, either by measuring out your rice in a strainer or running a little cold water over it for a few moments. Brown rice will wash off the starch which would make the rice lumpy, so this is crucial to making softer, fluffier rice. The secret to soft, fluffy rice is cooking it the right way, by boiling rice rapidly to a high temperature enough for the starch molecules to break down and separate, then boiling rice for long enough at a lower temperature so the rice can absorb the moisture uniformly.
To microwave the prepared rice, put it into a microwave-safe bowl and drizzle some water over it, and drape a wet paper towel over top before heating to ensure that it does not dry out. To reheat leftover rice, put it in a bowl with just a little bit of water and microwave it on high for 1 minute, or put it into a pot with water that is already boiling for 1 minute, and drain.
Place the rice and boiling water* into a small casserole dish with lid (or use a baking dish and foil); cover, cook on 350degF/400degF (180degC Fan) for 35 minutes; take out of the oven and let sit for 10 minutes; and fluff with forks, savor perfectly cooked, puffy, oven-cooked rice. Allowing one cup of covered white rice on the stovetop for several minutes after cooking to finish absorbing all of the water, and then stirring it with a fork, makes for perfectly cooked, fluffy rice.
How much rice do you cook per person?
A typical, single serving of rice is around 1/2 cup for a side dish or 1 cup for a main dish per person. In other words, one cup of cooked rice will serve 1-2 people. Moreover, one cup of uncooked rice will amount to about 3 cups of cooked rice and will be able to serve 3-6 people.
How much water do I use for 2 cups of rice?
When cooking rice, the general guideline is to use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. So that means that for 2 cups of rice, you would require further 4 cups of water. However, this is just a basic measurement: depending on the type of rice you are cooking, the ratio of water to rice may be different.
Does brown rice double when cooked?
If you want to know how much uncooked brown rice equals to cooked rice, you can simply memorise that brown rice rises by two times awhile white rice swells up by three times. Brown rice almost doubles in volume and weight after cooking. 1 cup of brown rice yields for 2 cups after cooking while 1 kg brown rice yields for 2 kg of cooked brown rice.