In fact, not everyone can boil rice properly. This is a basic dish that can be a wonderful decoration for any table, so it is important to learn how to cook it. How to boil rice for a side dish, simple recommendations below will help you figure it out.
Choose rice
Depending on which dish will be prepared, you need to choose a specific version of rice.
- Round perfectly absorbs water, making it very sticky. It is he who is used in the preparation of rolls or sushi.
- The middle one is characterized by a slightly large size and a small grain elongation. It is taken as a basis by housewives who want to make a good pilaf or soup.
- Long differs in that it is more elongated in appearance, reaches a length of one centimeter. The finished product does not stick in principle, it turns friable. It can be used as an addition to a fish dish or meat. It is acceptable to use as an ingredient for salads, as such rice is combined with vegetables with a bang. It is he who raises the question among the housewives on how to properly boil friable rice for a side dish, because its appearance should be perfect.
Cooking Features
To make the dishes look beautiful and have the appropriate taste, it is not enough just to have an idea how to cook porridge, you need to know some tricks:
- To begin, choose the right dishes. Ideally, it should have a deep bottom, thick walls to avoid burning the product. Thus, you can take an ordinary pan, or you can use cast iron. It is important that during cooking all parts of the container heat up the same way. It is best to avoid the use of dishes of their aluminum, as it will not provide the desired effect. When the issue is resolved with a container, you need to find out how to properly boil rice in a pan.
- At the preparation stage, it is important not to forget to clean the product from garbage, as well as from spoiled grains.
- Then the cereal is washed many times, until all the starch leaves the rice. This can be seen when the water in the bowl of rice becomes transparent. It is best to give preference to cold water, as it helps to cleanse the product. Ideally, of course, it is better to soak the rice since the evening, so that during the night he gets rid of most of the starch. Then in the morning it will be enough to rinse it several times.
- To understand how to properly and tasty boil rice, you must apply the following procedure. The product is poured with running water, sprinkled with spices and spices. You can not even fill it with water, but use meat broth for this. So the taste of the dish will be very saturated. Also, before cooking, you need to add a little olive or vegetable oil so that the rice does not stick together.
- Then you can put the dishes on the fire.
- Rice bring to a boil in a large flame. After it boils, you can reduce the fire. It also makes sense to cover the product so that the water is better absorbed.
- The cooking period depends on the type of rice.
Using this instruction, every housewife will know how to boil rice for a side dish. We will talk below with each species separately.
Proportions
The quality of the dish also reflects the amount of water added during cooking.
On round rice, add 2.5 parts of water to 1 part of cereal. The average proportion will be slightly less - 2, 25 to 1. When cooking long grain, you can already use two parts of water and one rice.
Universal side dish
How to boil rice properly for a side dish? A universal supplement is done as follows:
- First, take 200 grams of cereal, which must be washed well.
- Next, we send rice to the pan, pour water, salt, season. Together with the lid, we put the pot on the fire.
- When the rice boils, make the fire less. The approximate time for which the product reaches readiness is 15 minutes.
- When the liquid does not remain in the container, then remove it from the fire. After this, the dish does not need to be pulled out of the pan, it is best to wrap it with a towel so that the heat does not evaporate. When about 20-30 minutes pass, you can pour the contents into a plate, add a little butter and serve.
Cooking in a slow cooker
If the question is raised about how to properly boil rice in a slow cooker, then it can be answered simply. The procedure is almost no different, except for the cooking time and the amount of water. In a slow cooker, the product will cook much faster, especially round or oval rice.
To prepare a dish, you need to take one part of the cereal, add two parts of water to it. Mix everything and put in a slow cooker. Salt, pepper to taste, then set the mode.
As a rule, the device has a button "Rice", which knocks the time. It is better to reduce it to 10 minutes, so as not to accidentally digest the cereal. If the rice is long-grain, then you can leave the product to cook for the set time.
Steamed rice
How to boil steamed rice, almost every housewife has an idea. This type is the easiest to prepare.
To prepare a side dish of steamed cereals, you must first observe the proportion: 1 part rice to 1 and a quarter part water. When the cleaning process is over, it is better to soak the croup for 20 minutes. Everything further is done in the usual way, only the cooking period after boiling the product takes about 20-30 minutes.
There is another option, how to properly boil rice for a side dish, it does not involve soaking the cereals. But you need to take a different amount of water, that is, for 1 cup and a half (250 grams) of rice we take 1 liter of water. It is important to put the groats in water only when it boils. The product also takes about 30 minutes. It is important not to forget to stir and observe the degree of readiness.
Vegetable rice
Vegetable rice is a basic supplement to various dishes. How to boil rice for a side dish? To do this, use:
- 3/4 portion of long grain rice.
- Onion.
- The carrot is medium sized.
- Half a can of green peas.
- Half a tin of canned corn.
- Turmeric to taste.
- Oil for frying.
Preparing this side dish in a pan. First you need to heat the oil itself, then fry the onions and carrots, which were finely chopped. In the process we interfere with turmeric.
When the roasting is ready, it is necessary to place already washed rice in it, which we then fill with boiling water.
The approximate location of the liquid is 1 centimeter above the level of rice. Next, salt, pepper, and then wait for its preparation. Before removing rice from the fire, it is necessary to mix peas and corn. Wait a few minutes, after which you can already serve the finished dish.
Mushroom risotto
How to boil rice properly for a side dish to make risotto? A gourmet dish will not be superfluous on any table, so it is important for every housewife to learn the cooking method.
As ingredients we take 2/3 of round (this is important) rice, 100 grams of parmesan or any other hard cheese, 1/2 chili pepper, a few cloves of garlic, onion, 300 grams of mushrooms, 1 and 1/2 part of mushroom broth, oil for frying and greens.
- First, heat the oil. As usual, onions, garlic and chili are the first to go to the pan. It is important to fry until the onion changes color. It should have the usual transparency, not gold.
- In the mass we add mushrooms, which were previously sliced coarsely. The roasting process takes about 5 minutes.
- We take another pan in which to put rice. It also needs to be fried, but do it a few minutes.
- After the cereal we put it in a pan with mushrooms. Gradually pour a small amount of broth from the mushrooms into the mass. When the liquid is absorbed, add a little more. We do this until rice is ready.
- Grated cheese and chopped herbs spread on top of the finished dish.
Useful Tips
As mentioned above, a separate type of rice cereal has its own "whims". It affects the cooking period, taste and color. There are a number of other features that are inherent in each type of rice.
Round rice
This form contains a large amount of starch, which exceeds the performance in other grains. Rinse round croup most thoroughly.
It is not surprising that many are interested in how to boil round-grain rice, because the procedure is not so simple. To get friable cereal, you need to not only rinse the rice well, but also dry it thoroughly. For example, this can be done with a sieve.
During cooking, it is necessary to initially turn on the gas not at full power, but leave it at an average value. After boiling, generally reduce to a minimum. Be sure to cover the container with a lid.
During cooking, it is better not to interfere with the product, as this will not give a chance to get exactly a loose version. When water is absorbed, it is important at this moment to remove the container from the fire. Rice can reach readiness just on the table.
Long rice
How to boil long grain rice? To do this, you need to perform a number of simple steps:
- We choose a pan with dense walls and a bottom, as well as with a lid that, when closed, fits snugly against the container.
- We rinse the cereals in the usual way, that is, until the cloudy sediment disappears.
- To check the amount of water, you can use one trick. Pour liquid into the pan so that it covers the rice. If after that, lower the finger into the water to the level of the cereal and the phalanx of the finger is completely covered with water, then there is enough water. If not, you need to add.
- It’s not worth salting the product a lot, because, as a rule, it goes into a dish to which sauce will be added. Thus, there is a risk of getting salted food.
- After cooking, the dish must be kept in the pan for a few more minutes.
Brown rice
This option is loved by few, but, despite this, it is more useful than its "brother". It is prepared by analogy with white rice. The important thing is to cook the product and eat it immediately, because it takes a little time for such rice to go bad. It also makes no sense to use cooking oil; it is already present in brown rice.
Wild black rice
It is also one of the possible alternatives to white. This option differs in taste from other types, as it contains a certain sweetness, as well as a nutty aftertaste. As a rule, by itself it is sold infrequently, the most common in combination with brown or white.
Black rice has a rough structure, so before cooking it makes sense to soak it in water for 12 hours. After this procedure, the product will noticeably soften, which is why it will boil faster.
Cooking rice takes about two hours, so given this period, it is important to pour more water than usual. For example, if a liter of water was used in the preparation of white rice, then it is necessary to pour three liters here.