Take-out fried rice or sticky rice (jasmine?)

dude. I'll teach you how to make rice. but. in the meantime, go to your nearest bulletproof chinese joint and get an order of white rice. you'll be fine.

xo

I can't make rice either. Uncle Ben's has some new 90 second microwave in bag things which come in tasty flavors. I still put ketchup on the white ones, because I'm freaky like that

bad for you fried rice = bullet proof chinese joint

I'm going to have a paella party for you guys. we'll do rice. we can do this! (hopefully after I'm unemployed. can't wait)

Don't know about fried rice but El Viejo Yayo has decent white and yellow rice you can get for takeout. Carneviento too.

also, regular rice (i like carolina for plain, so let's start there):

gas stove:
1 cup rice, 1 3/4 cups water
bring to a boil then put on lowest setting and cover *lightly*. wait ten minutes. repeat. rice will be ready in approx 20 from when it started boiling the first. watch it closely or it will burn.

electric stove:
1 cup rice, 1 1/2 cups water
bring to a boil then lower to lowest possible setting. cover. wait 20 minutes. you're done. (again, check it a couple of times to make sure it's not boiled over or burned.)


each stove is different, but this is the basic recipe. i've find i have more heat on the lowest setting on a gas stove than electric, so i use more water and let the cover be slightly askew

I'm descended from cajuns who founded the first rice plantations in Louisiana... that being said, I only recently learned how to made decent rice.

Double water to the amount of rice (normal amount - 1 cup rice 2 cups water), a tablespoon of butter and some salt... then bring to a boil (while covered), lower heat to low, and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring about 3 times.
The butter helps keep it from sticking, and the stirring is essential to keep it from burning. I like a bit of a crust on the bottom of the pan, but its not for everyone.

I have this great rice from LA that smells like popcorn when it cooks... so yummy!

If all else fails, Nana has delicious rice - especially the coconut kind.

i was always told never to stir. and no butter--i learned from my grandmother who kept kosher--this would have made it a dairy only meal

Alton Brown has a great recipe for making brown rice - he bakes it. I love the stuff, but I know a lot of people don't like brown rice. If you do, though... it's so easy to make this. I burn brown rice whenever I cook it, but never with this recipe.

The secret to non-sticky rice? Rinse the rice before you begin cooking it. I know it sounds crazy, but my very southern mother swore by this and she made perfect rice.

Just pour your rice in a strainer, run cold water over it, then dump it into the pot an cook as directed above. Reduces the need to stir which aerates the rice making it cook less evenly.

I'm Irish-Scottish, but this is what I learned from my Chinese friends:

Get a rice cooker!!

Yummy rice now.

...of course its distinctly likely that I'm missing the subtleties...but...

If you eat rice with any frequency, it's crazy not to have a rice cooker. A cheap basic model without fancy electronics will cook perfect rice every time as easily as auto drip coffee. It will run you less than $25 and will basically last forever (I've been using the same 3-cup Panasonic model since 1992).

What effect does rice have on your body? I'm more of a potato girl, maybe because of my Irish forebears, but I keep hearing potatos = bad carbs, and i thought brown rice = good carbs. But I'm pretty weak on nutritional knowledge.

Bagels = good carbs, right?

a rice cooker? yeah, we had one. used it once or twice before condemning it to the storage locker. takes up too much space for something so easy to make on the stove.

we eat rice almost every day, fwiw.

there are lots of good ways to make it. it's not hard.

mamacita -- i have a feeling from your description that you're leaving the heat too high.

alafair -- i have a paella pan and a history of paella parties. i make good flan, too -- let's do this thing.