Food and Cooking

I've been going for semi-brown rice lately. A perfect compromise between white and brown rice (duh, I guess?). I use a rice cooker. The key is to let the rice soak for 30 minutes before starting to cook it. Sometimes I let it soak even longer and it hasn't detracted from the results.

For me as Indonesian, it's Nasi Uduk (Flagrant Rice). This one is smell so nice and perfect with spicy food. It's fairly easy, so you cook the rice with simple rice cooker with that middle finger trick. Then you put: coconut milk, salt, lemongrass, and Salam leaf (idk what it called in english), which already been boiled. And then, cook the rice with those ingredients.

The rice that I probably recommend is Basmati rice, because it doesn't stick like Jasmine rice.

Any other Indonesian can correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not a cook.

You don't need a rice cooker. Just use a regular pot. I never wash/rinse the rice unless there is significant visible trash in it. The only variable factor is the kind of rice you are cooking. Take basmati for example. That long grain white basmati is really great. Put rice in pot and cover it with one inch of water. Put lid on and put pot on heat to boil. When it boils turn heat down to low. Lift lid after about ten minutes. If grains look cooked and the pile of rice is puffed up then it is done. Serve and enjoy. If it is brown basmati use same method but put slightly more water in the pot. I never measure the water, just check to see that it looks like one inch in depth and add more or pour off extra as needed. This works just fine. Other options include adding oil and/or vinegar (like rice or suchi vinegar). I never add salt but that is also an option. Adding oil does make it more interesting as does vinegar. Long/medium/short brown rice, brown or white basmati, jasmine are all cooked the same way. The Asian brown, black, red rice would be cooked more carefully to make sure it is fully cooked and not scorched. A cast iron pot or pressure cooker can also be used, method is same as previously described and with rice to water ratio. It doesn't matter what size pot you use, always add one inch of water above the rice, a little more for brown/unpolished. It is usually better to add less water than more and use lower heat and longer cooking times. This produces a delicious just-barely-done rice, particularly good with white long grain (they are really long when cooked) basmati. Cooking rice is easy and can produce near perfect or perfect results with little effort.

If you have an instant pot (they're 100% worth it imo) just follow this: https://greenhealthycooking.com/instant-pot-rice/

Make sure to buy good rice. I decided to get the store brand rice. It's just rice, right? Wow there is a noticeable difference in taste, also I got sick of picking random black things out of it while I was washing it.

Add a small handful of cumin seeds to your batch. It imparts a wonderful aroma and taste to it for such a simple addition.

I love rice! My perfect rice is long grain jasmine cooked slightly al dente. I rinse it several times and then use a rice cooker with slightly less water than the lines indicate. Let it sit a few minutes before fluffing it.

I use this method because I don't have a rice cooker and it works really well.