How to Cook Rice

Cooking rice is harder than it looks. Here's a sure-fire way to produce rice that's light and fluffy:

Rinse rice in water. For every cup of rice, add 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to boil, uncovered, at medium heat. Once boiling, turn heat down to medium low. Place lid on pot, keeping it tilted to allow steam to escape. When you begin to see holes or "craters" in the rice, put the lid on tight, turn heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes (20 minutes for brown rice). Fluff up with fork and serve!

Easy Spiced Brown Rice

In a saucepan, mix water, rice, olive oil, and salt, and bring to boil. Mix in the corn, cilantro, and cumin. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 to 60 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed.

Fried Rice

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add sliced or shredded carrots, celery, onion, whatever you have around. Cook on medium heat until softened, stirring frequently. Throw in a bit of sugar, soy sauce, salt and pepper and stir. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in separate pan, and scramble eggs with milk. Cook till done. Remove from pan and add to the rice and mix. Enjoy.

Quick Beef & Rice

In saucepan, brown the meat, add soup mix, rice, soup mix, and water and bring to aboil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, till rice is done. If you don’t have any onion soup mix, saute an onion and add 2 tsp. beef bouillion instead.

Rice Pilaf

Cook onions, and celery in butter until tender, and rice and cook until golden. Add salt and thyme, stir in chicken broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes. At this point spoon into greased 2 quart baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Spanish Rice

Heat oil in 10 inch skillet. Cook rice and onion over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Brown Rice with Red Onions (makes 4 servings)

Follow Brown Rice directions to make 4 servings using chicken broth instead of water. After rice is done, add ½ medium red chopped onion. Stir onion into rice and salt and pepper as desired. Keep warm over low heat and stir to let onion soften a bit. If rice is a bit dry drizzle more chicken broth in and stir.

Thanks to Jennifer Loudiana for this recipe!

Baked brown rice (makes 4 servings)

1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, finely chopped 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 1/2 cups chicken, beef or vegetable broth, heated to boiling
1 cup brown rice

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a skillet, melt butter. Add onions and nuts and sauté until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Pour heated broth into an oven-proof casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid. Stir in sesame oil, rice, sautéed onions and nuts. Cover and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork.

Thanks to Noel Applebaum for this recipe!

Lemon Rice Soup (makes 6-8 servings)

3 cups water
1 cup brown rice
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup sliced carrots
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in stockpot, bring to boil reduce heat, cover and cook for 40 minutes.

After 30 minutes, saute:

1 Cup sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large green pepper, sliced
1 cup broken pieces of frozen heat and serve chicken.

When chicken is brown, add the juice of two lemons, cover quickly and steam 10 minutes. Add vegetables and juice to rice and broth and cook for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Thanks to Michelle Diel for this recipe!