Tiny Rice Cooker

We're a couple who eats small amounts of rice with certain meals (think a scant half cup uncooked for two people, I know seems like nothing) and can't seem to find anything sufficiently small to handle this little amount. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas.

How about a plain covered saucepan and some water. Cooking rice isn't rocket surgery.

I do that now and even after washing the starch off, I can never get it to be as fluffy (and not gluey) as I would like. Maybe it's the rice, but I've been through several brands over the years. It's always been my achilles heel in cooking.

I buy basmati rice from Costco. For myself, I use a half cup of rice, sauté it in a bit of oil for a minute or two, then add a cup of chicken stock. Ready in about 15 minutes and never gummy. The opposite, in fact. I had a girlfriend who had a small rice cooker and it never cut the mustard.

whocanitbenow wrote:I do that now and even after washing the starch off, I can never get it to be as fluffy (and not gluey) as I would like. Maybe it's the rice, but I've been through several brands over the years. It's always been my achilles heel in cooking.

Rinse the rice a time or two in cold water.

boudreaulicious wrote:

whocanitbenow wrote:I do that now and even after washing the starch off, I can never get it to be as fluffy (and not gluey) as I would like. Maybe it's the rice, but I've been through several brands over the years. It's always been my achilles heel in cooking.

Rinse the rice a time or two in cold water.

And use a medium or long grain rice.

Here's what I do:

1. Bring water to a boil
2. Add rice and bring back to boil
3. Turn heat to low and cover pot.
4. Cook 25ish minutes
5. Remove from heat and place folded dish towel on top of pot and replace cover over the towel.
6. Let rest for 10 mins. The towel will capture the escaping moisture and keep the rice front getting mushy.
7. Remove towel, fluff with a fork and eat.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep experimenting.

If you like it fluffy and not too wet, basmati is the way to go. I've never had that turn out gluey on me, but I use it sparingly, as I tend to like my rice on the stickier side (no rinsing or any of that for most of the things I do.)

My method is pretty straightforward: Rice straight into the cooking vessel, with about 1.5-1.75 cups of water per cup (it will vary by rice; I find basmati and jasmine rice usually needs a bit less--towards the 1.5 cup end of the range--than whatever cheap long grain is on sale. I might go close to 2:1 on that). Bring to boil. Cover and immediately reduce heat to lowest setting (or just above the lowest setting if I'm using a small backburner for whatever reason). Timer at 20 minutes. When done, turn off, leave on stove for 5-10 minutes, fluff with fork. Never had a problem doing it this way. The long grain turns out with a little bit of residual moisture (like I like it), and the basmati still ends up on the drier, distinct individual grain type. Do the towel thing as mentioned above if you're worried.

Hi,

When I cook rice, I intentionally cook more than I need for dinner.

I use the leftover rice for:
- Fried rice, which I might serve with Chinese water egg aka steamed egg custard
- Filipino breakfast of reheating rice with fried garlic, which is eaten with a fried egg
- Use the rice for stuffed cabbage filling
- Make congee (rice soup)

I have a fuzzy logic rice cooker and a rice pot. If I am making Basmati, I use the fuzzy logic timer function to delay cooking just enough to allow it to presoak a bit. Once I started this practice, I like Basmati rice better.

I once was at a 4-H fair booth, where they had a contest. My question was to name three rices. "Oh boy, Basmati, jasmine and aborio." The people said I got the Merit badge, because the answers they expected were White, brown and converted rice. Yes, I am a bit enthusiastic.

Regards,
Cathy2