With the exception of Chipotle visits, my rice life is pretty brown.
I switched to brown rice in the early aughts. A rice cooker became the go-to, because paying attention to a pot on the stove for 45 is 40ish minutes too long for me.
For all of that time, I have to confess: I made mush. Like, really. Dull and tasteless. And, I settled. Settled for bland, beige mush for years. I had to smother it in black beans, a curry or a tomato-based sauce to mask the sadness and disappointment.
I was always a little jealous of those grains huddled together, yet, so free, on plates and in bowls prepared for me. I just couldn’t do it at home. I tried long, short, jasmine and basmati. I went with what everyone told me, 2:1. That’s how it’s done.
Until, one day, I really wanted to recreate the veg/grain salad that I picked up from a shop around the corner from the office. I wanted make my own big bowl of leafy greens, colorful veg and rice with tahini dressing that didn’t cost eight bucks for a half cup of joy. I wanted it bad. I’d figured out how to make the dressing. Bought all the veg. But, I just stared at the big jar of rice. The one thing that was going to fuck it all up.
I don’t know what made me google. It didn’t, really, cross my mind that what I was told could be wrong. I think I was just, finally, trying to figure out what I wasn’t doing right.
So on my google adventure, I got a hit that made all the sense. Martha said I was using too much water. Simple as that.
No, really. It was that simple.
Since then, I’ve tried both 1.25 and 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. I, usually, do 1.25. And it’s sooo much better.
Have I made the salad? Um, so…
Bottom line: Don’t settle. Figure out what works for you on the stove or rice cooker. I’ve you’re pushing buttons on the microwave or dumping out that frozen bag, you should have already been fine.
N♥