Recently I've been making rice, but my rice is always a bit moister than I'd like. Normally it is visibly wet and somewhat sticky.
My normal recipe is:
- Add a lot of water to a pan.
- Bring water to boil.
-
- Add rice.
- Move lid to be partially on.
- Keeping the water boiling. (Fairly large bubbles, ~2")
- Ten minutes later drain water.
However in an attempt to get 'perfect' rice I tried another recipe I found online:
- Add water to be ~1cm above rice.
- Bring water to boil.
-
- Add rice.
- Keep lid fully on.
- Keep water boiling. (Small bubbles, ~1cm)
I messed up here as it should have been simmered, but I messed up the temperature.
- Ten minutes later drain water. (There wasn't really any)
This new recipe caused the rice to be very wet, to the point that the next day the rice was, pretty much, useless at making egg-fried rice.
My rice is long grain rice, which has been double water polished.
How can I change my recipe to make dry rice?
What causes the rice to become wet, and how can I ensure this doesn't happen?
Best Answer
I'm going to copy/paste my answer from https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/93753/42066 because I still disagree with the usual methods posted...
TL:DR - use less water, allow 'drying time' afterwards.
I'm going to go contra to pretty much all the advice so far, but this is how I've been cooking rice for 25 years...
Clear-lidded pans make this far less guesswork.
Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, 3 times the volume of your finished rice.
Don't rinse the rice, you don't need to.
Use your coolest, most even burner - this is not necessarily the smallest. Sometimes the tiny ones generate bad hot-spots that a medium one wouldn't.
Boil the kettle.
Pre-heat the pan on high.
Add rice to your pre-heated pan. Salt as required.
Immediately add 1.75 x the volume of water, not double.
late addition - this is a 'learned' variable, dependant on the solidity of your pan & how low you can get the burner. It could be as low as 1.6x if you have a very heavy pan & a good low heat.
That should immediately hit a rapid boil because of the pre-heating.
Stir once, just enough to ensure the grains are separated.
Drop the heat to minimum [on gas this is near instantaneous, you might need to wait a second on electric]
Put the lid on.
The contents should foam almost to the top but not go over - lift & replace the lid if it looks like it will go over, otherwise leave alone.
Simmer at this minimum temperature for 12-15 mins [depends how low you can get the heat]
Don't lift the lid to "see if it's done". Learn when it's done by repetition.
'When it's done' btw, is when all the water is gone; you might be able to hear a slight crackle as the last bit dries.
After the required time, switch off the heat, leave the lid on.
Allow to rest for another 15-20 minutes.
Fluff briefly with your spatula; no great effort should be required at this stage.
Serve.
The rice will be separate & fluffy, none will be stuck to the bottom.
This works for pretty much any rice type - long grain, basmati, or short-grain, glutinous [short grain, of course, will not separate in the same way].
*Almost copy/paste from my own answer at https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/93672/42066
I must add, this is for 'white' rice types - standard long grain, patna, basmati, jasmine, & even mixes or pre-frys like Turkish orzo/rice etc. It even includes bulgar. [It excludes quick-cook or par-boiled, as I never use those]
I also never cook brown rice so have no ratios in my head & I'd have to look it up or read the pack. Risotto, of course, you just keep adding more until it's done ;)
Late edit
I only just noticed the purpose is for fried rice - in which case the last step is to allow it to cool completely then put the pan in the fridge overnight. If you have the method correct so far, then tomorrow it will separate even more & be just right to stir-fry.