Perfect steamed rice

For some strange reason, whenever I cook rice in the pressure cooker, it *always* winds up on the slightly soggy side. No matter how I much vary the water content or the cooking time or anything else. I think it is a jinx.

Anyhoo, while slightly soggy rice is okay with sambhar or rasam or kuzhambu, it is distinctly unusable if one wants to make fried rice or some variety rice.

Thus, I took to making rice on the stove after I found this recipe:

http://www.shiokfood.com/notes/archives/000022.html

The blog author was not kidding. This recipe does produce the perfect steamed rice - the grains separate yet fluffy and perfectly cooked. Follow the directions exactly (though they seem complicated, once you get the hang of it, it is just as easy as making rice in the pressure cooker) and you will know what I am talking about. Perfect steamed rice, every single time.

I have found that it is not required to have an airtight lid for the rice-cooking vessel - you can even use a plate as a lid and put something on top as a weight.Also, while the recipe calls for long-grain rice, it works fine for medium-grain rice (like sona masoori) as well.

I always make rice this way whenever the texture of the cooked rice plays a big role in the success of the end-dish.

The link above is dead, so here are the instructions:

1. Wash rice at least 3 times. 
2. Soak rice for at least 30 minutes and up to a couple hours.
3. Drain rice and add to a pan.
4. Add water (1.5 cups for every cup for basmati, 2 cups for every cup for medium grain rice like sona masoori).
5. Bring to a rolling boil, close with a tight-fitting light and lower heat to as low as it will go. From this point on, do not remove the lid until the instructions state so.
6. Cook for 15 minutes on low heat and then turn off heat.
7. Let rest, covered, for at least 10 minutes.
8. Open the lid, fluff up rice and serve.

Masoor dal pulao

This recipe makes such a yummy pulao - quite different in taste from the usual pulaos and makes a great meal with some raitha on the side:

http://srefoodblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/dal-chawal-pulao.html

Follow the recipe exactly as is and you cannot go wrong. I have managed to get the same taste consistently every time I make it (which is quite unusual for me - I am capable of producing different tasting sambhar each time though the same ingredients go into it).

Fried rice

This recipe was a super find:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/shrimp_fried_rice/

My days of making soggy fried rice are finally past. Yaay :-D! The most important thing is to make sure the rice is cold (and was not soggy when you made it first). If you do not have day-old rice, cook rice afresh, spread it in a thin layer on a plate(s) and keep it under the fan for half an hour or so till it is cold to the touch.

Important, the spring onions are what give the fried rice its fried-ricey taste. Do not skip it.

You can skip the shrimp and egg entirely. You can use chicken instead of shrimp - I like to saute the bite-size pieces of chicken till it gets cooked completely before adding it to the rice.