How to make the perfect rice

1. Remove Excess Starch: Put rice in a deep bowl, run cold tap water over it. Once the bowl is full of water, use your fingers to swish the rice around. The water will start getting murky. Now gently pour this water out. Repeat this process till the water is mostly clear. This will take at least 4-5 washes.

2. Let it stand in water: Now fill it up one last time. Don't wash the rice again. Just leave it in there, covered with water, for about 30 minutes or so. It results in a much fuller, softer grain. After the soaking, you will notice that the rice grains have turned a nice milky white.

3. Cooking the rice: Drain the water out. Put the rice in a heavy-gauge pan that has a flat bottom. If your pan is made out of some thin flimsy metal, your rice will get nicely burnt at the bottom while the grains at the top may not cook properly. You also need one with a tight lid, or else the precious steam will leak and your rice won't cook right. Now put in the water. Normally, a long-grain rice recipe calls for twice the amount of water as rice. Because our rice has already been sitting in some water for a while, and has absorbed a bit of it, we need just 1.5 cups per cup of rice. Moreoever, there is still some leftover water after you drained it, because no one can drain it absolutely dry.

4. Salt: Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the rice if you like.

5. Boil then simmer: Put the pan on medium high heat. Wait till the water boils and starts bubbling. Now turn the heat down as low as you can, cover with the tight lid, and let it just sit there for about 15-20 minutes. Resist the urge to lift the lid and peek at the rice. Not even a peek.

6. Turn off heat: After the 15-20 minutes is up, turn off the heat. No, you still can't lift the lid. Now you have to let it "stand" for another 10 minutes or so. This will help the rice to "settle" so you don't have dry grains on top and wet grains at the bottom.

7. Eat: After 10 minutes, lift the lid, take a fork and fluff the rice. You will have nice separate grains without having used any oil, butter, or other fat in the cooking process.

This method of cooking rice is known as the "absorption method".

(Via Shiokfood. Picture courtesy ehow.com)