so at Vika
welcome to hot Thai kitchen today I am
going to go back to the basics and talk
about how to cook rice without a rice
cooker so that it comes out perfect
every time
I've gotten lots of messages from people
who are saying I don't know what's going
on I can't get the rice right it's
either too wet or too dry or it's burnt
to the bottom what's the secret
is there a secret so we're going to talk
about all of that I'll show you how I do
it and also go through everything I can
think of that would affect the quality
of your rice so let's get started
if you don't buy good rice there's
nothing you can do in the cooking
process that's going to make it any good
okay so no rice in a box no instant rice
of any kind if you're cooking Thai food
always always use jasmine rice from
Thailand you can call me a little biased
but I think it's the best rice in the
world so how do you know the jasmine
rice is good quality when you open the
bag you should smell like jasmine aroma
right out of the bag it should smell
really good and actually like the
jasmine flower if you open the bag you
smell it and it doesn't smell like
anything that could be just low-quality
rice
you want to choose a pot with a thick
bottom because if the bottom is thin
you're going to get hot spots
it won't distribute the heat evenly and
that's how you're going to burn the
bottom of the rice okay and don't choose
a pot that's too big
choose a pot the rice is going to grow
three times so put in your rice try to
visualize okay if it grows three times
the current size will it still fit
you gotta rinse the rice and the reason
why we rinse rice is I'll show you so
cold water by the way and then just
swish it around with your hands and then
you'll notice that the water gets really
cloudy and that's what we're trying to
get rid of that's basically loose starch
that's hanging out and if you don't get
rid of it it's going to gum up your rice
the grains won't separate very nicely
you get like a sticky gooey stuff at the
bottom it's just it's just bad news and
your rice will feel like it's mushy even
though it's not because there's all
sorts of flour floating around so pour
off the first one as much as you can
without pouring the rice down the drain
and then you do to get for jasmine rice
that you're gonna have just sort of as
plain rice with other dishes I only
rinse it twice but if you're making
fried rice I wash it four or five times
basically until the water runs clear
because with fried rice you really don't
want there to be any stickiness because
that's how you get clumpy fried rice
it'll make it hard for you to sort of
get the sauce to spread evenly okay so
now this time you want to drain out the
water as much as you can because you
don't want it to mess up with your water
ratio so what I do here's a little trick
is I take a sieve and then I just pour
it out then I can really pour out as
much as I can
all right here's the big question how
much water do you add this will actually
depend on your particular rice but most
of the time if you're cooking jasmine
rice one part rice to one and 1/4 part
water does the trick at least close to
it if at the end you find that it is a
little dry you can always add more but
if you start out with too much there's
no going back it's just gonna get wet
right so oh here's another thing old
crop rice versus new crop rice if your
bag says new crop you will need less
water ok because new crop I write about
this in my cookbook but long story short
new crop rice is softer and takes less
water so that's something to think about
as well if you're making fried rice one
part rice one part water because you're
going to rehydrate that rice with all
the sauces so you want your rice to
start out a little drier than it should
be in the beginning if you're in a hurry
you can crank the heat all the way to
high to get it to a simmer quickly but
then you want to turn it down as low as
you can if you're not in a rush just
start off medium heat and let it come to
a simmer slowly because the danger with
cranking it is if you're not paying
attention it will boil over especially
if you've got you know the pot is
relatively full once it comes to a
simmer turn the heat down to as low as
you can go while still maintaining just
gentle gentle bubbles and then leave it
for 15 to 20 minutes and really that is
it
so here's the trick why do you want to
turn it as low as you can
yes it will take a little longer but
once the water is dry the heat is so low
that it'll take a long time before it
starts to burn the bottom if you are in
a hurry and you crank the heat your rise
will still cook fine but now if you
don't get to it in time you're going to
burn the bottom of that rice really
quickly
how is this different from a rice cooker
and it's really not I used to think when
I was little that rice cookers did
something special and different you put
in rice and you add water to the little
line and that rice comes out rice
cookers is just like a pot that happens
to know when to turn itself off so the
way rice cooker works is as soon as the
water dries up the bottom of the pot
gets really hot and it senses that
temperature change and it shuts it off
okay so the but other than that it's
just a pot so you're trying to do the
same thing now the only thing you have
to do is be careful and keep an eye on
when it's done
all right so the first clue that your
rice is done is when you look in and
there's nothing happening no bubbling it
just looks still that's when you want to
check on it mmm that smells good use a
rubber spatula and go along the sides
and then just push and then you'll be
able to see the bottom of the pot and if
the bottom of the pot is dry it's done
mine's not dry yet I can still see that
it's wet then you just Pat it down and
like like nothing happened and then keep
it going until it's done
in my experience 15 to 20 minutes okay
so now let's check the rice sue and it
should be fluffy like this
I know it's dry and now I can taste it
I'm a fan of tasting your food how do
you know things are done you taste it
mmm mmm perfect so now you want to fluff
it so that it's not so compact because
if you serve it straight from a compact
bowl you just get like a really solid
puck of rice on the on the plate so like
this then you get nice fluffy rice
the other option is to cook it like
pasta basically you put a whole bunch of
water and you boil the rice in a lot of
water until it's done and then you drain
it and then you let it dry off a little
bit and then you know off it goes but I
just find the best method is too
complicated because as you can see you
just need to know a few tricks and tips
here and there then it's a one-pot
situation with that one you got it you
got a colander and you got it
do more dishes uh this is just so much
easier and that is it I hope that was
helpful for you if you still have
questions or I missed anything please
feel free to write me on Twitter or
Facebook or you can write me through my
website hot Thai kitchen calm all the
details of what we just went through
I'll write all that out on my website as
well and I will see you next time
for your next delicious Thai meal
After several requests, it's time to go back to the basics and talk about how to cook the perfect rice without a rice cooker. There are some tips and tricks to know, but once you know them, you'll cook perfect rice every time and in a snap! JOIN US ON PATREON FOR BONUS CONTENT: https://www.patreon.com/pailinskitchen MY KITCHEN TOOLS & INGREDIENTS: https://kit.co/hotthaikitchen WRITTEN RECIPES: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com MY COOKBOOK: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/htk-cookbook/ CONNECT WITH ME! https://facebook.com/HotThaiKitchen https://instagram.com/HotThaiKitchen https://twitter.com/HotThaiKitchen https://www.pinterest.com/hotthaikitchen About Pai: Pailin “Pai” Chongchitnant is the author of the Hot Thai Kitchen cookbook, co-host of a Canadian TV series One World Kitchen on Gusto TV, and creator and host of the YouTube channel Pailin's Kitchen. Pai was born and raised in southern Thailand where she spent much of her "playtime" in the kitchen. She traveled to Canada to study Nutritional Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and was later trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco. After working in both Western and Thai professional kitchens, she decided that her passion really lies in educating and empowering others to cook at home via YouTube videos, her cookbook, and cooking classes. She currently lives in Vancouver, and goes to Thailand every year to visit her family. Visit her at http://hot-thai-kitchen.com #ThaiFood #ThaiRecipes #AsianRecipes