"Carol In WI" > wrote in message
news
> How is cooking rice on the stove any different than those rice cookers?
> Carol In WI
>

From my time in southern China, Indonesia, and other such rice areas:

1) Using the stove, "plain" rice can be made in at least 14 different
consistencies I know of, from breakfast rice to wet rice to sticky rice to
dry rice. (All are from rice and water, nothing else except for maybe some
salt. And they all taste different.)

Rice cookers basically make only two or three kinds of cooked rice (if they
have settings, otherwise you get whatever it makes)

2) To wash or not to wash - it's not germs or anything living you will need
to worry about - boiling anything at 212 F for the time it takes to cook
rice will kill anything you can kill, short of geothermal bacteria.

3) Commercial rice is processed to be idiot-proof and all-white so the
consumer can have identical individual kernels ("fluffy rice", made fluffy
to put under "chow mein" slime or cream of mushroom soup et al and get
stirred up to thereby get it sticky again :-) ) - if you follow their
recipe. Nothing wrong with that. Less to worry about, and most guests
would pick out the stray natural rice "bran" because it wasn't white anyway.

4) Old rock-solid recipe - 1 part white rice, 2 parts water and a little
salt in kettle, cover, bring mix to just boil, turn down to simmer 15-20
minutes, time depends on consistency of the kernel you want. (I like to
gently stir it once as a side effect of using a flat spatula just after the
rice settles into the simmer, to get any clinging rice off the bottom of the
pan)
Stir every couple minutes after about five if you want sticky rice, don't
touch it until done if you want "fine rice".
Use more water for stickier and up to wet, use less water for dry and
lonely kernel rice.

When it is done cooking, fluff it gently with a fork and put the cover back
on - (yes, including wet rice - even though it sloshes.)

And I will note that if I had to worry about my vitamins and bran so much I
have to have brown rice only for that reason, I would think about buying a
box of all-bran and adding something nuitritious to the rest of my diet.

:-)