Perfectly Cooked Rice

✨ Before We Begin…

Simple but essential — rice cooked so every grain is light and separate.

‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer

The Cook’s Mind

What This Recipe Helps You Practise

• Rinsing rice to remove excess starch.
• Boiling and reducing to the right timing.
• Resting rice before fluffing.

Make-Ahead

• Can be made earlier and reheated with a splash of water.
• Best freshly cooked for texture.

Freezer-Friendly

• Not ideal for freezing.
• Chilled rice can be used for stir-fries.

Key Substitutions

• Rice: use basmati or long grain for fluffiness.
• Water ratio: adjust depending on variety.

Cooking Parlance

• Simmer: cooking gently without boiling.
• Resting: leaving rice covered to finish cooking in steam.

Ingredient Focus

✨ Basmati rice — humble yet vital.

Ingredient Focus: Basmati Rice

Serving Suggestions

• Serve as a base for curries or stir-fries.
• Pair with dhal or tagine.
• Use in salads as the carbohydrate part of the meal.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Mastering rice builds cooking confidence.
• Simple, staple, always useful.
• Turns an everyday grain into a skill.

A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.

• Oven-Roasted Jersey Royal Potatoes
• Sticky Barbecue Beans with Cornbread Crumble
• Cumin Seed Paratha
• Nepalese Dhal
• Easy Vegan Coconut Curry with Pan-Fried Tofu
• Campfire Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli

Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!

Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less ❣️

Perfectly Cooked Rice Recipe

Perfectly Cooked Rice

Light, separate grains are the mark of well-cooked rice, and this method gets you there every time. Simple steps ensure no clumps, no stickiness – just perfect, fluffy rice. A kitchen basic worth mastering.

Print Recipe

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Global Pantry Cooking

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 200 g rice | white or brown
• 400 g water | use 500g water for 200g brown rice

Instructions

 

White rice method

• Place the rice and water in a pan with the lid on.
• Heat the pan until the water is boiling and then turn the heat down to a very low simmer. Leave the lid on. When the water is fully absorbed, the rice is done. If your rice is very starchy, you could rinse it with boiling water from a kettle after cooking. If you know your rice is starchy, you could wash it beforehand.
• I said it in the film and I’ll say it again, you get what you pay for. Premium basmati rice or the higher priced long grain rice cook more easily; the pricier rices are less sticky.
• I think the key thing is to keep things slightly dry. Overcooked/blown rice, unless made into a pudding, is horrible.

Brown rice method

• Place rice and water in a pan with the lid on.
• Heat the pan until the water is boiling and then turn the heat down to a medium simmer and when the water is fully absorbed, the rice is done. With brown rice, you need a little more water and a little more heat. If your rice is very starchy, you could rinse it with boiling water from a kettle. If you know your rice is starchy, you could wash it beforehand.
• I said it in the film and I’ll say it again, you get what you pay for. Premium basmati or the higher priced long grain rice do cook more easily; the pricier rices are less sticky.
• Generally over the 3 decades I’ve cooked rice, I have found that brown rice needs slightly more water.
• I think the key thing is to keep things slightly dry. Overcooked/blown rice, unless made into a pudding, is horrible.
• Cook time: 8-10 minutes

Notes

Rice: I’d suggest you work out what your raw portion is. For guidance, a standard recommended raw rice portion, per person, is 50-75g.
Portion size depends on what you’re serving it with obviously.

Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.

COPYRIGHT

© The Golden Polar Bear, 2026. Recipe and photography by Julia Savory. If you share it, please link back to thegoldenpolarbear.com.

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