Rice is one of those things that need practice, patience and time. It took me a long time to master the art of rice making. My abuelita used to say that rice is temperamental, and I didn’t want to believe her, it sounds silly doesn’t it? Well, behold! it is true! Here are some rules that according to my grandmother you must follow in order to achieve perfect rice.
#1 Always cook the rice in the same pan.
#2 The water needs to be boiling. Not very hot, not almost boiling. Boling.
#3 Rice doesn’t like to be disturbed.
#4 You can never rush rice
I tried following many recipes and my rice never turned out as good as my grandmother or my mom’s. Here, where I live now.. well, once they know you’re Mexican they expect you to know how to cook perfect rice. So I called my mother after failing so many times and asked her to tell me, step by step how to make rice. Guess what she told me? Yes, Rules #1 to #4. So here’s THE recipe to make perfect rice.
We can do this!
This is what you need.
Long grain rice, of course. Oil, cilantro, medium onion, two cloves of garlic, salt, and the juice of one lime.
Start by adding 1 1/2 cups of water to a sauce pan and turn to heat to high. At the same time, start heating up your skillet on medium high. I’m using a 10″ stainless steel pan. And yes, I always use the same pan.
While you’re waiting for the water to boil finely chop half of the onion and minced the two cloves of garlic.
By the time you’re done chopping and mincing your water should be boiling. Unless you’re taking short cuts and use a hand chopper. Are you? Turn your burner down just enough so that the water doesn’t evaporate completely while you’re working on your rice.
Add the oil to your pan along with 1 cup of rice. Stir constantly for 2 min. Your burner is on medium high, don’t walk away!
After two minutes, add your onion and garlic and turn the heat to low. I mean, low. And stir constantly for 1 minute.
Hear me here, This is an important message. You are going to grab that sauce pan with boiling water, lower it down as much as you can, step back, and slowly pour the water into the pan. It is going to bubble but it will settle down after a few seconds. Add the salt. Stir once. Put the lead on and walk away, leave the rice alone. Don’t. stir. the. rice. again. You want to come back in 20 min. Set your timer.
After 20 minutes, take the lid off and.. boila! or should I say…listo! It looks perfect! look at all that fluffiness, makes me so happy. You can grab a spoon and very gently move the rice away from the edge of the pan, if there’s no water left.. congratulations, Abuelita would approve.
Turn your burner off. Chop your cilantro, juice your lime and add It to the pan, cover and let it sit for 5 min.
After five minutes, get a fork and fluff the rice, just to help incorporate the cilantro and juice. And you’re done!
I love rice, dearly. Recipe below!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup long grain rice
- 1 medium onion, diced.
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced.
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a rolling boil.
- Heat your skillet on medium high.
- Diced the onion and minced the garlic.
- Add the oil to the pan along with 1 cup of rice
- Stir constantly for two minutes
- Add the onion and garlic to the rice and stir for another minute.
- Carefully and slowly add the water to the skillet. Add the salt, stir one time and put the lead on.
- After 20 minutes turn the heat off. Add the cilantro and lime juice and cover again. Let it rest for five minutes.
- Gently, fluff the rice with a fork just to incorporate the cilantro and lime juice to the rice.
