Just the Tips with Chef Matt Abergel (Cooking Rice Edition)
Behind the Scenes, Daily Digest, In the Kitchen, Sunday's Grocery, Yardbird • Apr 16, 2019
Behind the Scenes, Daily Digest, In the Kitchen, Sunday's Grocery, Yardbird • Apr 16, 2019
Cooking rice should be easy – humans have been eating rice for thousands of years and it’s a staple in many restaurants and home kitchens. The thing is, cooking rice properly is not as simple as it may seem and takes a good amount of care, patience, and skill! In this edition of ‘Just The Tips’ Matt reveals his tips and tricks for cooking rice at home! Read below to check them out:
1. Buy high quality Japanese rice (at the restaurants, we use freshly milled koshihikari rice from Niigata) and measure out 200 grams per person (approximately). For 1 kg of rice we use 900 ml of water.
2. Wash the rice gently and in a circular motion with running cold water until the water is completely clear
3. Let the rice soak for 10 minutes in clean filtered water
4. Strain the rice and let it dry for 15 minutes until it becomes opaque
5. Use a rice cooker and pour 900 ml of water into it – cook on the “sushi rice” setting
2. Wash the rice gently and in a circular motion with running cold water until the water is completely clear
3. Let the rice soak for 10 minutes in clean filtered water
4. Strain the rice and let it dry for 15 minutes until it becomes opaque
5. Use a rice cooker and pour 900 ml of water into it – cook on the “sushi rice” setting
What’s behind the idea of drying off the rice before cooking?
Hi Josef,
Letting the rice dry after you wash allows for the rice to evenly absorb the water. It will approximately double in weight.
Hi Tara, thanks a lot for sharing Matt´s tips for cooking rice. We live in Spain but had the opportunity and good luck to eat at Yardbird twice back in 2014. Could you please help me understand… what’s the quantity of rice for the 900 ml of water. One person’s 200 gr? Thanks a lot
Hi Ana,
For 1 kg of rice, Matt uses 900 ml of water – so if you’re cooking 200 grams of rice, you should use 180 ml of water 🙂
How is the sushi rice setting different from other settings? Any suggestion about what to do if I use a steamer instead of a rice cooker? Thanks and congratulation on the James Beard award!
Hi Joe, the sushi rice setting is usually a pressurized cooking process, so more water evaporates. If you use a steamer instead of a rice cooker, you can use the same amount of water but it may require a longer cooking time.
Thanks!