How to Cook Jasmine Rice without a Rice Cooker

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!

IMPORTANT TIPS TO KNOW

• Use good quality rice! For Thai food, always use jasmine rice from Thailand (also known as “hom mali” rice). When you open a bag of jasmine rice, it should  should have a wonderful jasmine aroma. No matter what you do, don’t use instant rice or rice from a box!
• Different rices will take different amounts of water. For jasmine rice, I find that the ratio of rice to water can range from 1 : 1¼ to 1 : 1½. This is a ratio by volume, so for example, if you use 1 cup of rice, you will use between 1¼ cups to 1½ cups of water, 2 cups of rice, you will use 2½  – 3 cups of water. If you’re not sure how much to use, start on the low end because you can always add more water at the end if it turns out to be too dry.
• For fried rice, I use 1 part rice to 1 part water because you will rehydrate the rice later with the sauce.
• The rice will expand 3 times its volume, so choose a pot that is big enough, but not too big or you will risk losing a lot of rice to the bottom of the pot should it get stuck, which sometimes happens.
• Use a heavy bottom pot with a tight fitting lid (a clear glass lid is best so you can see it without having to open the pot!). If you don’t have a lid, you can cover it tightly with foil.

INSTRUCTIONS

Put the rice in the pot and cover with plenty of cold or room temp water. Swish the rice around with your hands until the water is very cloudy. Pour off most of the water. Repeat, but this time, pour off as much water as you can. If you have a sturdy sieve, you can place the bottom of the sieve over the pot so you can pour the water out easily. If making fried rice, rinse the rice 4-5 times until the water runs clear.

Add a measured amount of room temp water to the rice (see tips above for how much water). If you have a clear pot lid, put the lid on now and bring to a simmer over medium heat. If your pot lid isn’t clear, leave the lid off for now so you can see when it reaches a simmer. If you’re in a hurry, you can put it on high heat so it will simmer faster, but keep an eye on it cuz it can boil over if you’re not paying attention!

Once it comes to a simmer, turn the heat down to maintain a very gentle simmer. Let the rice cook, undisturbed, for 15-20 minutes. Keeping the heat low will prevent your rice from burning on the bottom in case you let it go for too long.

How do you know when it’s done? Once the rice looks done (it’s still, no bubbling, it’s fluffy), check that the bottom of the pot is dry by inserting a rubber spatula along the side of the pot so you can see if the bottom of the pot is dry. Once it’s dry, taste the rice to see if it’s good. If the bottom of the pot is dry, but the rice is still crunchy, it means you need to add more water. Sprinkle a little water evenly over the rice, cover, and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes.

NOTE: If the rice tastes done, but the grains feel wet, it just needs to sit on the lowest heat for another 5-7 minutes to allow all the moisture lingering in between the rice grains to be fully absorbed. (Note: This is the reason why, when using a rice cooker, you always want to let the rice sit for a bit after the rice cooker has turned off. The bottom of the pot may be dry, but there is still moisture hanging out between rice grains.)

Jasmine Rice