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How To Cook Damn Good Rice, Risotto, And Pilaf

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Rice has been a vital part of diets throughout the world (particularly in Asia) for thousands of years. Today, it’s the second most grown grain after corn. Considering most corn grown today is used to feed cattle (expand later), rice is actually the most widely consumed grain worldwide. That being said, it’s amazing how many people (especially in the West) can’t cook rice without a rice cooker. But should civilization fall, there’ll be no electricity to power rice cookers. So I’ll share a few recipes I use to make some damn good rice.

Normal Rice

First up is your no-nonsense cup of plain rice. It’s the easiest to make and my go-to for when I just need some rice to go with meat or chicken. The simplest way to make it is to simply measure the rice, put it in a saucepan and cover with twice as much water. So if you’re making one cup of rice, use two cups of water.

For extra flavor, you could fry a bit of garlic or onions on the saucepan before adding the rice. Bring the water to a boil, add salt to taste, and wait for the water level to drop a little. Once it’s almost down to the level of the rice, lower the heat of the stove to minimum, cover the saucepan and let it cook for twenty minutes. Then remove from the fire, remove the lid and stir the rice a little. You should be left with some nice and fluffy rice with no excess moisture.

Risotto

Now we’re getting to some fancier stuff. Risotto is Italy’s signature rice dish, known for it’s creamy texture and rich flavor. Making it is more time consuming than normal rice, but it’s still relatively simple. Serve it on special occasions or when you want to impress. First, you’ll need to cut some onions into chunks, make them a bit bigger than your thumbnail. Then melt a bit of butter on a deep pan and throw the onions in (about 1/2 an onion per cup of rice should work nicely).

Pan should be similar to this one

Cook the onions on medium heat until they’re translucent and then add risotto rice. This is the most important detail. The rice you use must be risotto rice, otherwise the texture won’t be the same. Even supermarkets sell risotto rice nowadays, so it shouldn’t be hard to find.

Stir the rice together with the onions, splash in a bit of wine if you have some handy, and then start adding liquid until it just about covers the rice (broth works best, but in a pinch water can work). For the next 20-30 minutes you’re gonna have to keep stirring the rice and adding liquid as it starts to dry up. It should be ready once the grains of rice feel a bit soft (but not too much).

Remove the pan from the fire and cover it with a clean piece of cloth for 5-10 minutes. Add some cheese (preferably parmesan) or extra taste and enjoy.

Pilaf

For my final recipe, we’re going with pilaf. It’s a staple dish in India and parts of the Middle East. In terms of preparation, it’s easier to make than risotto, but harder than standard rice. So if you’re feeling up for it, it’s a nice way to improve your meal.

In order to make it, you’ll have to cut some onions into chunks about twice as big as your thumbnail. Heat up some oil or butter in a pan and add the onions (as with risotto, 1/2 an onion per cup of rice works best). The oil you choose will, in this case, affect the flavor so choose one you like. Personally, I like to use either butter or sesame oil.

Cook the onions on medium heat until they’re halfway transparent, then add the uncooked rice. Add a bit more oil and toast the uncooked rice together with the onions for a few minutes. Once it’s toasted a bit, add about 1 3/4 cups of water or broth per cup of rice to the pan, bring to a boil, set on low heat and cover. Let it cook for some 15-16 minutes, then remove the pan from the stove and leave it covered for some 5-6 more minutes before serving. The resulting rice goes well mixed with meat or vegetables.

A deeper look into rice is beyond the scope of this article, but I hope this was a good starting point. Any man benefits greatly from being able to cook. Rice, being such a common foodstuff, should be no exception. Even if civilization doesn’t fall, being able to make good rice is valuable in of itself.

Read More: How To Cook Four Delicious Entrées

43 thoughts on “How To Cook Damn Good Rice, Risotto, And Pilaf”

  1. Here’s how I cook rice to perfection:
    1. Buy the best rice. I use jasmine rice. Basmati is also good. I don’t buy cheap rice.
    2. Measure out rice and rinse in water to wash away the dust.
    3. Melt chunk of butter in sauce pan over medium heat.
    4. Once butter is melted, stir in rice and toast for 3-5 minutes. The rice will lose translucency. Toasting is over once rice starts to darken.
    5. Stir in water that is 1.7x the volume of the rice (e.g. if you used a 100ml portion of rice in a measuring cup, measure out 170ml of water in the same cup). Also add salt.
    6. Cover, put on lowest heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
    The result is flavorful, beautiful rice with a slight yellow-tint.

    2. I agree on the Basmati rice. Even the most expensive is still cheap when you look at the portion size to feed someone. The only time you get cheap rice is if you have to feed a prison or something.

    4. In another frying pan, heat some olive oil that covers the bottom of the pan and salt and pepper to lightly cover the bottom of the pan to season the oil, maybe a dash of pepper flakes. cut any kind of loin meat (pork, beef venison, or other red meat, or use raw chicken breast) cut into 1/4 inch thick slices across the grain( about one pound total). Flip the meat slices onto corn starch on both sides, set aside until oil is hot (not smoking hot, but medium heat). in separate bowl cut up cleaned rinsed broccoli florets and fresh mushrooms (if desired). In a bowl mix up about 3 tablespoons of fresh shredded diced ginger, 3 cloves of garlic or about 4 tablespoons of minced garlic, 1/4 cup honey any variety, 1/2 cup hoison sauce, 1 to 2 tsp pepper flakes, and about 4 tablespoons soy sauce. Warm the mixture about 30 seconds in microwave to help liquefy the honey and make it mix up better. Cook your sliced meat in the frying pan searing one side of the meat about 3 to four minutes medium high heat(season the top side of the meat with a dash of salt and pepper, flip and brown other side. add another light dribble of olive oil across the top, add your broccoli (lightly drained, some water is ok to steam the vegetables with the meat). cover for about 3 minutes to start a good steam up on medium heat, then drizzle your hoison sauce mix over the top of the whole broccoli and meat, stir well coat all meat and veggies, use a rubber spatula to clean out the bowl. Don’t waste any of the sauce. Cover the pan again let set on low heat for about 3 to 4 more minutes to make sure all the meat is cooked clean through, and broccoli steamed to al dente. Serve the rice as a bed on the plate or to the side, and serve the meat and broccoli over or to the side of the rice.
      hint, when cooking the rice as listed above…add 2 teaspoons of turmeric for color and taste and some olive oil to the water. the rice will have a nice tender stickiness to it and a bright yellow color. I use this recipe for Beef and broccoli, but I typically only use venison sirloin or tenderloin that I personally harvested.

  4. I like my rice with chicken, chorizo, lobster, mussels, shrimp, sausage, scallops and peas, tossed with Tony Chachere’s and olive oil.

  5. I like a variety of rices, but my favorite ‘rice’ isn’t even really rice – it’s wild rice, which is from a family of grass grains. Wonderfully textured, with a bit of nutty flavor, it’s very good.
    Cooking is not only a necessary skill, but it’s also fun to learn new recipes and new flavors and dishes. Besides which, it’s precious to see the look on a woman’s face when she claims she can cook and then what you’re serving makes her best look like dog food. Helps keep them from getting too full of themselves.

  6. Italian rice salad is top notch economy meal.
    Cooked rice
    Fresh diced celery and tomato
    Corn kernels
    Olive oil
    Tuna
    Parsely
    Mix all ingredients together and serve hot or cold. You can add other things too like beans, chickpeas or chicken instead of tuna, what ever you want really. Just make sure you use celery, corn, tomato and olive oil.

  7. Nice post Bruno! FWIW, the rice to use in risotto is arborio (AKA “Risotto Rice”). You’re right, a little effort and a little money go a long way in making something edible with into something tasty and scrumptious.

  8. LOL, the last month I have been experimenting with different ways to cook rice to get the perfect texture for fried rice. It is an art in a way. It is definitely something to look up on the internet, which there is plenty of information our there. Getting the best textured rice can mean the difference between having a bowl of fried rice that resembles a sticky mush or a bowl of rice that tastes like it came from an Asian restaurant. Rice is a great thing to learn to cook, it tastes good when seasoned, can go with almost anything, it is cheap, and it packs a lot of good calories.

    1. Who the fuck down votes this? Goddamn trolls, probably jealous women who don’t know how to cook.

    2. I think ultimately the secret is a wok, high heat lotsa stirring and peanut oil. Next best thing is knowing spices various oils and sauces and their nuances.

    3. Me too! I’ve cracked it. Two ways work for me is boil in bag rice for exactly 7 minutes. Or boil rice with triple water to rice ratio for 7 minuets then strain water with a collander! Low Surface moisture is what you need to make fried rice! You want the rice slightly under cooked but hot enough to evaporate the surface moisture.

  10. Christ help us… now the ROK Mansosphere is an Oprah fucking cooking show. 🙁

    1. Men who can cook is an attractive quality both for self improvement and the opinions of the opposite sex. It’s not like we are promoting soy latte’s and girl scout cookies here.

      1. Not only that, but if you don’t have the luxury of a virtuous hot, young girl in your house for cooking/cleaning/laundry/shopping, then it is a good idea to be able to do some of those things yourself. Sex can be outsourced to the professionals.
        So can the cooking/cleaning/etc.. I suppose, but the thought of Lupe roaming around in my apartment, possible letting in her homies from MS-13, is not very appealing to me.

      2. I can cook, but I don’t. If your woman finds out, it’s your job forever.
        To Hell with that. I would rather eat sandwiches

    2. Oh, so one minute people bitch about the site not being enough about male improvement and too much about “muh white genocide”, and the now we have people bitching about self improvement in the form of being able to cook a good a healthy meal? You do realize that men have to eat well, save money in the process, and should probably enjoy something that tastes decent in order to make it in life? Also, with the way women are today, which is what this entire site is about, doesn’t mean a man (even an alpha) will always have a woman around to cook for him. Plus, most women today don’t know shit about cooking in the first place.

    3. “Men who can cook is an attractive quality both for self improvement and the opinions of the opposite sex.”
      men who can cook are not slaves to shit food and dependent on others to cook for them. If a man want to earn respect across all fronts, be a GOOD cook.
      making your own good food means your stomach will always be happy and well fed, so it helps your mind to be at ease by not being burden by an unhappy stomach.

    4. Wait until the topic becomes how to make the best pasta/spaghetti/lo mein noodles and we go over our favorite pasta dishes…all that aside, you can never go wrong with an authentic Mediterranean antipasto, crusty bread, regional cheese and meats………oh yeah..pasta dishes…..and linguine….and

  14. Anyone who doesn’t own a rice cooker in this day and edge should re-examine his priorities. It’s the most useful tool in most kitchens. Also you add 1.5 Cups Water to 1 Cup White Rice. The recipe in this article will make something like porridge.

    1. TimS.
      Agree. Way too much water for white rice. I use 1.25 cups per cup of white rice. I don’t add salt because it will add to the mushiness.

  15. About an year and half ago I stopped eating rice, noodles, pasta, bread, grains or beans and and rarely eat vegetables.
    Replaced all that crap with meat. Mostly red meat. Never felt better. Just had 2 lb. of meat for dinner.

    1. @Matt.
      But, but, butt……it’s white and white foods are baaaaaad. I have to point out to many food lunatics that rice and bread are staples all over the world to fill people who have little money for fancy meats and food. People just don’t get portion size and culture.
      Had a guy once in the ER tell me he didn’t eat rice because of “Nam”. I figured out he was about eight years old when VN ended.

      1. CinderElla- Yes, when I encounter claims that grains, and even agriculture, is bad, I usually roll my eyes.
        I like rice well enough, it’s just not a favorite. I like Spanish rice a lot. And toyed with making a gay crack of some kind because of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat.
        It does occur to me now, how Asians are smaller than westerners, because of their low protein diets. On the other hand, they’re suppose to be smarter because of genetics. But maybe it’s really their diet. America sure could use a lot more brain power.

  17. I sometimes add some dried chili peppers when cooking rice. Imparts some nice flavors.
    Guajillo (mild), arbol (hotter), and whatever is calling itself “ghost” nowadays but only enough for flavor rather than heat.

  19. TimS.
    Agree. Way too much water for white rice. I use 1.25 cups per cup of white rice. I don’t add salt because it will add to the mushiness.

  20. “But should civilization fall, there’ll be no electricity to power rice cookers. ”
    Not to worry–there won’t be any rice either.

  21. Hmm, many ways to actually prepare rice, but here is a method I got from the horses mouth.
    – Put your preferred amount of rice in a good-sized saucepan, wash the rice and rinse at least 2, preferably 3 times.
    – Fill saucepan with water till water reaches your index fingers first joint, (if finger touching rice in water), this is the perfect ratio.
    -Put on high heat with lid on till it reaches boiling point, allow 30 secs of this then reduce to lowest heat.
    – Set timer 10 minutes exactly.
    – Turn off heat, leave lid on when timer is reached.
    – In approx 8-10 minutes rice is ready.
    – Fluff up with a fork.
    – Perfect rice, every time, no rice cooker required.

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