Steamed Rice 101

Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing okay during these strange and unusual times. I thought I’d start by making my first posted recipe about how to cook rice WITHOUT a rice cooker! Mostly because I’m a traditionalist but also because not all of us have one. Rice is an ingredient you can store in your cupboard for a very long time and get a lot of mileage out of. 1 cup of dry rice is enough for about 4 portions! A perfect way to eat and budget sensibly, especially in times like this. All you need is a pot with a lid, rice, water, a stove and a clock to time your cooking. This recipe is for medium or short grain Japanese style rice but I will add notes for other types of rice at the end.

Steamed Japanese-style Rice

1 cup Medium or Short Grain Rice

1 cup Water

Rice:Water Ratio- 1:1

First, measure out your rice and put it into the pot. Next, you’ll to wash it. Fill the pot with water to cover the rice by a few inches. Then, taking handfuls of rice and squeeze them hard, pressing the grains together under the water. Do this a few times, you’ll notice the water get super cloudy. Next pour out the water in a jug, so you can feed your plants with it. The starch is good for them! Do this about 3 times. On the 3rd time, you will notice the water running clearer. After you’ve poured out the water for the last time. Measure out 1 cup of water and pour that into the pot with the rice. Cover and let it soak for about 30 minutes to an hour , whatever you have time for.

After soaking, DON’T pour out the water. Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat to Medium to Medium-High depending on how strong your flame is. The idea is to not let the rice burn at the bottom of the pan as the temperature rises. Bring the water and rice to a gentle boil (with the lid on to speed it up) and then immediately turn the heat down to the lowest setting. Let it simmer at this heat, covered for about 15 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the heat and let it steam with the lid still on about 5 minutes or until you’re ready to eat. I notice after about 30 minutes is when it starts to get cold, so don’t wait too long!

When you are ready, take off the lid and fluff the rice gently before serving.

Notes:

Different kinds of rice require different ratios of rice:water as well as cooking times here are some very brief notes below for different types. If you have questions, feel free to dm me on IG or email me!

Jasmine Rice- 1:1.5 ratio. Doesn’t require soaking due to an already high moisture content! Cook for 15 minutes, turn off the heat, THEN FLUFF and replace the lid to steam for 5.

Brown Rice- 1:1.5 ratio. Soak for an hour with a cooking time of 40 minutes with 10 minutes steaming time.

Basmathi- 1.1.5 ratio. Soak for 15-30 minutes with a cooking time of 10 minutes and 10 minutes steaming time.

New Beginnings

Hi everyone! This is Adrian, creator of My Kitsune Cafe. This website has been a long time coming. At the request of many of my friends and followers (who are now friends), I decided to start a blog to compile and publish the recipes I’ve been posting via Instagram account @mykitsunecafe.

My Kitsune Cafe is a food journal of sorts. Like a travelogue, but for food. Asian dishes & recipes from a queer 3rd- gen Asian-American (that’s me!) living off-grid in a redwood forest in Northern California with his English husband and two rescued street dogs from Sri Lanka (that’s a mouthful!). I call my style Asian-American Country Cooking: honoring the ancestors my way through slow-living, slow-food, sourcing locally & DIY-ing as much as possible. Here I will do my best to share my recipes as well as my family’s as they have evolved over generations across the seas. I’ll pass on the tips I’ve learned from the incredibly talented cooks I’ve met during 10 years of living across Asia, from Japan to Sri Lanka. I’ll share easy and no-fuss methods on how to make your own kimchi from scratch, how to ferment tofu to make vegan cheese, the proper way to make rice without a rice cooker, or how to make your own soy milk and tofu. My style of cooking is a reflection of my life, the place I live and the community that surrounds me. I hope you enjoy sharing it all with me!