Puerto Rican White Rice

Submitted by Chef #394852

"I can never get steamed white rice to come out right. A friend from Puerto Rico showed me this method. Lift the lid and sample as often as you like without fear of ruining the rice! Perfect and delicious every time. Total cook time will vary depending on altitude."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 2 cups calrose rice
• 3 cups water
• 1⁄4 cup oil (olive or canola)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt

directions

1. Stir rice and water into a medium pot with lid. Bring to a boil.
2. Add salt and oil. Keep mixture at a gentle boil until rice is dry (it will not be tender). Use a mixing spoon to form a heap with the rice in the center of the pot.
3. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Remove lid every 5 minutes to stir and sample rice. Rice will form a crust on the bottom of the pot if not stirred often.
5. When rice is steamed to your liking, stir one last time to fluff; serve.

Reviews

[resipsaloquitur]

In Puerto Rico we boil the water first, with the salt and oil. Then add the rice and reduce the heat to med-hi. When it dries, we mix the rice, reduce the heat to low and cover until the rice is tender (about 20 minutes). This makes for the fluffiest rice.

 

[Michelle E.]

If I could give 10 stars I would! This recipe takes the guess work out of it. A couple of times I let too much of the water evaporate and I added more water and the rice still came out perfect. My favorite part is not having any burnt rice. When I lived in Puerto Rico, the people i met were scraping to get by. They ate sensibly and cut coupons and when talking about budgeting, I would always hear, "El pega'o da pa uno."

 

[takajose]

The crust at the bottom is not a bad thing. In many Puerto Rican families, the crispy stuff stuck to the bottom of the pot is the most sought after part. It's called "pegao". It's a good thing ;) Also, resipsaloquitur is right in the method of preperation, and I would add that the oil must *always* be extra virgin olive oil (*never* heard of doing it with canola oil). Lastly, I always add a pinch of garlic powder. It's not white rice (in my family) without garlic powder and olive oil. Enjoy.