You Really Should Know How to Cook Rice.

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I grew up eating a lot of rice because my dad has celiac disease, which means he really can’t eat gluten. Not, like, he doesn’t eat gluten because it helped him lose weight, reduce bloat, and clear up his skin when he stopped eating gluten. Like HE WILL DIE if he eats gluten (but not immediately.) It’s not an allergy; it’s an autoimmune condition, and it’s totally legit. He can tell you great stories (complete with voices and hand motions) of having his small intestine biopsied WHILE HE WAS FULLY AWAKE. Good times.

Anyway, this was supposed to be about rice. Well, one of the things that happened because my dad had to be gluten-free in the days before you could get gluten-free pasta and bread and cupcakes with the swirly white frosting is that we ate rice a LOT. And we never had a rice cooker. And we never used Minute Rice or any other sort of ‘convenient’ rice product.

(Because the thing about rice? It’s already convenient.)

Here is how I make plain rice:

• place 1 cup of raw white rice in a small pot with a tight-fitting lid
• add 1 and 1/2 cups of cool, fresh water and a pinch of salt. Just a pinch. If you have nasty-tasting tap water, use bottled or filtered water to cook the rice.
• over medium-high heat, bring to a boil
• as soon as it boils, STIR thoroughly, reduce heat to low, and cover.
• DO NOT uncover for ANY reason for 15 minutes.
• remove from heat, KEEP COVERED, and let rest for 5 minutes
• when you spoon out the rice, do so gently, fluffing the grains as you sort of scrape the surface of the rice

I hope I didn’t make that seem complicated. It’s really super-easy. You can easily double, triple, or quadruple this. Rice is a great side to such a variety of dishes. I like it equally well with tofu as with beef stew.

(Also, there’s nothing better to give to a person with tummy woes.)