Coconut Rice (fluffy, not gluey!) (2023)

FAQs

How do you make rice not sticky and fluffy? ›

After this time turn the heat off and let the pan rest with the lid on for at least five. Minutes.

Rinse the rice – this is a must to remove excess starch. I don't do this when cooking normal white rice. It's essential for coconut rice because coconut milk is thicker than water so it can make the rice a gluey mess. Just rinse the rice until the water is pretty clear.

As soon as the water reaches a lively simmer, give everything a good stir, cover the pot, and lower the heat as much as possible. After 15 minutes, turn off the burner, remove the pot from the heat, and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.

rice is sort of our thing! And all you need to do is substitute a bit of unsweetened coconut milk for some of the water you'd normally use when cooking rice (check the recipe for exact measurements). Add a bit of shredded coconut before cooking as well.

If your rice has absorbed too much liquid, the grains may have split and the starches may have given the rice a soft, gluey consistency. One way to fix that? Add even more liquid. Pour in some milk, a dash of vanilla, and spoonful of sugar, and suddenly your mushy rice is a rich rice pudding.

Mushy, sticky, and clumpy rice usually means that there was loose starch coating the grains before cooking or your rice was cooked in too much water.

Coconut cream is a thicker coconut product, made from blended more coconut meat and less water than coconut milk. Coconut cream can be used as a substitute for coconut milk if it is diluted with additional water.

Medium-grain japonica rice is often the typical “table rice” in China, Korea, and Japan, whereas medium-grain Italian rice, like Arborio, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano, is used to make risotto: Cooked slowly, they release their starches to create a creamy, luscious dish that doesn't leave a sticky coating on the mouth.

Is Thai rice sticky? ›

Sticky rice is a dish made with long grain Thai rice, which is cooked until glutenous and sticky and is often infused with aromatics. It works well with Thai red curries, green curries, stir-fry recipes and even as part of a sweet dish with coconut milk like our sticky rice & mango.

Let's understand the ingredients. What's good. Coconut : The fresh coconut has saturated fats but most of it is MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) which promote weight loss. The high fibre content 13.6 gm (45.3% of RDA) along with high lauric acid content of coconut improves cholesterol levels in the body.

What meats go well with this tasty dish? The best kinds of meat to go with coconut rice are chicken, beef, or fish. Chicken will give you a lighter flavor, but beef and fish both have strong enough flavors that they can stand up to the coconut rice.

Mushy Texture

Mushy rice is also a sign of overcooked rice. Opposite to the dry texture of burned rice, mushy rice happens when this type of cereal literally turns into mush because of its high content of water. Rice has two types of carbohydrates as its main components.

Stirring activates starch and will make your rice gloppy.

If the heat is too high, the water evaporates before the rice has a chance to fully cook. If you don't add enough water, the rice ends up dry and crunchy.

What Causes Mushy Rice? Mushy or soggy rice is simply overcooked rice that has absorbed too much water. Water over-absorption causes the rice grains to split open, ruining the texture and creating a starchy, gummy result.

Lemon Juice Helps You Avoid Sticky Rice

You're in luck — adding a few drops of lemon juice to your cooking water helps prevent the rice from sticking together.

If the rice is only a little sticky, it can be saved. Turn it out into a colander and rinse it under cool water, separating the grains with your fingers. But if it's extra mushy, the best thing to do is start over, make a new batch, and use the overcooked rice for another purpose. Luckily there's plenty to do with it!

What is the water to rice ratio? ›

Add 2 parts water and 1 part rice to a large pot. For slightly firmer rice, use 1 part liquid to 2/3 parts rice. Bring the water to a boil. Once it's boiling, add a big pinch of salt.

Combine rice and water in a pot: For most long-grain and medium-grain rice, pair 1 cup rice and 1⅓ cups water. For short-grain rice, use 1 cup rice and 1 cup water. For most brown rice, combine 1 cup rice and 1¾ cups water.

Put the rice into the same pan, cover with boiling kettle water and boil for 6 minutes, then cool quickly under cold running water and drain well. Tip into a bowl, squeeze over the lemon juice, add the toasted coconut and a big pinch of sea salt and black pepper and mix well, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Nutrition. Although coconut milk and cream are similar, they are two separate products with different nutrition. Coconut cream contains significantly higher amounts of carbohydrates and sugar compared to coconut milk.

There are four ways to thicken coconut milk. You can either use coconut flour or cornstarch, you can reduce it, or you can add a mashed potato slurry. Using coconut flour is the best method, as it doesn't alter the coconut milk taste and retains the volume.

First, rinse your rice under running water before transferring it to the rice cooker; this washes away excess starch and helps make the rice less sticky. Second, let the rice rest after cooking for at least 10 minutes with the lid on before serving.

To cook rice, the general rule of thumb is to use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. So, for 2 cups of rice, you would need to use 4 cups of water. However, this is just a basic guideline. Depending on the type of rice you are cooking, the ratio of water to rice may be different.

Short and medium grain rices tend to be sticky when cooked. I am partial to the long grain varieties as they make the fluffiest bowl of rice. Also, the cooked grains tend not to stick together. White, jasmine, and basmati rices are the three kinds of rice I prepare most often.

If you're cooking sticky rice, you might wonder if rinsing away the excess starch will reduce its tacky texture. According to Sharma, you shouldn't be concerned about that outcome. "Even with a short grain like sticky rice, washing doesn't affect the much-desired stickiness," he explains.

Is jasmine rice the same as sticky rice? ›

The main difference between sticky rice and Jasmine rice is that Jasmine rice is less sticky than sticky rice and contains less amylopectin content. Moreover, sticky rice takes a little longer to cook than Jasmine rice and often requires overnight soaking.

The rice eaten in Japan is a cultivar of Japonica rice (ジャポニカ米), plump short-grain rice. Also known as Uruchimai (粳米), it has a characteristic sticky, firm texture and slightly sweet. The cooked grains are sticky enough to easily be picked up with chopsticks. This is the rice served at every Japanese meal.

As the most populous country in the world, China also consumes more rice than any other country, with about 154.9 million metric tons consumed in 2021/2022. Following China, India is ranked second with 103.5 million metric tons of rice consumption in the same period.

Sushi rice has a unique texture and flavor that stands out from other rice offerings. The Japanese staple is made from short-grain rice with higher levels of starch and moisture content compared to different rice varieties.

Sticky rice, unlike most long grain white rices, is truly steamed instead of boiled and requires a little extra planning. It's so worth it. However, if you skip certain steps, such as soaking your rice, you'll end up with a sticky situation instead of delicious sticky rice.

Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice) is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked.

Soak the rice in a container that holds at least twice the volume of rice: Cover the rice with 2 to 3 inches of room-temperature water and soak for 6 to 24 hours. If you need to shorten the soaking time, soak the rice in warm (about 100 degree) water for 2 hours.

Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, is in this camp: “An initial rinsing of the dry rice removes surface starch and thus a source of added stickiness.” For most long-grain and medium-grain rice, then, rinsing is a good idea.

Medium-grain japonica rice is often the typical “table rice” in China, Korea, and Japan, whereas medium-grain Italian rice, like Arborio, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano, is used to make risotto: Cooked slowly, they release their starches to create a creamy, luscious dish that doesn't leave a sticky coating on the mouth.

Rinse the rice in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Washing off the extra starches will make your rice not sticky after cooked. Use a large stainless steel strainer to drain off the water completely.

How do you cook rice properly? ›

"[Basmati] rice, that comes from the northern part of India and all the way through to Afghanistan, is a very long-grain rice and long-grain rice absorbs a lot of water," says Tan. "So that's why [South Asian people] always tend to wash the rice first and then, after that, it soaks [in order] for the rice to expand."

This friction between the dry grains of rice creates starch dust that coats the grains. If the grains aren't washed before cooking, this residual starch will gelatinize in the hot cooking water and make the cooked grains of rice stick to each other.

That friction creates the starchy dust that coats the rice, and it's that starch that is responsible for the grains clumping together and sometimes giving the finished pot a gummy texture. Rinsing or washing rice removes that excess starch, resulting in grains that are more separate when cooked.

Long grain rice tends to cook up light, fluffy and separate when cooked rather than clumping together. Medium grain rice tends to cook up moist and tender while short grain rice tends to clump together when cooked and forms what is called glutinous rice.

The type of rice you need is jasmine rice. Named after the sweet-smelling jasmine flower, it's grown in Thailand and its key characteristics are a slightly sweet, fragrant flavour and sticky glutinous texture.

The main difference between sticky rice and Jasmine rice is that Jasmine rice is less sticky than sticky rice and contains less amylopectin content. Moreover, sticky rice takes a little longer to cook than Jasmine rice and often requires overnight soaking.

Lemon Juice Helps You Avoid Sticky Rice

You're in luck — adding a few drops of lemon juice to your cooking water helps prevent the rice from sticking together.

They are both of the long grain variety, which means they cook up fluffy and not very sticky, so their grains remain distinct, although jasmine is plumper, softer, and a bit more moist than basmati, which has a firmer chew and drier character.

Cooking the rice with too much water breaks down the rice's structure, leaving you with rice that has a mushy texture.

What happens if you overcook rice? ›

Mushy or soggy rice is simply overcooked rice that has absorbed too much water. Water over-absorption causes the rice grains to split open, ruining the texture and creating a starchy, gummy result.

To cook rice, the general rule of thumb is to use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. So, for 2 cups of rice, you would need to use 4 cups of water. However, this is just a basic guideline. Depending on the type of rice you are cooking, the ratio of water to rice may be different.

Combine rice and water in a pot: For most long-grain and medium-grain rice, pair 1 cup rice and 1⅓ cups water. For short-grain rice, use 1 cup rice and 1 cup water. For most brown rice, combine 1 cup rice and 1¾ cups water.