How To Cook Rice Sous Vide

A fuss-free, foolproof way to cook light, fluffy, delicious rice sous vide, using water, coconut water, coconut milk or stock.

The Rice Conundrum

I often hear people complain about how difficult it is to cook rice. Too mushy. Undercooked. Soupy. Clumpy. Slimy. A slew of adjectives that should never be used to describe food.

Once I started living on my own and cooking, I tried cooking rice, in what is said to be the standard way, 2:1 water to rice. That's never worked for me. Then one year when my grandma visited, I was in the kitchen and watched as she effortlessly cooked a perfect pot of rice. This brought back some good rice memories.

Grandma's Perfect Pot of Rice

My grandmother has cooked countless perfect pots of rice in this manner:

• soak and wash rice
• add to a pot with equal amount of liquid - one, or a combination of coconut milk, coconut water, chicken broth/stock, or water (usually with bouillon cube)
• bring both to a boil
• turn heat down, cover and simmer
• test for doneness, adding more water, as needed
• cool, fluff, serve

Grandma has her own life, so I can't depend on her to cook me rice on a whim. Plus, there is the issue of her being a couple plane flights away. Luckily, I snagged myself a man who cooks a real decent pot of rice. 🙂

Grandma's Rice, The Remix

I have been cooking sous vide for a little over seven years and have had a whole lot of hits and some misses. By applying that 1:1 ratio my grandma has used successfully all her life, sous vide rice is a definite hit! Here's why:

• because the contents are vacuumed sealed, there is no liquid lost through steam, as one would when cooking stove-top. So, there is never a need to top up the liquids.
• flavour and nutrition are maintained, as they are sealed in the bag.
• it's hands-off cooking for 25 minutes and perfect every batch.
• for a more flavourful rice, skip the plain water and sub in broth, coconut water, coconut milk, or a combination. Note that cooking your rice in coconut milk alone will produce less free-flowing grains (see batch above in coconut shell).
• with an adjustment to cook time (and some cases, temperature), the same technique can be applied for other types of rice and grains. More to come...

Sealing In The Flavour, Mess-Free

This method produces perfectly cooked rice without fail. I have been cooking rice this way for a few years, so this is tried and true. My only regret, not sharing it with you sooner.

Before I received my Chamber Vacuum Sealer, I used resealable freezer bags to cook my rice sous vide, because my regular sealer would suck out the water, while sealing. The chamber vacuum sealer allows me to vacuum seal liquids easily and without a mess.

It also has a marinate function, to which I have become slightly addicted - us island girls are taught to always marinate meat for maximum flavour. If you are serious about sous vide, a chamber vacuum sealer should be high on your wish list.

If you give this a try, be sure to tag me @sousvidesista, #sousvidesista, @isugarcoatit