How to make yummy, fluffy, Puerto Rican white rice

I promised I would post a How-To on making rice and FINALLY - here it is.

The pot remains uncovered until the rice is built into a mountain... (keep reading and this will make sense).

Place water, oil and salt in your caldero (cast iron cooking pot)... or whatever you have that looks like this. Just keep in mind, only a caldero will make "sticky rice" - "pegao" - "pegado". Bring to a boil.

My general rule of thumb is 3/4 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tsp of salt for every cup of rice. One cup of rice generally makes 2 3/4 cup servings once cooked. Sorry, just read it again if that sounds too complicated.

Add rice, stir. Bring heat down to medium and let it boil until the water is no longer visible at the base (it'll look like the photo for step 3).

This is when you are ready to cover your rice (about 5-10 minutes). Heat should be low-medium from this point.

This is what I mean by "mountain". Now you will cover the rice and cook another 10 minutes. Check rice for softness (like when cooking pasta) and stir around occasionally (to let the rice on the inside rotate with the rice on the outside of the mountain).

Then it's done! Enjoy :)



So what if my rice is too mushy/sticky?
       
         If the rice looks mushy or sticky it means you used too much water. To fix this, pump the heat a little higher and "crush" the mountain, and cook uncovered for a few minutes. This will cook off some of the moisture. If this happens you must be careful NOT to stir the rice too much (this will make it worse).

So what if my rice isn't done (still hard/undercooked)?

          If the rice is still hard (not fully cooked) add a few ounces of water and cook a few more minutes covered. This is adding moisture and should soften the rice. Be careful not to add too much water and make sticky rice.

Oh yeah - you're welcome! :)

PRINTABLE RECIPE LINK