Gee, I've read some really interesting ways to cook rice here today. Maybe
I'm just not fussy enough about the result, but after years of using, and
loving, a rice cooker, I recently discovered that cooking rice, as long as
you have the right ratio of rice to water, seems pretty easy even without any
special equipment. I simply put one cup of brown rice and about 1 3/4 cup of
water in a large saucepan, bring the contents to a boil, turn down to a very
low simmer for about 5 minutes, then shut the burner off, but leave the pan
on it (since I have an electric stovetop, the burner retains heat for quite a
while after being turned off). Then I just let the pan sit (don't remove
lid!) until the rest of dinner is ready, usually 30 to 45 minutes. When
needed, the rice is always dry and fluffy, by my standards anyway.
Although I don't think this is exactly the way the book described it, I
devised this method after reading rice cooking ideas from Laurel's Kitchen
(vegetarian cookbook). I was planning on buying another rice cooker when my
old one broke, but after I figured this method out, I decided not to bother -
it's so much easier just to clean a regular pan afterwards!
Terry