1. Wash rice thoroughly, then spread evenly along the bottom of a saucepan. 2. Add the desired quantity of cold water for each cup of rice. (Let rice and water sit covered in pan for 30 minutes before cooking. This softens the rice, but can be omitted.) 3. Bring rice to a boil over 3/4 flame. Boil covered 3 minutes. Reduce flame to 1/2. Boil 2 minutes more, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. (At this point, before the water is completely absorbed, some cooks stir the rice gently from the bottom up so that it will cook more evenly and have less tendency to burn on the bottom. If some rice sticks to the sides of the pot during this stirring, just scrape it down.) 4. Lower flame to a minimum. Let rice cook covered 18 to 20 minutes more. Do not lift lid or stir rice during this time. (If you lift lid, valuable steam will escape; if you stir the rice, it will stick to the bottom of the pan. When cooking is done, some cooks lift the lid and stir the rice once, loosening it gently with a lifting motion of chopsticks, then replace the lid and let the rice stand for 10 minutes.) 5. Turn off heat. Let rice sit covered in pan 10 to 15 minutes. Then, with fork or chopsticks, fluff rice to separate each grain. The rice will then be soft, flaky and ready to serve. NOTE: Cooking time for rice varies from stove to stove and from pan to pan. Only actual experience can determine the precise cooking time. From , ISBN 0-517-65870-4. Downloaded from G Internet, G Internet.