Instructions: Place rice in a heavy pot; cover with cold water, rub grains with hands to rinse; drain. Repeat twice. Drain well. Add the 1" cups water; let stand one hour.

Heat to boiling, uncovered, over high heat. Stir rice frequently with chopstick or wooden spoon until water is absorbed and evaporates, about four minutes. (The rice will still be hard.) Cover; reduce heat to low; cook eight minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

Turn off the heat; loosen rice with chopstick or wooden spoon.

Cover tightly until serving; rice can be kept one hour in warm oven.

Loosen rice again just before serving.

The lots of water way

Heres one way to take all the uncertainty out of rice: Cook it like pasta.

The result is dry and separate grains. If you are a "dont rinse away the vitamins" person, realize that those nutrients go out in the bath water with this method:
1. The exact ratio of rice to water doesnt matter here. As with pasta, just fill a saucepan most of the way with water and heat it to boiling. Salt it if you like. Then stir in the rice. It will expand, so dont try to cook much more than 1 1/2 cups of raw rice in a 2 1/2-quart pan.

2. After about five minutes, spoon out some rice and check it for doneness.

It wont continue to cook appreciably once you drain it, so make sure its cooked through.

3. When youre happy with the texture, pour through a sieve or colander.

Drain thoroughly.

4. Return the rice to the sauce-pan and cover until serving time.

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