I have never owned a rice cooker. I make rice in either a pot or a pressure cooker. Both methods work well, however, the pot takes 15 minutes to cook rice with a 5 minute rest period whereas the pressure cooker takes only 5 minutes.

It makes sense as pressure cookers need only a third of the time to cook the same thing versus a pot. The science behind it is that when a vessel is pressurized, the boiling point temperature of the water increases. The increased water temperature cooks food faster and has the added benefit of retaining more vitamins versus cooking in a pot where they would get lost in the escaping water vapor over the long cooking time and the excess fluid required to cook the food.

A study done in the 1990s indicated that as much as 90-95% of the vitamins and minerals are retained when food is pressure-cooked; for roasted or steamed food, the nutrient level drops to between 50 and 90 percent; and, lastly, boiling retains only 40 to 75 percent of the nutrients. In some cases, as in quinoa, the nutrient level increases by 33 percent over uncooked quinoa and 18 percent over other cooking methods.

So my gratuitous plug for pressure cooking is that it not only saves you precious time but also precious nutrients.

I have cooked rice in a microwave, but I don’t care to babysit the rice with repeated stirring and reheating. I would rather set and forget.

The rice I cooked in this recipe is long-grain, white Basmati rice, but any long-grain white rice would cook similarly. I have cooked many other types of rice and grains in a pressure cooker, but that is a topic for another blog. I have never cooked sushi rice in a pressure cooker, but it may be worth a try.

When I cook rice as an accompaniment to stir-fries, highly-flavored curries and the like, I don’t add any salt, butter or oil. I like having a blank tableau for the other dish to shine through.

COOKING RICE IN A POT

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 15-20 minutes, includes time for the water to boil

Rest time: 5 minutes

Yield: 10 cups

1. Add both ingredients into the pot. Place the pot over medium to high heat, uncovered.

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2. When the water in the pot comes up to a rolling boil, stir the contents well. Cover, and set the heat to the lowest setting. If you own a heat diffuser, use it.

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3. Set the timer for 15 minutes.

4. At the end of 15 minutes, turn off the burner, but keep the rice covered for another 5 minutes before fluffing and serving.

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COOKING RICE IN A PRESSURE COOKER

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 5-10 minutes, includes time for the water to boil

Yield: 10 cups

1. Add both ingredients into the pressure cooker. Place the pressure cooker over medium to high heat, covered, with pressure set to on.

2. When the pressure comes up and the valve for pressure release engages, set the heat to the lowest setting. If you own a heat diffuser, use it.

3. Set the timer for 5 minutes.

4. At the end of 5 minutes, turn off the burner. Then, either let the pressure release naturally or set the pressure cooker under cold running water in the sink to allow the pressure valve to release. You will hear a “click” when that happens.

5. Open the pressure cooker. Stir the rice to fluff it before serving.

Written by Anju Kapur of Anju’s Table. All content and images on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without my permission. Should you wish to share this recipe on your site, please add a link to this post as the source.