Dreaming of perfect fluffy rice to go with your meals? It's not so difficult once you know what to do. Start off with around 50 grams of uncooked rice per person/serve then follow these simple steps; this is called the absorption method.

Rinse your rice

To start, wash your rice in cold water - give it a really good mix with a spoon or your hand - then drain the liquid off into the sink. This helps to remove some of the excess starch that can make the rice sticky.

Just add water

Now we add cold water for cooking. It should be around double the quantity of rice (i.e. for 1 cup of rice, add 2 cups of water)

Place your water and rice into a saucepan that has a lid, but leave it uncovered with the lid off for now. Add 40 grams of butter or the equivalent in olive oil.

Turn heat to medium/high and bring to the boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to low, put the lid on top of the saucepan and allow to simmer for 12 minutes*.

* This is for jasmine, basmati and long grain. For short grain rice, cook for 16 minutes. For brown rice, cook for 25 minutes.

Let it sit

After simmering, turn off the heat and remove saucepan from it. Now this is the part where it's important that you don't peek! Resist the urge to lift the lid, keep it on and let it sit for 15 minutes.

This last step allows the rice to fully absorb the remaining water. Once time's up, remove the lid and voila! Fluff up your rice with a fork and it's ready to serve!

Image / DepositPhotos