Where have I gone wrong with this rice dish?

[soupfiend]

I cant believe Im asking a question about cooking rice, I normally cook rice really well

My strategy is rice, slighly fried off in a bit of oil, 1.5 parts of water to rice, bring to boil rapidly and turn right down with a tight lid on and dont touch it for around 12 mins, give or take

Perfect rice

But, I dont really eat rice these days, havent regularly cooked it for a long while, but I used to do a really nice dish of chopped peppers, onion, garlic, chuck the rice in that, swirl it round and add the water and so on as above

So I thought I would do this today and stock up the freezer with it

That rice has now been on for half an hour, still sopping wet, still raw. How is this possible? Its also 'easy cook', cooks in 12 mins.

The pan is quite a wide one, like a shallow wok pan, is this my mistake?
I also plugged up the hole in the lid where normally steam would escape, is this my mistake? (I cant see how because normally I have a tight fitting lid with no hole in it)

Or is it my measurements? I used a cup of rice (which says on it 250ml) so I used 375ml of water, but I measured this out in a pyrex jug rather than the cups themselves (I needed to add some protein powder to the water so needed to mix in the jug)

Either way, this is the longest rice dish ever.

Just checked it again, less water now because I turned up the heat, rice still raw. 35 minutes.

Unbelievable

Still raw

I wonder if this breaks the record for the longest ever rice dish

Ive had to add more water

Did you leave it frying too long and cause an impenetrable crispy layer on the outside of rice, just a thought!

What kind of rice? Basmati takes 10 mins just as you stated (well white basmati, whole grain is 30 mins)

Hmm could be

But this is a dish I used to make weekly, years ago, never did it any different and it was never like this

As time is going on, I am suspecting its the shape of the pan that is the problem, but who knows

Still raw in parts now, its like russian roulette as to whether a bit of rice is raw or not

I'll keep going

Sainsburys easy cook rice 'cooks in 12 minutes'

lol

The only time I 've known this to happen is when poeple do the fry that you're doing for too long. I think it should only be for a minute or so, with lots of vigorous stiring and then quickly adding the stock. I think your rice is done for!

Still not cooked

Im also wondering if my heat diffuser is the problem, I have a cast iron heat diffuser on my 'slowest' hob because even when turned down to the lowest it was still too hot for things like very slow cooked stews and rice (in my view)

Is this the problem perhaps, its now too low?

Also, I've only ever done the quick fry with rissotto rice, it's a bit thicker than basmati, so if you're frying basmati you probably want to reduce that time.

Christ

Took me ages to chop and peel the onions and peppers and what not, fry them off. What a waste if Ive ruined it

Im going to keep going, cant get any worse.

I have never fried rice at all before cooking it, except for risotto. Is this a usual step ??

Is your rice old? You say you've not cooked rice for a while, has it been hanging around in the cupboard for a couple of years?

Ive always done it, my mum used to do when when she cooked onion and pea rice.
Makes it taste nicer (unless of course, its raw when served)

No, OH eats rice all the time but I dont tend to, in any case he cooks his rice really mushy in my view.

I really am usually the expert rice cooker in this house and yet..... todays offering doesnt say that at all!!

And Im thinking that Im sure Ive cooked it before in this style pan and had a similar problem. im blaming the pan

I think you were probably too over-enthusiastic at the frying stage (which should just be a minute or two).

I'd start again TBH

Its going in the bin, its terrible

Its not raw throughout, its raw in parts, the bottom is a complete mush

It was the bits on top and round the sides that were raw and still are

Incredible

I think its the shape of the pan

It's common for some pilaf-style rice.

Ah ok pilaf is pretty similar to risotto (rice cooked with stock onions veg etc) so that makes sense