Cooking rice deliciously starts from choosing the right grains. Grains should be shiny without much cracks in order to be tasteful when cooked. Cracks on rice makes cooked rice watery and soft-boiled. Newly harvested rice is the best since it contains 16% of water.
However, you can cook old, long-stored rice deliciously if you are willing to put some effort. Different from newly harvested rice, which needs only three to four times of mild washes, old grains need to be washed rather strongly for multiple times to remove the stale smell. Leave washed rice in water for about an hour to let the grains be soaked into water. Remove water used for soaking and add fresh water to cook. Amount of water needs to be 1.5 times the amount of rice.
You may find it surprising, but using milk is a helpful secret when you are cooking with old grains. Instead of using water only, replacing 1/4 of water with milk not only leaves cooked rice with good scent, but also makes your meal more nutritious.
If you are using a rice cooker to store the cooked rice, remember to turn the power off after five hours and to cover the rice with a dry sheet of cloth. Best way to store cooked rice, however, is to freeze it.
Original document available from http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?page=15&branch=NEWS&source=&category=lifenleisure.general&art_id=3834351
Translated by Heewon Kim
