How to cook basic grains

Vergroot

Alessandra serves staff lunch - Photo by Elise Chalcraft Elise Chalcraft

Amounts 

As a rule of thumb, you can use around 80g dry grains per person


Cooking instructions for some grains

  • Rice

1 unit rice – 1.5 unit water (e.g. 1kg rice, 1,5 liter water)

Cook it for 10 minutes with a lid on, then turn off the fire and leave it for other 10 minutes. 

Reheating: When reheating rice, place a thin layer of water on the bottom of the pan, and heat it up with the lid on. The steam from the water heats up the rice, without water, the rice might burn.  

  • Pasta

Bring a big amount of salted water to boil. Drop in the pasta. Give it a quick stir water a few minutes. Check the package for precise cooking time (usually 8-11 minutes). Strain the pasta and mix in with some olive oil to keep it from sticking. 

  • Bulgur

1 unit bulgur - 4 units water

Place coarse bulgur and water into a medium-size saucepan. Add some salt for flavor. Bring it to a boil in medium heat, put the lid on, turn it down to low heat and let it cook until all (or most of the liquid) is absorbed. When cooked, let rest for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.

Medium coarse bulgur takes about 12 minutes to cook
Coarse bulgur takes between 12 to 14 minutes
Extra coarse bulgur takes about 15 minutes

 

  • Couscous (fine grained)

1 unit couscous: 1 unit boiling water

Mix the couscous and hot water in a bowl and leave it covered for 10 minutes.

Reheating

When reheating grains, place a thin layer of water on the bottom of the pan, and heat it up with the lid on. The steam from the water heats up the grains, without water, it might burn.