Rice, in the Instant Pot

I now own an Instant Pot, hazzah! I got one for my son to take to college, and decided it only made sense that I have one at home too. That way, I can try out recipes here, and he can just make the ones that are worthwhile in his limited free time. 

I tried hard boiled eggs, and they were super easy to peel and turned out perfectly. Then we tried spaghetti and meatballs, and it was a failure. Didn't really save any time, and was definitely not as good as just boiling a pot of pasta and topping with sauce from a jar and meatballs from the freezer. 

Rice is an obvious choice, and I've made four pots of it today. We found an article on 

Green Healthy Cooking, where Lorena made many pots of rice to find the perfect way. I tried the 1:1 water to rice ratio, and it does work nicely! 

On my first batch, I used the "rice" button on the machine, because it should work, right? It did make rice, but not as well as a rice cooker. I tried again using High Pressure instead, per Lorena's instructions, and it came out pretty nicely. Then I tried rinsing the rice first, and the rice was fluffier, a little softer, and less sticky. I tried it one last time, with more salt and some butter, and that did the trick for me! Nicely salted, subtle butter flavor and richness, and the rice didn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Rice in the Instant Pot

Yield: about 2.75 cups cooked rice per 1 cup uncooked rice.

Notes:

• Butter keeps the rice from sticking to the pot, makes the rice rich, and adds flavor.
• One cup dry rice is the minimum recipe for a 6 qt Instant Pot.
• For the maximum amount to make at once: use ⅓ the pot size of dry rice. For a 6 qt pot, use a max of 8 cups dry rice.

Ingredients:

• 185 g (1 cup) white rice (basmati, long grain, jasmine, etc)
• 236.6 g (1 cup) water*
• .5 to 1 tsp Salt*
• 44 g (0.52 cup) Benefiber (I haven't tried it with this yet, but it should work fine)
• 14.2 g (1 Tbsp) Butter, salted

Directions:

1. Rinse the rice, for best texture:
1. Skip this step if in too much of a hurry, but it’s not that hard to do,
2. Measure rice into the pot. Add plenty of water, swish the rice and water around with your hand, then pour off as much as you can without too much effort, using your hand to keep the rice in the pot.
3. Warning: uncooked rice can swell and clog plumbing.
2. Add water and salt to the pot, and gradually stir in the Benefiber while stirring.  Drop in the butter, then put the lid on.
3. Start the pot:
1. Turn valve to “Sealing”.
2. Press “Pressure Cook”.
3. Set to 00:03 minutes using +/- (or other time, as listed above).
4. Unselect “Keep Warm”
5. Verify “High Pressure” is indicated.
4. Once it finishes cooking and beeps at you, Natural Release:
1. Wait 11-18 minutes for the safety valve to drop.
2. Turn valve to “Venting”.
5. Open the lid. The pot may briefly cling to the lid, then will release.

*I prefer 1 tsp salt if no other seasoning is added. If replacing water with salty liquids like chicken broth, reduce salt to ½ to ¾ tsp. Also use the lesser amount of salt if serving with salty foods.