to all the doubters and naysayers i would like to puiblicaly say ‘great stuff mrsflash, tried your energy saving tip last night with the rice and it worked perfectly’.

???

See, I told you! I’m saving the world, single handedly. 😉

I’m guessing

mrsflash – Member
You may know this already but I didn’t. If you’re cooking pasta or rice, bring to the boil as you normally would, then put the lid on, turn the hob off and leave it for the normal cooking time. Cooks as normal. 15ish minutes of energy saved.

I use kettle & thermos flask for all my cooking

– steak/chips are rubbish though

cooking

steak

that’s where your going wrong – just show it the radiator! 😀

ahhh, ill give that a try with tonights curry 😀

Car engine cooking – Cook on your way home (car users anyway)

Stuff like casseroles that you’d normally start on the hob and then move to the oven can apparently be cooked similarly. Bring to the boil on the hob, then put inside a well insulated box (eg. box filled with straw) and then set aside. You’ll need to leave it for longer than normal though, obviously.

Disclaimer: I’ve not tried this.

In my student house its quicker to blow hot air on jacket potatos to cook them than stick them in the so called microwave. Although Ill try that tip with pasta.

What I always have trouble with is rice. I always find no matter what I do, change water volume, chuck in a bit of salt, oil, etc I still get stodgy rice. Ive countered it by draining it two to three times to get rid of the starch, rinsing the rice through with hot water and chucking back on heat but its a faff. I dont buy cheap rice either and I dont boil the hell out of it, just a small simmer. Any suggestions Mrsflash?

Marry a Chinese girl like I did, or get a rice cooker – perfect rice every time.

Similar idea to using a pot cozy when backpacking, saves 20 odd minutes worth of fuel.

rinse your rice thouroughly in cold water. Drain thouroughly. Add between 1 and 1/3 and 1 and 1/2 volumes of boiling water, put on high heat w/ well fitting lid. Bring to boil then put on v low heat for ~13 minutes, until all water has been soaked up. It should need no draining.

I dont beleive for a minute that taking pasta off the heat works.

I dont beleive for a minute that taking pasta off the heat works.

try it! And as for rice cooking, as your instructions about, but turn the heat off and leave.

What I always have trouble with is rice. I always find no matter what I do, change water volume, chuck in a bit of salt, oil, etc I still get stodgy rice. Ive countered it by draining it two to three times to get rid of the starch, rinsing the rice through with hot water and chucking back on heat but its a faff. I dont buy cheap rice either and I dont boil the hell out of it, just a small simmer. Any suggestions Mrsflash?

I have tried the Delia method and it does work every time for me:

Take a volume of rice that you want and put it in a pan.
Take twice that volume of boiling water and add.
Turn gas to lowest setting and leave the lid on, only peeking towards what you think is the end.
DO NOT STIR – that will release the starch causing it to get sticky.
When the water has been absorbed it is ready.

Cheers ladies and gents, Ill try those methods.

I think the turning off method would work with easy pasta, but fettucine and the like probably not.

For basmati I saw this recipe, and it works every time…

Use 180ml of boiling water for every 100g of rice (900ml/500g)

Using a pan that can go in the oven, heat a little oil and then add the rice, stir it about a bit and then chuck in the boiling water.
Cover and then stick in a 150C oven for 15 minutes.

Perfect rice every time… even doing 4kg of the stuff for a big meal…

If your rice ever does get sticky, just rinse with boiling water and it’ll wash the starch out.

does it work for gas hobs? I know that the electric hobs hold their heat for a long time after use so this would help the cooking process, but once a gas hob is turned off it loses its heat much more quickly.

Anyone have any experience of this working with gas too?

I have a gas hob.

Residual heat can cook things shocker.

🙂 (to Mrs Flash)