MasterChef at Home: Minoli de Silva’s Secret To Nailing Rice, Without a Rice Cooker

If you read our earlier MasterChef at Home piece (or tuned in to the show yourself), you’ll know that both Minoli de Silva and Scott Bagnell said their goodbyes over the weekend.

Since departing the MasterChef kitchen, Bagnell shared a recipe for 10-Minute zabaglione with Lifehacker Australia here and De Silva has passed on her own quick and easy cooking hack, also.

Below, you’ll find her secret to making rice perfectly, every time.

How to make Minoli de Silva’s perfect rice (without a rice cooker)

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup basmati rice (or another long/medium grain rice)
• 1.5 cups water/stock

Directions:

1. Wash the rice in a saucepan and pour the cloudy water out. Do this until the water is pretty clear.
2. Add 1.5 cups of fresh water into the rice and cover with a lid.
3. Bring up to the boil on a medium heat and boil for 5 minutes without removing the lid at any point, and take off the heat while leaving the lid on.
   Hot tip: Once the rice goes on the heat, the lid should not be removed until you serve.
4. Leave the rice to steam for 20 minutes with the lid on.

The rice should be perfectly cooked and steamed. Remove the lid when you’re ready to serve!

Hot tip 2: At step two, you can make variations to the flavour by adding stock instead of water, or adding any other flavourings in such as pandan leaf, ginger, can saffron, ghee, cumin, or whatever takes your fancy.

If you’re keen on continuing your MasterChef cooking journey with us, check out recipes from the show’s alumni for flat bread, peanut butter bread, dipping oil and potato hash eggs.