Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Chef David Chang's Bo Ssäm.
Japanese short-grain white rice is the only rice we make. We, like all restaurants and many home cooks, use a rice cooker to prepare it—it's just that much easier and more reliable than cooking rice on the stove. Here are directions for both methods.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
1. Put the rice in a large bowl (or in the insert that fits into the rice cooker) and add enough water to submerge it by an inch. Use your fingers to stir the rice—stirring the rice like this will loosen the powdery rice starch from the grains and cloud the water. Tilt the bowl to drain the rice, using your hand to keep the rice from going down the drain with the water, and repeat until the rice no longer clouds the water.
Step 2
2. If using a rice cooker, cook the rice according to the manufacturer's instructions. If cooking on the stovetop, put the rice in a medium saucepan with a lid, add the water, cover the pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, until the rice has absorbed all the water in the pot, about 20 minutes.
Step 3
3. Regardless of whether you've cooked it on the stove or in a cooker, when the rice is ready, paddle it: we use a short, wide, wooden rice paddle to do so, but any wooden spoon will work. Just stir and fluff the rice, letting the steam escape, then let it sit for another 10 minutes with the lid of the pan or the cooker slightly ajar before serving.
