Can I soften rice that's still too hard after cooking

Not sure if you are cooking this in a rice cooker or not but you can only use normal rice in a cooker not easy cook or fast cook of any kind.

1. 1Rinse the rice under cool water. Place the brown rice in a fine mesh strainer and quickly rinse it under cold running water for about 30 seconds.
   • Make sure that the strainer is made from very fine mesh. If the gaps between the wires are too large, you could end up losing an unfortunate amount of rice as you rinse it.
   • Note that you may not always need to rinse the rice, and this is somewhat of an outdated practice. Rinsing is a cleaning process and is a necessary step if you suspect that the rice has been imported or handled roughly in bulk storage. If the rice is a fortified, domestic product, however, you probably will not need to worry about rinsing it.[1]
2. 2Soak the rice for 45 minutes in hot water.[2] Transfer the brown rice to your rice cooker and add 3 cups of water to the basin, as well.[3] Let it soak and soften for at least 45 minutes.
   • You can soak the rice up to 3 hours, if desired, but 45 minutes will often be enough.
   • If you prefer a more flavorful rice, you could substitute some or all of the water with chicken broth or vegetable broth. Substitute the broth in equal amounts for the water.
   • Soaking is beneficial because it reduces the stickiness of the rice. It also helps the rice expand into long, thin grains.
3. 3Add salt, if desired. Sprinkle the soaked rice with salt, if desired, to draw out more flavor from the rice as it cooks.
   • Give the contents of the rice cooker a quick stir with a wooden mixing spoon to distribute the salt more evenly.
4. 4Turn the rice cooker on and set the timer. If your rice cooker has a brown rice setting, use that. If it only has a timer, set the timer for 30 minutes.
   • The rice cooker must remain covered for the duration of the cooking process.
   • Check the rice after the first 30 minutes. If the grains still seem tough and the content of the basin are still somewhat soupy, cover and set the timer for another 10 minutes.
   • Understand that each rice cooker varies by make and model. In order to cook the rice as best as possible, you need to read the instructions that come with your rice cooker and set the timer and other settings according to what you read there.
5. 5Let the rice stand. After the timer goes off, let the rice stand for another 5 to 10 minutes so that it absorbs any remaining water in the basin.[4]
   • Leave the cover on as the rice continues to sit.
6. 6Add butter and/or soy sauce, if desired. If you want to flavor the cooked rice, you could add about 2 Tbsp (30 ml) of butter or margarine or 1 Tbsp (15 ml) of soy sauce. Stir well to coat the rice evenly.
   • You could also wait until after you place the rice in serving dishes before seasoning it. That way, everyone can season the rice according to his or her own tastes.
7. 7Serve hot. Transfer the rice to serving dishes or set it aside for use in other recipes that call for cooked brown rice.

4 years later... I'm pretty sure it has to do with liquid in the slow cooker (maybe relating to temperature also so it doesn't overheat/burn your meal?). I just threw in some short ribs and a thick (and somewhat scant for the cooker's capacity) bbq sauce. It started beeping and beeping and beeping at fairly frequent intervals. I added about a cup of hot water and the beeping stopped.

Here's a simple one page guide for cooking rice in a rice cooker. It will tell you how much water to add depending on the type of rice you're cooking - How to cook rice in a rice cooker

You're probably using too much water. Rice cooks primarily while sitting in hot water, not while its boiling. That's why the cooker switches to Keep Warm so quickly. The correct way to cook rice is to pre-soak the rice for about 30 minutes, drain to get rid of the excess starch, combine the rice and cold water and bring the water to a boil and turn off the heat and let it stand for 15-30 minutes. That's why*- rice cookers take 45 minutes or more.

Hi,
A cup of rice is equivalent to two person, depends how a person consumes the rice.
First wash the rice by rinsing it two times( using the pot itself ) with fresh water, add water till it cover the whole rice, amount of water should not exceed the level of your first line mid finger. After that put it in your rice cooker and switch it on. Rice cooker cooks it automatically.
White rice does not need extra time to cook.
Brown or any colored rice should be left or soaked for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking it ( because it is a bit hard ).
Hope that helps you out.
Thanks for using FixYa!

Hi, Heres a simple way to cook rice! A cup is good for 2 person( unless they eat a lot of rice ), just put some rice and add water! Level the top of the rice grain, the water level should be in the first line of ur mid finger. Then ur ready to cook!
Hope that helps u out!

hi,

Tips on cooking rice:

You estimate first how many rice you are cooking then follows how many water you will be needing to cook it.

In an average, 1 cup of rice per person (depending on the persons appetite) = 2 cups of water. Rinse first the rice about 2 - 3 times to remove unwanted stuffs then start pouring and measuring the water.

Note:

1 cup rice = 2 cups water (common ratio), but there are also type of rice that requires more water or less water. You can adjust next time the water depending on the result. If the rice is a little bit hard then add more water the next time you cook. If the result is too soft then minus the water.

Hope you can cook now a perfect rice! Bon appetite!
Don't forget to rate me and thank you for using FixYa!

regards,
John

if that rice when cooked is too soft or too hard.. then , you might want to add more water to it. the correct ratio for cooking rice is always 1 cup rice and 1 cup water. it also depends on what type of rice your cooking though, some type of rice become too mushy when too much water is added... so always have some minimal water to the uncooked rice.

yup! there is a different ratio for brown rice.

1 cup brown rice = 2 cups water

hope this helps