Perfect Japanese Rice

Step 1: Measure the rice into the sieve, and put the sieve into the bowl. Run cold water from the tap at a fairly slow stream into the sieve/bowl. Rub the rice grains gently between your fingers. The water will turn very milky and opaque.

Step 2: Lift the sieve out of the bowl. It's important to not let the rice sit in that milky water, otherwise it will be re-absorbed into the grains and the cooked rice will not taste as clean as we want it to be. Discard the water in the bowl. Repeat the fill with clean water: rub grains gently - drain away the cloudy water - until the water in the bowl is pretty clear. (Don't rub the grains together too hard or you may break them up, which is not the idea.) With most Japanese rice you only need to do the above 3 steps about 4-5 times

Step 3: Drain the water away from the rice once again. Suspend the sieve over the bowl to let the rest of the water drain away from the rice, for at least 15 minutes. 30 minutes is ideal.

After draining for 30 minutes, the rice grains should look very white and a bit opaque.

Step 4: Put the rice and 1 3/4 cups water in the pot. This about 1.1 times the rice in volume. Leave the rice to soak for at least 30 minutes, 1 hour is ideal. Soaking the rice ensures that the moisture penetrates each grain, so that they cook evenly and thoroughly in a relatively short time without getting mushy or leaving a hard uncooked center.

You can soak the rice for longer, up to a half-day or so. If you're cooking rice for dinner, you can rinse the rice in the morning and cook it when you get home (or set the timer on your cooker accordingly). If you are cooking rice for a bento you're going to be packing in the morning, rinse the rice and set it to soak at night.

Step 5: Put the pot on the hob over medium heat on the low side. Set a kitchen timer for 12 minutes and forget about it until the timer goes off. Do not open the lid. You should hear the pot start to boil. Eventually you should see steam coming out of the edges of the lid.

Step 6: Turn the heat off, and let it rest for 10 to 20 minutes.

Step 7: Stir up your rice with a rice paddle. Use the paddle to turn up the rice away from the sides and the bottom. The stirring-up process helps any remaining excess moisture to evaporate, so the rice grains don't have a chance to get mushy. (Tip: this stirring-up is especially important if you are using a rice cooker and using the keep-warm function. If you don't stir up the rice the bottom parts get rather water logged.)