How to cook rice in a pressure cooker (with pics)

How to cook rice in a pressure cooker

While I was giving recipe for a rice dish, I was wondering what is the point in giving recipes for rice dishes, if a person does not know how to cook rice. The description for my blog itself is “A Blog for beginners which led me to post “how to cook rice in a pressure cooker”.

There are so many sites on the net giving you instructions on how to prepare various dishes but very few out there teaching you how to cook rice. The simplest& fastest method to cook rice is by using the pressure cooker. It is advisable to cook using a vessel inside the cooker.

1 cup of rice is more than enough for an adult.
1 cup normally refers to 200 ml of rice.
Normally 1 cups rice needs 2 & 1/2 – 3 cups of water.
The ratio of rice : water varies with the kind of rice used and the nature of the dish.

1 cup Basmati Rice – 2 cups water

1 cup Raw rice – 3 cups water.

I have used the ponni raw rice variety which requires 3 cups of water.

I have given step by step instructions with pictures for the beginners to understand.

Method

Step 1

Add water in the cooker ( little less than 1/4 of the cooker capacity). Place the plate given along with the cooker in it .(See Pic)

Step 2

Wash rice well. Add needed water and keep
the vessel with rice & water inside the cooker. (See Pic)

Step 3

Fit the rubber gasket properly inside the lid of the cooker as show in the picture.

Step 4

Close the cooker till it fits properly and locks firmly and place it on the stove to cook.

Step 5

Wait for sometime. When steam starts escaping through the vent, put the weight given along with the cooker. (See Pic)

Step 6

Wait for 3 whistles (Steam is released from the vent which is closed with the weight with a sound) and switch off the gas.

Do not open the cooker immediately.Wait for the pressure to go down. ( which takes about 10-15 minutes )

Step 7

Open the cooker and your rice is ready.

Hope this helps you.

How to cook rice in a pressure pan ? Same as above.

View Comments (66)

  • This blog is going to make my grad student days abroad so much easier!

    Thanks a lot.

    PS: your son pointed me over here in response to an SOS I sent out on twitter.

  • Lovely step-by-step! Would love to share your photo on Facebook (with a link back here) if I can! Can you clarify on your instructions about whether one should use the recommended water ratio for the rice, or subtract one cup?

    You noted that the ratio is 2:1 but you used 3:1 rice.

    Thanks,

    L

  • Dear Laura

    The ratio of rice is to water depends on the quality of rice used.

    For basmati rice - the ratio is
    1 cup rice - 2 cups water

    For raw rice - the ratio is
    1 cup rice - 3 cups water .

    If the rice is newly harvested rice, you must reduce the water .

    If the rice is old , then increase the quantity of water a little .
    In India we get many varieties of rice

  • This is awesome. Today even Mothers are not teaching their daughters cooking. so what happens when they get married their husbands like me who loves food so much has to search internet .Let our next generation may be well versed with cooking.Thanks a lot

  • HI,

    I dont have pressure cooker with me. I know how to cook in pressure cooker that too on on LPG (in India). Here I have induction heater (electric heater) at my apartment. They have given me few vessels in which i tried cooking rice & dal. But dish is turning out to be disaster. Can you please give me tips how do i cook rice & dal without cooker..i.e only in vessels.

    Thanks for help in advance!!

  • Dear Swapnil
    Sorry for the delay in replying to you.I had connectivity problem.Ok Coming to your question-
    You can cook rice without pressure cooker.You can check out my post on how to cook basmati rice
    http://www.padhuskitchen.com/2012/04/how-to-cook-basmati-rice.html
    You can cook moong dal without pressure cooker but it is difficult to cook tur dal without cooker.Just cook moong dal in a pot of water till soft. You can make a variety of dals using moong dal.You can find dal recipes in the link below-
    http://www.padhuskitchen.com/2010/09/side-dish-for-chapatiroti-veg-side-dish.html
    Hope this helps.Happy cooking!

  • Hey Padhu,

    I stumbled upon your blog when researching on how to make arisi upma. Now that I see the width that your blog covers (and the "Bachelor cooking" part, especially), my days as a grad student in the US are gonna be so much easier! Thank you for that!