How important is rice to us? Very. How important is perfect rice to us? Even more important than just rice. We are a rice-eating nation; it’s our staple food; we eat almost everything with rice. So what will you do if you put too much water into the rice cooker and your rice turns out like porridge?

First off, don’t fret. If it turns out squelchy and almost like porridge, you might as well go all the way and turn it into full-fledged porridge. “Porridge is nourishment for the body and soul, it’s medicinal and warms up the digestive system”. So says Traditional Chinese Medicine. Therefore, porridge can only be good for you. And if you have a toddler, then that’s even better because porridge is toddler’s No:#1 weaning food.

Turn it into Porridge

If you don’t have a toddler, then you can surprise your family this evening with your own home-cooked Teochew Muay (or Teochew porridge), a popular and famous style of eating plain porridge with an array of side dishes such as salted eggs, fermented beancurd, omelette, steamed fish, stirfried spinach and so on.

FYI: Teochew Porridge originates from Chaozhou, China. It is humble food served in olden China to stretch the rice supply in times of famine in order to feed more people. Teochew cuisine is also known as Chiuchow cuisine.

To turn your soggy rice into porridge, simply add a lot more water into your rice cooker and set it to boil again. The more water you add, the “soupier” it becomes.

Tip: To make silky, smooth rice porridge, stir in one teaspoon of olive/peanut/sunflower/virgin coconut oil, and keep on stirring your pot and adding water until you get the consistency you want. You can also throw in a pinch of salt to heighten the flavour).

If your rice is too soggy to be saved, turn it into porridge and serve Teochew Porridge for dinner instead. This plain rice porridge meal can be eaten with just about any side dish you can think of cooking up. (Image Credit:ieatishootipost)

Place a Piece of Bread on Top of Your Soggy Rice

If your rice has completed its cook cycle and has turned out mushy but still salvageable, just place in a piece of bread on top of the rice to suck up the extra moisture. Put the lid back on, leave the bread to do its job for a few minutes, then remove the soggy bread and your rice should be nice and fluffy and ready to be served.

Here’s how the magic is executed. (From left) 1. Place a piece of bread on top of the mushy rice and close the lid; 2. Let the bread absorb the water; 3. After a few minutes ─ Voila! The rice is now *perfect. (Image Credit: Blossom)*

Tip: If you’ve done the opposite and burnt your rice instead, did you know you can also do the same trick with a piece of bread to get rid of the burn odour? The bread will absorb the smell very effectively. And if you have burnt your pot as well, refer to this story on how to clean a burnt pot using these five magic tricks. No scrubbing needed!

Place a Towel over the Top of your Rice Cooker

If you notice that there is too much water bubbling in the rice while it is almost done, quickly place a kitchen towel over the top of the pot right under the lid to absorb the moisture as it rises as steam. You don’t want the condensation raining back down on the rice to make it soggy. (This elementary scientific principle works the same way as the bread).

After placing the towel on top of the pot, put the lid back on tightly and let the rice continue to cook. If you’re using your gas stove to cook your rice and your towel edges are dangling near your burner, simply lift the hanging edges and fold them up onto the top of the cooker lid. You don’t want to burn your house down now, do you?

When your rice is done cooking with the towel on top, it should be perfect, like this. (Image Credit: The Wanderlust Kitchen)

And there you have it ─ you have saved your soggy rice! Well done mum!

For more amazing kitchen hacks, visit Motherhood.com.my.