Veg Magic / Pulses And Grains

Grain To Water Ratios Are A Principle, Not A Rule

Stop counting cups and start deciding what kind of grain you want.

Written ratios are a useful starting point and a poor master. They assume a particular pot, a particular lid, a particular heat and a particular grain of a particular age, and change any of those and the number is wrong. Wide pans lose more water to the air than tall ones. A loose lid loses more than a tight one. Older grain drinks more. What matters is not the number but the question behind it: are you cooking the grain in exactly as much water as it will absorb, or in far more water than it needs and draining the rest away?

The absorption approach gives you separate, dry, distinct grains and keeps everything the grain has to offer inside the pot. It demands that you get the liquid roughly right and then leave the lid alone, because every look lets out steam you have budgeted for. The open water approach, where you cook the grain like pasta in a large volume and drain it, is far more forgiving and much harder to ruin. It costs you a little flavour into the water. For anything you plan to dress or fold into a salad, that trade is often worth making.

Judge by feel rather than by clock. Fish out a grain and bite it. If there is a chalky core it needs more time and possibly more liquid. If it is tender but still has a slight spring, it is ready to come off the heat and sit covered while the last of the steam finishes the job. That covered rest is not optional: it is when the moisture inside the pot evens out and a wet looking grain turns fluffy. Fork it through gently after resting, never during, and it will not turn to paste.