Garlic Butter Rice

One of the best side dishes to complement fish is rice of course! So when I made this Parmesan Crusted Tilapia recipe, I looked for a new rice dish to make alongside! I found this Garlic Butter Rice recipe on pinterest.

Mmmm… Butter. It looked easy enough and I had all the ingredients on hand! I didn’t cook the rice the way the recipe specified though. I cooked it in the way I traditionally cook rice. Speaking of which I was talking to a friend recently who was having issues cooking rice on the stove top. I wanted to take time to address this. There are pros and cons to cooking rice on the stove top versus using a rice cooker.

To cook rice on the stove top add one cup rice and two cups water (or use this ratio for the amount of rice you want to cook) bring this to a boil. Once it starts to boil put the lid on. Reduce the heat down to a simmer and cook for another 20 minutes until the water is gone and the rice is very close to tender. Stir only occasionally to make sure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Take off the heat with cover on and let sit for 5 minutes.

With a rice cooker you use the same ratio, 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, but instead of all this work you just put it in the rice cooker and leave it to cook. Then you come back when it’s done, with a built in heat setting to keep your rice warm after it’s cooked. Sounds easy enough right? So how would this not be the obvious winner when it’s so easy? There are drawbacks too. With a rice cooker you can literally leave the house to run an errand, come back and have the rice be done. The drawback is that it can be time consuming. Rice cookers take at least 40 minutes to cook. And when you’re hungry and just waiting, that seems like longer than it is. Though cooking on the stove top only takes about 10 less minutes, you are constantly paying attention to it so time goes by faster. Sounds silly, but true! Also you don’t have to buy something. Though rice cookers can be found for pretty cheap, it still is an unnecessary purchase. You still have the ability to do the same thing and don’t have to spend at the least $15 extra. Not a big spend, but if you’re on a tight budget, every penny counts. Also if you’re like me, and have very limited counter/storage space, you don’t waste space with something that you only use so often. Plus, it makes it harder to give the rice different flavors! I’ve had troubles when I’ve tried to make flavored rice before. By cooking on the stove top you have more control, being able to taste the flavor you’ve added already and adapt to make it better is advantageous to putting your flavor in at the beginning and hoping for the best. Because the way I was taught is that once you start the rice cooker, you shouldn’t open it, or else it will mess with how the rice cooks.

Also most rice cookers come with an insert that allows you to cook other things like frozen pot stickers or veggies at the same time which you can’t do with a pot.

I hope that kind of clears things up and helps you make the best choice for you.

Anyways on with the dish! It was pretty easy to make and had a decent flavor. I added parsley but that’s it.

Overall I thought it was pretty tasty, however I wasn’t crazy about it. I wouldn’t mind making it again if I had to but I probably wont, I’d rather try something else. It was easy in a pinch and has very staple ingredients so it can be made whenever. I was just looking for a recipe to go with our tilapia and this worked so it was good for that purpose!

Normally I would make a veggie on the side of this like some delicious broccoli, but I completely ran out of veggies! It was sad.. but I bought some more now!

Happy Eating & Thanks for Reading!

Ala