Soaking

Many of the recipes in this book tell you to soak the rice for periods of time ranging from 30 minutes to overnight. One purpose of soaking is to bleach the rice, so that when it is cooked it will be even whiter. But it also slightly increases the moisture content of the grains, so that the cooking water can penetrate more easily. This means that the grains don’t break up in the pan, and therefore don’t stick to each other.

The Japanese do not soak their rice, but they wash and drain it about 1 hour before they cook it, so a little moisture is absorbed.