“You may be thinking, what on earth is a recipe for steamed rice doing in this book? Well, truth be told, I haven’t always had a rice cooker on hand to cook perfect rice. During my days at university, aside from living mainly on noodles because it was way easier, I made do with a conventional saucepan whenever I cooked rice. This book features lots of recipes where I suggest serving the dish with steamed rice. So if you’re not sure how best to make the perfect steamed rice without a rice cooker, let me help you. That way, you avoid buying microwave pouches of rice and can make it fresh and perfectly at home every time. In my experience, the key is to use the same cup to measure both your rice and the water; this means you can use a mug to measure the rice as long as you use the same mug to measure your water. The ratio of rice to water when using a rice cooker is usually 1:1, but if you’re cooking it on the stove, you’ll need a little more water, about 1:1.2 ratio of rice to water, which usually amounts to a few extra tablespoons.”— Verna Gao, Have You Eaten?