Uncle Ben's Microwaveable Rice

I am not really much of a cook and although I am good when it comes to cooking things like meat and pasta, if there's one thing I really cannot cook it is rice. I have never really understood how to cook it, I know it can be done in the microwave or it can be done on the hob but still I just never really learned I suppose. Anyway, thanks to Uncle Ben's doing their microwaveable sachet's of rice, they have made my life easier as when I want to have a meat dish and want the sauce to be absorbed by something like rice; it means I can still have it even if I don't know how to do it the old fashioned way.

Uncle Ben's is owned by Mars Inc. This quite shocked me as I always think of Mars doing chocolate and that sort of thing but didn't know they owned Uncle Ben's.

The packaging for the rice just like all products by Uncle Ben's is a bright orange packet. It has blue text stating Uncle Ben's and then a picture of a bowl with transparent contents so you can basically see the rice through the packet. It says that it only takes 2 minutes on the packet to cook and will also state the flavour of the rice as they have quite a wide range. I usually just get the normal Long Grain Rice or sometimes Egg Fried but you can get Pilau Rice, Basmati, Chinese, Mexican, Wholegrain and many more.

The nutritional information of this rice is that per half a packet it is 183 calories so for the whole packet it is 372 calories. There is also 1.3g of fat per half a packet but they contain no artificial colours, no artificial flavours or no artificial preservatives. One packet normally serves 1-2 also as it says.

With this rice on the packet it says that they have steamed the rice beforehand, so that the rice stays fresh and keeps the flavour. The instructions on how to cook are also given but it tells us how to cook by pan which to me kind of seems odd as the whole point is I want to avoid that method when buying this rice. However, if you do want to do this it is just a case of adding 2 tablespoons of water to a sauce pan add the whole pouch in to the pan and let it simmer for 3 minutes until all water is taken in and then it should be ready to eat. I can't actually give an opinion on results for this method as I don't follow this way of cooking it.

Now, for the way I cook it which is that you squeeze the pouch to make the grains of rice a bit looser and get some air in the bag. Then the top will be torn off where it says tear here, then it is put in the microwave for two minutes and we wait. Once ready let it sit for a minute to cool down as the steam can burn when just ready. After it is cooked squeeze the pouch a little again and pour on a plate and serve.

I have to say with this rice, I think it is great, at first I thought ready in two minutes will just never happen but it does cook that quickly. Also, I thought the rice would taste horrible and seem a bit artificial but the Long Grain Rice just tastes like normal rice and is quite fresh tasting and soft. The only downside is sometimes if you haven't squeezed it well enough you can get some clumps of rice but usually once I take it out the packet I get a fork and separate the rice to avoid this happening.

The other rice I really like in this range is the Pilau Rice, this tastes just like it and is great to have with any Indian dish, I also like the Egg Fried Rice too but am still trying to try a lot more of these as a bit of flavour can be nice in my rice too.

If you think these sound good to buy then you can pick them up at any local supermarket where they can sometimes be on offer you just have to keep your eye on them. I paid £1.16 for a packet which I think is really good as like I said before, it serves up to 2 people and tastes really nice so it is worth the money of the ease of cooking it.

If you want any more information on Uncle Ben's and their products or their Express Rice then go to http://www.unclebens.co.uk/unclebens/en-​GB which is easy to navigate around and very informative. It also tells the nutritional information on each rice flavour; all of mine were based on the Long Grain Rice flavour. It also states all allergy information for each flavour on the website which is very useful.