Icky Rice

(photo credit)

I am no Julia Child.  But last summer I finally learned how to easily make consistently good sticky rice for dinner.  

In the 3 weeks we've lived in the new house, I've tried 3 times, unsuccessfully, to make sticky rice. I did what I always do and ended up with rice almost too sticky starchy on the outside but still crunchy and inedible on the inside.  

I've tried adding more water and adding more heat during the simmering phase, but twice more gotten the same result.  The only thing I can figure is that I'm working with a new stove in this kitchen.  Every other variable is the same.  

 

Help!  I don't know enough food science to figure this out.  If it's overcooked on the outside of the grain and undercooked on the inside, what does that mean?  Do I need more or less water?  More or less heat?  More time?  

Maybe I'll take the America's Test Kitchen route and devote my week off to cooking batch after batch of rice, each time changing only one variable until I figure it out.  That approach certainly led them to developing the best margarita I've ever had.  

Or maybe I'll drive to the local Hawaiian take out place and give them 50 cents per scoop of sticky rice whenever I need it.   

Or maybe I'll just serve margaritas and hope no one misses the rice!