How much water to add in cooking rice

 When comes to cooking rice, the big question is how much water should I put?  This is important as most of the water are absorbed by the rice itself and a small portion is evaporated. 

Here is a guide. After rinsing the rice clean (please rinse it a few times) put the rice in the cooking pot and add water to cover and above the level of the rice.  Use your index finger, stick it vertical down to the bottom of the pot, and using your thump resting against your index finger, adjust until the tip of the thump touches the rice.  This will give you the depth of the rice.  Then with the thump still against the index finger, lift up the index finger so that the tip just touches the rice.  Now, the tip of your thump must be just touching the surface of the water.  In short, the depth of the rice is equal to the depth of the water.  Now if you like the rice to be softer and fluffy, add a little more (up to 50% more depth), or the rice to be harder, then reduce it just a little (up to 20%).  However for brown rice, it tends to be harder in nature, and you could double the water amount to make it a soft and fluffy.