Poppy Tooker, author of the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook, says that stirring rice while it cooks is the easiest way to wreck it. The mechanical action (stirring) plus the starch and water creates gluten—that means gluey, sticky rice. Instead, bring the rice and water to a full boil, put a lid on the pot, and turn the heat down as low as your stove will go. Then leave the rice alone for 20 minutes. When it’s done, fluff it with a fork and admire the unsticky, lovely grains.