Rice

There are many varieties of rice on the market.
In Germany, a medium size supermarket will have at least brown rice, parboiled rice, risotto rice, basmati rice and "milk rice" (a roundgrain variety). Each of them has a different taste and cooking time.

Preparing rice for savoury meals (per portion):
1/2 cup of rice
1 cup of water
1/2 Teaspoon of (vegetable) stock powder

Mix rice and stock powder, then add water. Bring both to boil. Reduce heat so that the water just keeps boiling. Stir and check periodically for tenderness of rice grains: Basmati and Asian rice need less water, brown rice may need more. Cooking time varies, too, but is 10 to 20 minutes.

If the grains are tender before all water has been absorbed, drain in a sieve before serving or processing.
If the grains are not tender when all water has been absorbed, add more and continue cooking.
Ideally, the rice will have absorbed all the water when the grains are just tender, and no taste will be lost with the cooking water.

In time, you'll learn how much water each kind of rice needs. Note it for further reference.