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I always have dried mushrooms in the pantry and that's a good pairing with broth and herbs or shallots.

when I have a bunch of parsley dying, I chop them up and cook with a bit of butter and garlic in a skillet, add white rice, stir until all the rice grains are coated (salt to taste). I do that with very very finely chopped carrots, too (to add color when other dishes look meh)

there are a bunch of maze-gohan (mix-in rice) and takikomi-gohan (cook-in rice) recipes in Japanese cooking; maze-gohan being easier, you cook other things separately and mix in after the rice is cooked. Of course, store-bought maze/takikomi gohan packets are the easiest ;-)

My fav maze-gohan is a non-traditional one... saute mushrooms (turns out better if you get fragrant mixed wild mushrooms) in butter, add soy sauce, cook until tender, then stir in to cooked rice. mmm...

I'm actually a big fan of plain white rice. Every once in a while I think I should jazz it up a bit, but I always end up disappointed because I miss the purity of it. The one exception to this is Zarela's Creamy Rice, which is just amazing, but is not a simple "add to" rice dish. That said, it is just about one of the most delicious things you'll ever put in your mouth.

yah i think that a good idea of making a side dish

Thanks
Zenab

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I came home from work tonight and walked into the aroma of garlic and chicken roasting in the oven and was kind of disappointed to see that my daughter-in-law made plain white rice. My son, however, had already made our old standby topping: rough chopped dead-ripe garden tomatoes sprinkled with Kosher salt and left to macerate while the rice cooks. Plate the rice, top with a generous pat of butter and a couple of spoonsful of the tomatoes and their juice. It's so simple and good.

In Central Europe it is considered a gourmet treat to serve rice that has sauteed mushrooms added in at the beginning of the cooking time (and Czechs are world record holders as wild mushroom hunters). Fresh, store-bought or even canned would work too. Near the end of the cooking time, the rice is fluffed and thawed, frozen peas are folded in.

I like plain white rice with half a bottle of soy sauce on it.

It is a personal preference, but I agree with JerzeeTomato -- I use white rice as a base to compliment a dish, especially if I'm cooking Chinese homestyle dishes like braised pork belly and salted vegetables.

The only grain-as-a-side I've done thus far is couscous -- cooked with chicken broth, pine nuts, and a bit of freshly chopped garlic.

just plain butter.

You could sauteed some garlic in a little butter and then add the rice, its water and a pinch of saffron. At the end of the cooking time, squeeze a little lemon juice over it. Simple and tasty!

Two easy ways to jazz up your white rice: Djon djon rice with Maggi cubes if you can find them (It's a Haitian mushroom broth); or simply, yellow rice with Sazon!

Add butter, basil and peas (fresh or frozen, not canned). I got the recipe from a Pierre Franey cookbook.

Add other grains, or orzo, to the rice when it cooks for a pilaf-style.
Toasted nuts are good with it.
Bits of dried fruit, or bits of vegetables, maybe some crushed pineapple, for a veggie pilaf. Especially good with plainer seafood or chicken.
Risi-bisi (add green peas to white rice) (there may be more to it, but that's what I do).
Other kinds of stock (fish, beef, veggie) to cook it, or a bit of wine in the water, or orange juice.
As appropriate, spices such as curry, cumin, paprika (sweet, hot, or smoked), not just herbs.

Achiote oil!
Sautee annato seeds in REALLY LOW heat with either olive oil or clarified butter until it turns a beautiful red. Toast rice in this oil and simmer as you would plain white rice.
The annato gives it a beautiful color and perfumes the rice, too.

jazz it up with zataran's! lol-kidding, couldn't help myself. after reading your question that popped into my head.

One more wrinkle; I occasionally take an inexpensive package of ramen-type oriental soup and crush it into small bits and saute it gently with the rice at the beginning of the cooking sequence. From there you can just about any liquid that would compliment your main dish with seasoning according to the cuisine de jour.

Sub. half unsweetened coconut milk for liquid and 4 cardamom pods... left overs make really nice rice pudding.

i think it's called "persian rice"?
i sometimes line the bottom of a pot, slick with butter and olive oil, with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes and then steam parboiled rice on top of the potatoes. the bottom gets golden crusty and the rice is tender and fluffy every time.
i like this because it's just a wee bit more special than plain white rice, but it still works as a good background palate for other parts of my menu.

I tend to like plain white rice cooked with a little butter and S & P. If I want to jazz it up, I'll saute' some garlic along with the Cajun Trinity (onion, bell pepper, and celery) and add that to the cooking rice. Also, let me suggest you try Valencia rice. It's slightly different, and very tasty. Cheaper, too!

Cook the rice in stock with a Bay Leaf and mix in some caramelized onions and chives at the end.

LOL @gastro: oh no u di--int!

I like lemon zest, sesame oil and good soy sauce.

And of course, curry and mango chutney, or either all by itself.

I'm egalitarian - I can do white and jazzed equally well. But since we're on topic of adding flavor, I adore just a clove of crushed garlic, a bit of seasoning salt or soy sauce and a ton of lemon juice on plain white rice. I add the crushed garlic as in the last few minutes of cooking so it steams and softens, and perfumes the whole pot, then sprinkle something salty and lemon juice. It's wildly addictive.

Try a little grated ginger, or substituting sherry for some of the water/stock. Gives it a little more oomph.

I'm down with garlic cloves and bay leaf.

any aromatic ingredients that you can remove easily - gives the rice subtle flavor but it's still nice and fluffy and pure.

if I'm going asian style- lemongrass, thai chili, kaffir lime leaves, a slice of fresh ginger, maybe lime zest if you've got it...

problem with fresh herbs is they cook and disintegrate into the rice & mess with the color.

I really just like plain rice but if I am having it with a flavorful dish I like to add a complimentary flavor to the rice. Sweet, savory, hot or whatever.

it's delicious to replace about 1/4 of the stock with orange juice. it adds a lovely taste and a bit of color. you can also throw in some baby peas at the end to make it even prettier and tastier.

while there are tons of good suggestions here, truly the best way to "jazz up" your rice is to forget white rice in the first place. There are so many interesting varieties of "non-white" rice.... I can't see any reason to ever make white rice. It has zero flavour, and more importantly, zero nutrition or fiber. There are so many varieties of whole rice (basmati brown, short and long-grain brown, red rice, black rice, Texmati etc), and they all are subtle flavourwise and delicious all by themselves. And if you do choose to "enhance" them with any of the above suggestions, a little will go a long way; it's best to let whole/brown rice's flavour be what it is. Plain or lightly "jazzed", it's a wonderful and delicate foil to the more savory or strongly flavoured foods it accompanies not to mention how much healthier it will make your meal without those naughty white-rice "empty" calories. Whole rice can be the basis for many complete meals too such as pilafs, risotto's, etc.

Also, here's a nifty tip that I got from a friend from India who was a wonderful cook... lightly toast the grains in a hot, dry skillet before adding to their cooking liquid. Toast a couple minutes while stirring them around the whole time - toast just enough till you can detect a nice nutty aroma. then add very slowly to their hot or boiling cooking liquid - it can boil over fast with the grains so hot - be careful... The light toasting really brings out the delicate flavour and seals the grains from getting sticky too.

Since I only like white rice, I like to sautee finely chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic and parsley in a quarter stick butter and then add chicken stock and stir well. Bringing it to a boil and then I place it in an ovenproof casserole dish and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until done. You may want to cover it the last 10 minutes so it doesn't brown too much. It's my version of rice pilaf. Any rice can be used but I like unhealthy foods more than healthy ones.

I have tried many ways to jazz plain white rice. here are a few of my families favorites. butter, garlic powder, salt & pepper and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. The next one is cook rice and heat and stir in diced tomatoes and green chiles salt and pepper.

As kids, we always ate our hot white rice with butter and sugar. Still yummy to this day.

@sugartoast, Its called Tahdig and you get the crusty rice at the bottom by adding oil before the cooked rice, then heating it slowly and very carefully so it doesn't burn.

I like to cook rice in chicken broth with slivers of onions, a can of drained mushroom pieces and some caraway seed. I have done this for years and it has always gone over well with my family. Some folks might not like the taste of caraway, but it is well liked here in my house in recipes featuring sauerkraut and apples, rye bread and in white rice. Try it, you'll like it.