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Between forums poster wroughtirony, a couple of my coworkers, and entirely too many friends/family, I've been told at least once that I should make some kind of guide about the world of rice. Why? Rice is my freaking passion. At any given day, I have at least 10+ varieties in my pantry. I eat rice for pretty much every meal, and enjoy all different types, depending on the application. For the bulk day to day rice, I used to go through roughly a 10-lb bag when I lived alone. Because my current romantic partner isn't a huge rice eater, I still go through about 10 lbs of the stuff per month, because I'll make pasta or other such things on some nights. I also work for a rice import company (plz don't dox me). We import rice from Thailand and India, and our primary imports are organic/conventional white/brown basmati (traditional, 1121, and pusa, as well as parboiled or steamed) that are aged a minimum of 1 year, organic/conventional white/brown Thai hom Mali jasmine, white Thai jasmine rice, and frozen cooked jasmine rice. Although my job is primarily in the logistics department, I started off when the company was me and my boss, so I've done every job there is (except sales) in the rice import business. This includes bookkeeping, quality assurance, import logistics, making marketing materials, and so so so much customer service. We don't sell to your individual stores, bur rather to the folk who pack rice into smaller packaging from bulk totes (1 metric ton, or 2204.6 lbs each--ask me how I know that conversion off the top of my head) that we import. There are a couple of private label customers, whose details I can't discuss, but suffice it to say that if you're in the USA, you've probably seen our rice on your store's shelves. Because of the varieties of rice we import, our internal SKU's can get pretty confusing unless you know what's going on, which is why I've had to explain the basics of rice so many times to so many of my colleagues. Most of my coworkers are from traditionally rice eating countries across various parts of Asia, so it's not like they don't know from rice. However, the thing about being from a rice eating region is that you tend to have tunnel vision about the rice you're eating, and more or less ignore the other types. This means that in general, even someone from (for example) India or China will know the rice that they eat in their family, and maybe one or two varieties of other rice, but don't really get into why a particular customer of ours will ask for a specific type of rice. So why DOES a customer ask for a particular type of rice? Because their customers have different needs from their rice. For example, a lot of customers from the Middle East will want aged Basmati that's been parboiled. Why? Because the spices used in Middle Eastern cooking goes well with the heady fragrance of Basmati rice, but the amount of stirring/moving/agitating that the recipes call for require a rice to be very sturdy. Raw rice would turn into mush if you're stirring it around a lot, whereas parboiled grains are much stronger and can stand up to the abuse. Also, the Middle East is India's largest export market, with Saudi Arabi, Iran, and Iraq being the largest importers. They know rice, and they know it well. Our Middle Eastern customers are very particular about the sorts of rice that they get from us, and all of it needs to be aged, or they're not here for it. AND, they can tell the difference between the stuff that's been aged a good long time, and the stuff that's newer crop. That said, when I hear "well, what rice should I buy," it's not really a question I can honestly answer unless I know a little more information. What are you cooking? How sticky do you want the grains to be? How soft do you want the grains to be? Do you care if the rice is a fragrant variety, or will you be happy with a non fragrant rice? [All rice has an aroma of rice, but Basmati and Jasmine rices have a characteristic floral/nutty aroma that characterises them as "fragrant" rice.] What's your budget? What kind of spices are you using? Are you feeding people who are used to eating the sort of rice you're looking to feed them, or is it someone who's not fussed one way or the other? There's a whole host of considerations when choosing a rice for home eating, and all of them have a good fair bit of wiggle room. Mind that I primarily deal in Jasmine and Basmati varieties of rice. I do dabble in Ponni and Sons Masoori for daily driver eating rice at home. I've been known to dip my toe into glutinous rice and the occasional foray into sushi rice. I haven't done much exploring of Italian Arborio or Canaroli or the Spanish Bomba rices. I have tried Egyptian rice before, but it's not a variety I'm terribly familiar with. That said, if it's a relatively well known variety of rice, I've either eaten it, dabbled with it, or have it in my pantry. So. Please ask me about rice, because I love discussing it.
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Dec 9, 2023 19:16
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dino. posted:So why DOES a customer ask for a particular type of rice? Because their customers have different needs from their rice. For example, a lot of customers from the Middle East will want aged Basmati that's been parboiled. Why? Because the spices used in Middle Eastern cooking goes well with the heady fragrance of Basmati rice, but the amount of stirring/moving/agitating that the recipes call for require a rice to be very sturdy. Raw rice would turn into mush if you're stirring it around a lot, whereas parboiled grains are much stronger and can stand up to the abuse.
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Dec 9, 2023 19:31
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Is Carolina Gold a marketing ploy, or is it indeed a recovered type? What would you compare it to?
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Dec 9, 2023 19:36
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Shooting Blanks posted:Is Carolina Gold a marketing ploy, or is it indeed a recovered type? What would you compare it to? So if you see the Carolina branded rice in the store, that's just regular long grain white rice. Carolina Gold rice behaves differently, as it's milled differently from regular long grain rice. White rice in general is what's called "extra well milled", which means that any trace of bran is removed to the point where the final product is bright white. Carolina Gold, in addition to being a specific variety, is also milled well, but still has a tiny bit of the bran left on. It's going to behave differently than regular long grain white, insofar as if you cook it after toasting the grains lightly in fat, and then adding just enough water (water absorption method), you're going to end up with fluffy light grains of rice. If you cook it black eyed peas, on the other hand, in a stew type dish, it's going to be creamy and retain a bit of chewiness. It will stand up to those big strong flavours and textures that you'd get from beans and greens, which is why it's the go-to for New Year's Eve Hoppin' John with collard greens on the side.
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Dec 9, 2023 20:14
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I bought a bag of "sweet rice," with the understanding that it's the same thing as "glutinous rice" or "sticky rice." I wanna try to make, like, onigiri or whatever, but I have no idea if it needs to be treated substantially different or whatever, or what else I can make with it. So... if you have any advice, I'm eager to learn more!
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Dec 9, 2023 20:34
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IMO, long grain glutinous rice isn't going to work so hot for rice balls or sushi. You want short grain glutinous rice for that. But! Nothing says you can't try and report back. The texture of long grain sticky rice is going to be chewy and the grains are super sticky, to the point where you can pick it up with your fingers, and make like a little spoon out of it to scoop up creamy curries and the like. Anyway. Neither here nor there. For sticky rice, you want to soak it at least overnight in plenty of cold water after rinsing well. Why? There is a LOT of starch in the rice that can get overcooked while leaving the inside of the grain uncooked, and your entire thing will be gross. The slow soaking in cold water allows the rice grains to rehydrate, and come up to temperature evenly and cook evenly. By the way, it's not strictly required for you to rinse your rice. Nobody is going to come to your house and arrest you for failing to do so. However, the process of manufacturing rice is not sterile. The rice mill will do their very best to ensure cleanliness when processing the rice, but they are frequently not the only ones handling the rice. The mill will sell to distributors/traders who will take the rice and sell it to packaging companies. Things happen in transit, and rarely do you get rice that's been packed under super clean conditions and vacuum sealed to prevent any outside invaders from coming in. Nothing on the surface of the rice is going to harm you, because you're doing the kill step (i.e., boiling for a long time) at home. However, it is freaking gross what ends up in there, so just wash your rice, eh? This lady from YouTube explains the full process of making sticky rice properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcTo0ZM8Iqg If you have SHORT GRAIN glutinous rice, on the other hand (as in, there's a good chance that it has Korean writing on it), that's a whole different process. Still needs to be rinses thoroughly, and soaked overnight, but basically if you do like a 1:1 ratio of soaked rice to water, it should work just fine.
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Dec 9, 2023 21:43
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Calrose: good rice or goodest rice?
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Dec 9, 2023 22:37
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One of the places I buy my rice is a bulk goods shop that just has big bags of basmati sitting out. The guy scoops however much you want from the bag. I think they have bags that are ₹70/kg, ₹80/kg, ₹90/kg, ₹100/kg, and ₹110/kg although they might have a few more varieties. Any idea what the difference might be? I could ask the people there but they don't speak English and I don't speak Hindi. I usually buy the ₹90/kg stuff. This is in Delhi.
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Dec 10, 2023 10:14
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Also, do you wash your hair with the liquid you've soaked the rice in? I tried doing it for a bit but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. My flatmate says the same thing: tried it a while, but no perceivable effect.
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Dec 10, 2023 10:16
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Also, do you wash your hair with the liquid you've soaked the rice in? I tried doing it for a bit but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. My flatmate says the same thing: tried it a while, but no perceivable effect. Never heard of that but apparently it’s good for watering plants.
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Dec 10, 2023 12:47
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my mother-in-law once taught me a method for cooking rice where you fry the dry rice in a little bit of butter (also usually with a very small amount of onion, curry leaves, and cinnamon) before adding the water. just until its a little bit brown, then you add water and finish cooking it normally. basmati rice, always. at first she said this was called "tempering the rice". later she insisted that she'd never called it that and that this technique didn't have any particular name, at least not in english, and that "tempering" referred to something else entirely, though she didn't say exactly what. but she always wanted rice made this way. and i've been making rice like that ever since, it's really good. but what is that called? Earwicker fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Dec 10, 2023 |
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Dec 10, 2023 15:30
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What is parboiled rice, actually? And what sort of rice should I be expecting if I buy unspecified parboiled long-grain rice at Aldi?
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Dec 10, 2023 16:02
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This thread is great! Thank you, dino.! i knew you were the man for the job. Can i assume that brown rice isn't aged because the oils in the husk and bran go rancid? What is the deal with aging? We eat a fair bit of rice because my son is coeliac. We usually have in the pantry: white basmati; brown basmati; sushi rice (used in a variety of East Asian dishes like tofu with spinach and sesame sauce, or sweet and sour tofu); jasmine rice (for eg Thai curries); and short-grain brown rice. The latter is delicious, really nutty - almost a substitute for pearl barley, which we can't use as it's got gluten. Oh, and pudding rice, because who doesn't love a good rice pudding? (or a rice pudding cake - this is extremely delicious: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/oct/14/rachel-roddy-recipe-bolognese-rice-cake-torta-di-riso )
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Dec 10, 2023 19:43
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Earwicker posted:and i've been making rice like that ever since, it's really good. but what is that called?
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Dec 10, 2023 20:30
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Is there some noted trend of Americans being afraid of white rice? I swear ever since I started at my current job, I've met multiple adults (usually 40+) who worry about white rice and only want brown rice--even though the nutritional differences between white and brown rice are rather minuscule compared to the difference between white and whole wheat flour. It makes me think that there must have been some sort of social trend in the 80s or early 90s where white rice was demonized in American culture.
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Dec 11, 2023 00:20
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Cephas posted:Is there some noted trend of Americans being afraid of white rice? I swear ever since I started at my current job, I've met multiple adults (usually 40+) who worry about white rice and only want brown rice--even though the nutritional differences between white and brown rice are rather minuscule compared to the difference between white and whole wheat flour. i dont remember white rice ever being "demonized" nor have i ever met anyone who was afraid of it or thought that it was actively bad for you or anything, but there's a general perception that brown rice is healthier for some reason. i have no idea why. maybe because it doesn't taste as good?
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Dec 11, 2023 00:29
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Brown rice has more fiber and protein and there is a general idea that whole grains are healthier? OTOH white rice is easier to cook, tastes better imo, and has less of an arsenic problem, and I don't think it's as high as stuff like bread in glycemic index (although glycemic is sort of bullshit anyway because carbs are digested much more slowly when you eat them with fats so it mostly doesn't matter unless you're just eating like a bowl of plain rice) so I just eat white rice mystes fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Dec 11, 2023 |
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Dec 11, 2023 00:33
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I once bought a bag of white people rice that literally had no taste and I couldn’t persuade any of my friends to take it off my hands. I think it was made in California, though I can’t be sure. As an Asian dude who grew on Thai rice it really shed light for me on how hosed up American tastebuds are.
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Dec 12, 2023 03:25
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Vegetable posted:I once bought a bag of white people rice that literally had no taste and I couldn’t persuade any of my friends to take it off my hands. I think it was made in California, though I can’t be sure. As an Asian dude who grew on Thai rice it really shed light for me on how hosed up American tastebuds are.
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Dec 12, 2023 03:39
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I grew up on Thai rice, my daily driver is Japanese rice and my occasional indulgence is basmati rice. It’s possible it was just some rice variant I’m unfamiliar with. I think it was California parboiled. It was unsalvageable.
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Dec 12, 2023 03:48
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mystes posted:has less of an arsenic problem  I have a rice-cooking problem. I find that basmati doesn't work well in the rice cooker; it gets gummy. Is this just a me thing, or should I be preparing basmati the traditional way?
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Dec 12, 2023 18:37
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my in-laws have been using rice cookers to make basmati rice their whole lives and its always great. they do that toasting thing i asked about though, i dont know if that helps with the texture
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Dec 12, 2023 18:42
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Earwicker posted:my in-laws have been using rice cookers to make basmati rice their whole lives and its always great. they do that toasting thing i asked about though, i dont know if that helps with the texture Do they toast on the stove then put it in the cooker? That sounds good.
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Dec 12, 2023 18:45
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Do they toast on the stove then put it in the cooker? That sounds good. no they just do it in the rice cooker itself before adding water
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Dec 12, 2023 18:48
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Is there any chance of the low-arsenic parboiling techniques actually getting adoped in the commercial market, i.e., this?
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Dec 12, 2023 19:06
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Huh. I don't think mine has a sauté setting, or am I misunderstanding?
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Dec 12, 2023 19:07
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Huh. I don't think mine has a sauté setting, or am I misunderstanding? its not a special setting or anything, you just turn the rice cooker on and use the heat of the plate to fry the rice in a little bit of butter first (or for fancy rice, butter with onions and cinnamon and curry leaves) and then once its very slightly browned you add the water and just let it do its thing it should be like a really small amount of butter just enough to very slightly coat all the rice, any more and it will get greasy edit: oh yeah i forgot sometimes rice cookers won't start heating up without the weight of the rice/water in there but you can just kind of press down on the plate with a spatula or whatever and it works Earwicker fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Dec 13, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 19:12
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Holy cats, this blew up in my absence. Let me try to answer the easy ones and then give separate posts to the more involved ones. TychoCelchuuu posted:One of the places I buy my rice is a bulk goods shop that just has big bags of basmati sitting out. The guy scoops however much you want from the bag. I think they have bags that are ₹70/kg, ₹80/kg, ₹90/kg, ₹100/kg, and ₹110/kg although they might have a few more varieties. Any idea what the difference might be? I could ask the people there but they don't speak English and I don't speak Hindi. I usually buy the ₹90/kg stuff. This is in Delhi. OK. So what you want if you want a regular every day eating basmati for whatever, just get the cheapest crap they have, and go to town. It will likely be just fine. For domestic market, the cheap stuff will be aged like 3 - 6 months, and be very bright white in colour. As for what type they'll have, it depends on the district you're in. If you're in a more Muslim district, you'll likely find a lot of "Sella" Basmati, which is parboiled. As mentioned, the Middle Eastern folk prefer parboiled, as do the Indian Muslims. Their recipes call for more agitation than the set it and forget it Hindus and Punjabis. Anyway. If you're in a more Hindu district, you're likely to see predominantly raw Basmati. If you want the highest quality, most aged stuff, look for the rice that's off-white in colour. It'll be almost beige to light brown at the very tips. The aging process for Basmati is done on the paddy, not when it's been milled. The flavour develops over time. The longest aged stuff gets slightly discoloured at the tips. Generally, the discoloured tips only happens at around 1 1/2 years. The stuff you'll find in the typical markets in bulk will likely be about a year aged. The other thing you're looking for is whether the rice is consistent. The best Basmati will have few to zero broken grains, discoloured grains, "chalky" grains (that is, grains that don't look like the regular grains of rice, but rather have a fully opaque look as if they were made of chalk), no foreign material (no seriously; this is a MAJOR bone of contention amongst the best rice mills, and they have some pretty sophisticated machinery to make the foreign material count zero). You can check all this stuff for yourself, especially if you're getting rice that freaking cheap. Try the more expensive stuff, and compare it side by side with the cheaper stuff. How? On a piece of paper, set a couple tablespoon fulls of rice of the cheaper stuff, and a couple tablespoon fulls of the more expensive stuff. Give it a visual inspection. Which one seems to be more consistent in shape and colour? Consistency is the sign of good milling practices. Which one looks darker, and which one looks brighter white? Brighter white means less aging. Which one has more broken grains? Broken grains ARE allowed in the final product, but the best stuff has a much lower tolerance for broken grains (broken grains make the rice mushy, not fluffy and separate). Cooking the rice will be entirely too subtle a difference to tell objectively which one is better, but at these rates, a few rupees for a KG of rice isn't going to break the bank, and is always an interesting exercise in learning about rice! TychoCelchuuu posted:Also, do you wash your hair with the liquid you've soaked the rice in? I tried doing it for a bit but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. My flatmate says the same thing: tried it a while, but no perceivable effect. Earwicker posted:my mother-in-law once taught me a method for cooking rice where you fry the dry rice in a little bit of butter (also usually with a very small amount of onion, curry leaves, and cinnamon) before adding the water. just until its a little bit brown, then you add water and finish cooking it normally. basmati rice, always. Yeah, never heard of it called "tempering", but certainly have heard it called toasting the rice. I think the Italians do that step with their Risotto dishes if I'm not mistaken. You can also use the same toasting process for daal! If you have some red lentils or split hulled mung beans, try toasting them dry in a pan or in a little oil of your choice before boiling with water to cook them. The flavour is night and day difference.
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Dec 13, 2023 12:51
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VictualSquid posted:What is parboiled rice, actually? SO. For Basmati rice, the aging process is done to develop flavour, but to also reduce moisture content in the rice. Basmati rice is aged on the paddy. What is rice paddy? Paddy rice is basically the stuff that's still got the hull on the outside, and everything else still intact. The reason that you can age rice like this is that the hull protects the inside, and keeps the oils from being exposed to air. As soon as the hull is breached, the oil is now exposed to the general elements, and can oxidise or go rancid. Anyway. Before anything is done to the rice, it has to age on the paddy. General white rice will be at or around 14% moisture. The bare basics for Basmati to be considered decent is around 12% (give or take). Why? Because what you want from Basmati rice is fluffy separate grains that don't stick together. One way to shortcut the moisture loss process is to steam the rice to some degree. What do I mean by steaming? Just as rice is aged on the paddy, it's also steamed on the paddy. Can rice be both aged AND steamed? Absolutely! First the aging is done, then the steaming is done. For the general Hindu rice eating population of India, they're going to want either raw rice or steam rice. Raw rice is just that: aged Basmati that's been removed from the paddy, then milled to whatever desired degree. Steamed rice is basically raw rice that's been aged, and then steamed for just long enough that the rice is no longer raw, but also not all the way parboiled. Steamed rice grains are stronger than raw rice grains, and most of the market prefers it, even if they think they want raw rice. Why? Because the grains don't break up as easily, making it a more desirable product for home or restaurant cooks. The differences in the looks of steamed versus raw rice are so subtle that most people won't even notice the difference. The longer you parboil rice, the stronger it is. Stronger also means that the texture won't be as soft as when you have raw rice. This is good for some, and undesirable for others. The 2nd stage of steaming is "white" sella, or "creamy" sella. This is when the rice is steamed to the point where the grains are transparent in comparison to raw rice grains. The grains will be stronger than the raw rice, but also be firmer in texture. Also, because they're parboiled, the rice will be SUPER separate. This is the stuff you generally will find in an Indian restaurant. Why do their grains always come out so separate? Because they're probably using steamed or parboiled rice, and you're likely buying raw rice for home use. Look for the bag of "Sella" basmati in the store, and give it a try. It makes a massive difference. The next step of parboiling is "golden" sella. This is the longest parboiling, and the grains turn a yellow colour, because of how long they are in the steaming process. The paddy imparts the colour onto the grains. This is also the type of parboiled rice that you see in American markets. It has a yellow colour, and transparent grains. The cooked product is super chewy, and can stand up to a lot of agitation during the cooking process. If you're buying unspecified parboiled from a mainstream grocery store, this is likely the stuff you're buying. It's the healthiest by far, as it's had the longest time on the paddy, and is likely also enriched with other vitamins and whatnot at the mill. However, you are washing your rice, as you should be, so all those should be rinsed off along with the factory dust etc. therattle posted:This thread is great! Thank you, dino.! i knew you were the man for the job. Cephas posted:Is there some noted trend of Americans being afraid of white rice? I swear ever since I started at my current job, I've met multiple adults (usually 40+) who worry about white rice and only want brown rice--even though the nutritional differences between white and brown rice are rather minuscule compared to the difference between white and whole wheat flour. I think a lot of nutrition scare science is there to freak people out to try to "life hack" their way into better health. At the end of the day, if you're eating a variety of foods, you don't have to worry about the tiny nutritional benefit that brown sugar (for example) provides over white sugar. It's still sugar, folks. Use whatever type makes you happy. Same with the extra virgin olive oil craze. It's still a fat. You shouldn't be using gallons of any kind of fat anyway. Use whatever you like, or whatever suits the application you're using it for, and eat a decent variety of food. You'll likely be fine. You're not gonna reverse years of smoking and drinking by switching to brown rice, while the rest of your diet is monotonous. Earwicker posted:i dont remember white rice ever being "demonized" nor have i ever met anyone who was afraid of it or thought that it was actively bad for you or anything, but there's a general perception that brown rice is healthier for some reason. i have no idea why. maybe because it doesn't taste as good? In 1 serving of brown rice (1/4 cup uncooked), you have double the fibre of white rice. What does that amount to? Like 2 grams total. I can get 2 grams of fibre in my sleep. I don't need rice to do that for me. You also get like a few percent points of iron. Trust me. I'll be fine. I don't need rice to do it for me. I don't know that it's demonised, but during the whole low carb craze, everyone was giving me the side eye for eating rice every day. Eat whatever you want, but leave me alone to do what I want to do. mystes posted:Brown rice has more fiber and protein and there is a general idea that whole grains are healthier? Vegetable posted:I once bought a bag of white people rice that literally had no taste and I couldn’t persuade any of my friends to take it off my hands. I think it was made in California, though I can’t be sure. As an Asian dude who grew on Thai rice it really shed light for me on how hosed up American tastebuds are. If you're comparing Thai rice to long grain white, there is literally no comparison. However, long grain white has its uses, while Thai fragrant rice has its own uses. It's like comparing apples to potatoes. Vegetable posted:I grew up on Thai rice, my daily driver is Japanese rice and my occasional indulgence is basmati rice. It’s possible it was just some rice variant I’m unfamiliar with. I think it was California parboiled. It was unsalvageable. This would be like if I were to take panko breadcrumbs and get mad at them for not tasting good as a piece of white bread in the toaster oven. You got a bag of rice for the wrong application, got mad at the rice, and instead of asking someone what to do with it, called Americans a bunch of babies. I'd respectfully ask you to retract that statement please. Arsenic Lupin posted:There is no such thing as an arsenic problem. Couple of things. - Are you rinsing your rice thoroughly? Your rice rinsing water should be running clear not cloudy. - Are you soaking your rice? You should be soaking raw or steamed Basmati for about 20 minutes, and white or golden Sella basmati for about an hour. - Are you MEASURING your rice? DO NOT use the measurements on the back of the bag. They call for way too much water! You should be using the measuring cup that came with your rice cooker, and using the lines on the side of the rice cooker for the amount of water. If you use 3 rice cooker cups of rice, you need to fill to the 3 cup line on your rice cooker. What is a rice cooker cup? About 3/4 cup dry measure of rice. To make 4 cups of rice, measure out 3 cups of rice (3/4 x 4 = 3), rinse, soak, drain, and then fill water up to the 4 cup water line in the rice pot. Earwicker posted:my in-laws have been using rice cookers to make basmati rice their whole lives and its always great. they do that toasting thing i asked about though, i dont know if that helps with the texture
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Dec 13, 2023 13:34
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Skinnymansbeerbelly posted:Is there any chance of the low-arsenic parboiling techniques actually getting adoped in the commercial market, i.e., this? So. The arsenic thing. Yes, there is arsenic in rice. Brown rice will have more than white rice. However, we're not talking enough quantity for it to show up. We're talking in the fraction of one part per million. Once you rinse, soak, drain the soaking liquid, that quantity will go down even further. Once you cook it, the quantity goes down even more than that. The lab results for the dry versus cooked rice show that the cooked rice doesn't have enough arsenic to even register on the lab equipment. If you do the pasta cooking method for rice, you'll have even less arsenic. What's the pasta cooking method? You take a massive quantity of water, and salt it generously. You want like a gallon or so of water. Then you add your 2 cups of rinsed/soaked/drained rice to the pot of rapidly boiling water. You cook it until the rice is just shy of how tender you want it to be. Why? The rice will continue to cook once you've drained it. You want it cooked through, but not mushy. As soon as it's done to your desired consistency, you strain it through a mesh strainer. Drain out as much water as you can, and cover then dump the works onto a cookie sheet if you want separate fluffy rice, or into a warmed bowl if you just wanted the rice to be cooked through. Serve after letting it sit for like five minutes.
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Dec 13, 2023 13:43
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Do you have any recommendations for a good rice for rice pudding? I know a lot of it is picking the right recipe, but I imagine the right rice can make a big difference as well.
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Dec 13, 2023 19:37
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Aha! I was using the rice cooker cups but not soaking. Now I know.
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Dec 13, 2023 20:27
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Carillon posted:Do you have any recommendations for a good rice for rice pudding? I know a lot of it is picking the right recipe, but I imagine the right rice can make a big difference as well. Here (UK) it’s literally called pudding rice but if you can’t find that arborio is fine. After all, what is risotto if not a savoury rice pudding?
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Dec 13, 2023 22:07
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The best rice for rice pudding is the rice you have left over in your fridge. Edit: Wild rice is probably the only rice I haven’t/wouldn’t use.
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Dec 13, 2023 22:33
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Carillon posted:Do you have any recommendations for a good rice for rice pudding? I know a lot of it is picking the right recipe, but I imagine the right rice can make a big difference as well. As it’s eaten cold sometimes, go with any medium or short grain rice. The starches on the surface of long grain rice will tend to crystallise and make the texture hella gross for cold applications.
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Dec 14, 2023 00:06
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Nice thread, Dino! When buying basmati rice I tend to go for the brand in the link below. https://www.shirdell.se/products/mahmood-basmati-ris-sella-5kg It seems like it is a parboiled variant. Does that mean I should soak it before cooking? I have never really done that. I just wash and cook it, these days often like pasta in a lot of water. I've been satisfied with the results, but I'm far from an expert on rice.
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Dec 14, 2023 00:19
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Why should I rinse my rice? I've literally never done it
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Dec 14, 2023 06:05
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I eat a lot of rice, but could I be eating more?
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Dec 14, 2023 09:48
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DekeThornton posted:Nice thread, Dino! 1121 basmati is a really good variety, and has freakishly long grains. Sella is the Hindi word for parboiled. Soak the rice for about an hour, and discard the soaking water. It will make the cooking happen way more evenly. This is also the perfect rice with which to make Tahdig. Look up a recipe and make it. You will be happy you did.
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Dec 14, 2023 13:17
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Thesaurus posted:Why should I rinse my rice? I've literally never done it Rice is an agricultural product. It will have dirt and bug poop and all kind of other gross stuff stuck to the grains even after milling. It won’t kill your, but it is gross to think about having it in your food.
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Dec 14, 2023 13:28
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