How do you usually rinse rice before cooking it? Do you think it should be scrubbed with a lot of force? In fact, a few quick rinses are enough. Here we introduce the correct way to rinse it, as taught directly by rice professionals.
With the improvement of rice polishing technology, rice no longer needs to be scrubbed.
In the old days, rice bran remained after polishing, so it was necessary to scrub it off thoroughly before cooking. Now that rice polishing technology has improved, all that is needed is to rinse off the rice bran that remains. Scrubbing rice nowadays not only cracks the rice and prevents it from being fluffy, it also removes the sweetness and umami. There are four points to cooking rice well.
1. Do not cook a large amount of rice at one time.
2. Use the best quality water possible.
3. Wash the rice quickly.
4. Soak the rice for at least one hour.
The right way to cook rice is to make the most of the flavor of the rice.
Items: bowl, colander, water, rice, measuring cup, chopstick
It is recommended to rinse rice in a bowl and a colander on top of each other. It is convenient because it allows you to quickly drain the water from the rinsed rice. Rinsing rice in the rice cooker's inner pot is not a good idea, as it will scratch the pot.
1. Scrape the rice with a chopstick and measure it correctly.
Place the measuring cup and fill it to the top with rice. Tap the bottom of the cup twice, and then use a chopstick (or another tool) to scrape the bottom of the cup to measure the rice correctly. Ideally, the amount of rice cooked at one time should be about 70% of the rice cooker. It is easy to overlook this, but it is important that the water convects in a circular motion. Neither too much nor too little is acceptable; for a 5-cup pot, aim for 3 to 3.5 cups.
2. Rinse with good quality water as the first soaking water is well absorbed.
Fill a bowl with plenty of mineral water or other good quality water and place the rice in a colander and soak it in the water. After mixing the rice four times in a circular motion with a light grip of a tennis ball, like a cat's paw, immediately lift up the colander and discard the water. This first soaking water should always be of good quality. Since rice is dry, it absorbs the most water the first time it is exposed to it, which greatly affects its flavor.
3. Rinse two or three times; do not rinse until the water is clear.
Next, put the water like before, mix it eight times in a circular motion, and discard the water. Repeat two or three times to rinse off the bran that floats in the water. It is best if all the water that comes in contact with the rice is of good quality, but tap water can be used for this rinsing process. The water that was initially pure white and cloudy (left photo) will be only slightly cloudy at the end (right photo). Use this color as a guide to stop rinsing.
4. Use good quality water for cooking rice. Soak the rice for at least one hour.
Drain excess water from the colander and transfer to the rice cooker's inner pot. Measure and add 1 to 1.2 times the amount of water as the rice and let the rice soak for at least 1 hour. The water used for soaking also affects the taste of the rice, so be sure to use good quality water such as mineral water.
Rice that was clear when it was just rinsed (left photo) becomes pure white and fluffy when it is thoroughly soaked (right photo). The sweetness of the rice is brought out by sufficient water, so be sure to soak the rice for the full amount of time required, as compared to soaking for 30 minutes, the difference in taste will be clearly noticeable. After soaking, press the switch to start cooking rice.
Ideal rice is fluffy, glossy, and has a firm grain!
When you mix the rice after cooking, the sweet aroma of the rice will arouse your appetite. When you try it, the sweetness of the rice fills your mouth with every bite. The five most important factors of good rice are taste, aroma, firmness, stickiness, and appearance. You should aim to cook rice in a way that brings out the best balance of all of these. Also, the following are important when the rice is cooked:
Steam the rice inside the rice cooker/pot.
Steaming evenly distributes the steam from the top to the bottom of the rice, thereby eliminating uneven cooking and making the rice fluffy and sweet. In most rice cookers, steaming time is included in the cooking time. If you cook rice in a pot, be sure to turn off the heat and let it steam for 15 minutes.
Mix the whole rice before eating.
The bottom part of the rice cooker will be softer because of the water in it, and the top part will be harder, so mixing the whole rice as if cutting it will make it uniformly tasty.
It is not recommended to keep the rice warm in the rice cooker.
After serving the portion to be eaten, wrap the rest in plastic wrap with steam and freeze. There is no need to take off the heat, preferably quick-freeze it.
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