Easy way to wash rice?

March 8, 2016 3:02 PM

I find that my rice turns out much better when it's washed. However, I find washing rice by hand to be a huge pain in the ass, even following guides on Youtube that claim to make it easier. Is there a piece of equipment that makes rice washing easier? Some method that I haven't hit on using common kitchen tools?
posted by codacorolla to Food & Drink (36 answers total)

Can you explain why you find it so difficult? I mean pour water into pot, tip pot so water falls out into sink. I think I'm confused about how it could possibly be any easier? It might help if you explain how you're doing it.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 3:05 PM on March 8, 2016 [6 favorites]

You can get a special screened rice washing colander at any asian market. I got one with my rice cooker.

But really, you're washing nutrients off the rice. Don't do that.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:08 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Have you tried no-wash rice? Here's an article about it actually being better for the environment. I don't know about that, but I've used musenmai for years now, and it's fine.
posted by Huck500 at 3:10 PM on March 8, 2016

Warm (not hot) water gets more of the gunk off faster. You can also soak the rice for 30 minutes, if you have the time, to get it cleaner faster.

Do you have a rice cooker? I just use the rice cooker pot to swish the water and rice around, then drain it with my hand. Repeating this about 4-5 times gets it clear.

The Swish method is about the most pain-free way of cleaning something I can think of, short of paying someone to do it for me or making microwave instant rice.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:11 PM on March 8, 2016

I've been planning to buy one of these. My Daiso has something similar, though it's a little small.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:17 PM on March 8, 2016

Rather than washing rice in a bowl by itself, put the rice in a sieve or colander with small holes that the rice won't fall through. Put the sieve in a large pot or bowl. Fill this with water higher than the level of rice, then use a "steeping" motion in addition to stirring with your hand. You can change the water a couple times if you need to.

Incidentally, if you think your rice might have weevils/bugs but you have to eat it anyway, this is how to remove as many as possible-- they will float.
posted by blnkfrnk at 3:17 PM on March 8, 2016 [15 favorites]

i don't know what it's called in america (this seems to vary so much by country), but you may find that "parboiled" or "precooked" or "pregraneado" rice needs less rinsing and / or is more to your taste (about half the rice in the world is treated like this, but whether this or "normal" rice is available / popular in a particular country seems to be random). it's also supposed to be more nutritious (than white rice).
posted by andrewcooke at 3:23 PM on March 8, 2016

> But really, you're washing nutrients off the rice. Don't do that.

That's only true for "enriched" rice, which is rice that has been coated with nutrients in order to make up for the real nutritional part of the rice (husk and bran) having been removed in the milling process that all white rice goes through. As long as you're not eating rice as part of a subsistence diet, go ahead and rinse it, and try to eat some brown rice (which still has the bran) once in a while.

It also washes off the starch that makes rice clingy after being cooked, and that's what OP's after. The exception is a high-starch short-grain rice, which you usually are using for a dish that's better with starch.

Wash, or don't wash, if it serves the texture of the dish, or as your texture preference. Get nutrients elsewhere in the dish.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:27 PM on March 8, 2016 [19 favorites]

You can get a special screened rice washing colander at any asian market.

Yes, can you clarify whether you've tried something like this yet? (The one Lyn Never links to looks like the one I've got, but again they probably have them at a local market near you; no need to use Amazon.) If you cover the rice thoroughly in water, swirl around, empty, then repeat 2 more times, the rice comes out much fluffier and less sticky - adds less than a minute to your rice cooking process, and no additional mess.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 3:35 PM on March 8, 2016

Inomata Japanese Rice Washing Bowl with Side and Bottom Drainers, White
posted by yueliang at 3:41 PM on March 8, 2016

I just use a fine mesh strainer like this. You can find a variety of cheap ones on Amazon. Pour in the rice, stick under running water, and swish around with your hand for a minute or two. Super easy and quick.
posted by rainbowbrite at 3:44 PM on March 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

I use one of these clipped to the bowl I'm swishing rice in. I picked it up from a Korean big box retailer last time I was in Korea, but I have a feeling these will be easily found in Asian supermarkets in the U.S.
posted by needled at 3:47 PM on March 8, 2016

I second Huck500, I've been using Calrose Botan rinse-free rice (musenmai) with my Zoojirushi micom rice cooker NS-VGC05. It even features a rinse-free rice setting!

If you prefer cooking it the old fashioned way, here's Noriko & Yuko's Japanese Cooking 101 - Steamed Rice Recipe. It appears she's using a stainless steel mixing bowl to wash the rice.
posted by plokent at 3:53 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: My typical process is starting the water on the stove, then using a separate container to swish the rice around with my hand in water, draining by hand as well. This creates an additional dirty dish, and grains tend to get past my hand. I've tried a cheap metal colander before, but it didn't work super well (grains stuck to the side, or got through the holes, tiny as they were), and those things tend to get rusty quickly.

The inomata bowl seems exactly what I'm looking for, though. I'll put in an order for one and give it a try.

No-wash rice is interesting, and I may try it, but I have a few brands that I especially enjoy in terms of firmness and taste, so I want to stick with those.
posted by codacorolla at 3:57 PM on March 8, 2016

Here's my rice-rinsing setup:

1. I have a set of fine-mesh strainers ($15.95 on Amazon at the time of this post)

2. I have a few mixing bowls of various sizes that I can rest the mesh strainers on (rather than awkwardly setting a rounded mesh strainer on the counter which creates a mess/contamination- or you could just get a fine mesh colander, which has a base for setting it down - the key here is using fine mesh for your rice) while the rice drains/waits to be thrown in the pot on the stovetop

3. I use the "spray" setting on my kitchen sink faucet head - this is much more effective than a single, steady stream of water, at least when it comes to evenly spreading the water around the rice granules

4. To confirm that the rice is fully rinsed, I will often set another mixing bowl in the sink and let the 'rice water' go into that before dumping it into the sink. Once the water filling the bowl no longer appears cloudy, or the water's cloudiness has reached a relative minimum, I know the rice is satisfactorily rinsed. This is even easier if you're rinsing black rice, which always seems to turn water purple during the rinse.

5. I buy better quality rice to begin with. It took me a while to realize that not all produce/grains are created equal; I swear by Royal Basmati rice. It can be purchased in the US at Costco (or your local asian food dealer) for what's usually an excellent bulk price. I barely have to rinse the Royal Basmati stuff. One time we forgot to rinse it, and it still turned out fluffy and there were no problems with it sticking. It also required less water to cook.

6. Like all food, rinsing your rice comes down to personal preference, anyway; it's not generally something you're going to want to do for needs-to-be-sticky sushi rice or when making a risotto.
posted by nightrecordings at 4:03 PM on March 8, 2016

You say colander - have you tried a fine-mesh strainer? That's what I use to wash rice and it works quite well. The only slightly annoying thing is getting the stray grains of rice out, but you can just turn it over under the faucet and they will flush out.

That's really all the cleaning you need to do - if you're finding they rust quickly, then your kitchen might be especially humid, because I've never had that happen and I have lived in several very humid climates!
posted by lunasol at 4:04 PM on March 8, 2016

Wash it in the pot you intend to cook it in. Once it's washed, add your cooking water and put it on the stove or in the rice cooker. If grains are getting past you, it's probably because you're trying to get ALL the water out. There's no point. You're just going to add water for the next rinse or the cooking in a second, so get the water just mostly-out. Yeah, for the first rinse or two that will mean leaving in some starchy water, but once the water is clear, the water is clear and leaving in some is just a head-start on adding your cooking water.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:04 PM on March 8, 2016 [21 favorites]

Oh and yes, Royal Basmati rice from Costco is amazing and barely needs to be rinsed!
posted by lunasol at 4:05 PM on March 8, 2016

I've always used something like this held up against the rim of the pot to drain it but then I don't boil the water first. I just add water to the rinsed rice, a 1:1 ratio, and bring it to a boil before reducing the heat to a simmer. It's the same method on the stove top or in a rice cooker.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:16 PM on March 8, 2016

Wow. I just rinse the rice in the cooking pan. They make a tool for draining pasta, that is a half circle with holes and a handle part. So I just swish once, drain and cook. Try Thai Red Cargo Rice, that is my favorite whole grain rice. It needs almost a third cup more water than the typical two to one. So a little extra in the pan doesnt matter. There are also splash screens for frying that can be used on the edge of a tilted pan, to keep rice grains from escaping.
posted by Oyéah at 5:32 PM on March 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

Forget ever draining rice, as you're well aware the very concept is a pain in the ass. Put the rice in the pot you're going to cook it in, swirl it around in a couple inches of water, then just pour 80% of that water out. Don't even let the pot tilt past horizontal, the rice need never approach the lip of that thing, just repeat the process a couple times if you think the water's coming out too milky. You're going to boil it in an inch of water anyway, why worry about draining it?

At risk of being scientifically schooled, I'm going to assert that all you're really achieving with this step is adjusting the ratio of inter-grain starchiness to your liking. I'm trying to find a clip, but I could swear every other Chinese movie I've seen has a scene with a character doing exactly this. Rice, water, swirl, tip, water, swirl, tip, fire.
posted by lucidium at 7:09 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Part of my particularness is also that I really don't like getting the water up to boil with the rice in the pot - but rather adding it later. Hence why I don't use the cooking pot as the rinsing receptacle.
posted by codacorolla at 7:22 PM on March 8, 2016

I used to feel that way about cooking rice, but then just use one bowl, the one you will serve in, maybe, or the one you will store the extra in. Sometimes creating the simplest process insures consistent success and tidiness. Process orientation is good stuff. Keeping things simple means you can do more things, with less effort, time, and potentially, waste.
posted by Oyéah at 7:40 PM on March 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've only ever run the pot full of rice under a tap, swished it around a little and then used my hand to create a barrier to allow the water to drain away. I really don't think it needs to be complicated. Two or three changes of water is usually enough for the recipes I follow. Sometimes a few bits of rice fall into the sink, but I wipe them away.
posted by Ziggy500 at 9:33 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

With respect to your update one option, if you've got an electric kettle, is to heat water to boiling there while you're rinsing your rice and then add it. It might not be exactly the same as adding rice to boiling water, but it's pretty close. (The extent to which any of this affects the results is not something I'm qualified to report on.)
posted by trig at 11:09 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I use a sieve, rinsing under the tap. Easy.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:47 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have a Daiso rice colander. Works great!
posted by rhizome at 12:14 AM on March 9, 2016

Add just enough water to make it wet like sand. Mush around with hand a bit. Add a bunch of water and mix around to dilute out the starchy. Pour out most of the murky water. Mush around some more. Add a bunch more water and mix and pour. Repeat until the water is clear enough for your taste. The key is using minimal water while rubbing the grains so you get them rubbing against each other really well, then lots of water to carry away the starch.
posted by zengargoyle at 12:23 AM on March 9, 2016

Sometimes fine mesh sieves get bits stuck up under the rim. Takes a lot of banging to get that clean.

This is might you might want if you want to run a batch of rice under running water. It will not rust (what sort of cheap sieve are you using?? NO JUDGEMENT)

You can use that for HEAPS of jobs - well worth the investment.
posted by jbenben at 12:53 AM on March 9, 2016

For basmati non-sticky rice we rinse in a sieve while we boil water in a kettle.
For asian sticky rice I rinse in the pot, like 3 times max and then fill it up again for cooking because you need to bring it to the boil while the rice is in the water.
posted by like_neon at 1:29 AM on March 9, 2016

Oh jeez it's not like your rinsing bowl contains cyanide kittens and laser death. Rinse the rice, drain it out as much as you can, add it to your boiling water, then rinse out the bowl and put it in the colander.
posted by disconnect at 5:31 AM on March 9, 2016

Is there a particular reason you prefer not getting the water up to boil with the rice in the pot? As far as I'm aware, all standard absorption methods for cooking East/Southeast Asian-style rice (vs. things like paella rice, Persian-style rice or jollof rice, which I am not familiar with), either stovetop or in a rice cooker, call for starting in cold water and bringing the water to a boil with the rice in it.

I cook Thai jasmine very regularly in a "fuzzy logic" rice cooker and always wash the rice directly in the bowl, with 3-4 changes of water if I'm in a rush or 5-6 changes of water if I'm particularly picky, like if I want very non-clingy rice for fried rice or if I'm washing a large quantity of rice.

On the rare occasions I wash rice separately -- like if I am going to steam Thai sticky rice -- I use a fine-mesh colander.
posted by andrewesque at 5:55 AM on March 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

I use a mesh sieve like described above.

As for tipping over a pot filled with water, I find it's not always possible for me to do given pain and hand/wrist issues. This may not be a factor for you, but given your updates, it seems like rinsing out a mesh sieve would be most straightforward.
posted by A hidden well at 6:33 AM on March 9, 2016

I have good news and bad news. The good news, is that there is a specific device invented just for this very purpose, and is used widely throughout South America. It was invented by a Brazilian housewife, and it has become a popular must-have in most Brazilian homes. Voila. The bad news: I have never seen one for sale outside of South America. But it exists! Good luck, I always wash my rice, and this baby is awesome. If you manage to get your hands on one, it should cost less than US$ 5.
posted by msali at 6:39 AM on March 9, 2016

I have the Inomata bowl that's been mentioned a couple of times here already and it works pretty well. The holes are only on the bottom and high up on the side so you can tilt it slightly and it will hold water so that you can swish and/or polish the rice and then level the bowl to drain it.
posted by Gev at 12:40 PM on March 9, 2016

Washing the starch from rice reduces its beneficial properties. Repeated studies have shown that a diet rich in starch has a long list of positive effects on health. In the case of rice the beneficial starch is only present at room temperature for some reason I don't fully understand. If you are eating rice anyway it would seem like a good opportunity to ingest some starch!

If you are getting enough of the right kinds of starch elsewhere then it probably doesn't matter.

I put the rice in a pan, poor water to 1cm above the rice and then simmer gently until the water is pretty much gone. At this stage the rice will still be hard. Stir with a fork once, put on the lid and turn off the gas. The rice then absorbs the remaining moisture and after another 10 minutes is ready. If the amount of water was correct then the rice is light and fluffy, individual grains. Otherwise, they might stick together a bit, which I don't mind anyway. YMMV
posted by asok at 1:47 AM on March 10, 2016