Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rice

Finding an alternative rice supply

zadcat — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:23:02 -0800

The recent news of high levels of lead in imported rice has a friend freaking out, and I'm helping look for alternatives to the 20 kg bags of Thai rice he's been buying. We all live in Canada. My friend's originally from Hong Kong and lives with his aging mother.

If he could bulk-order organic American white rice from some Canadian supplier it would be ideal. Ordering direct from the U.S. is sometimes more complicated but might be a possibility.

Catch: it has to be a variety that cooks up Chinese-style. If it doesn't clump up on the chopsticks it won't work because he won't be able to persuade his mother to eat it.

Alternatives I haven't thought of?

Arroz con YUM!

shothotbot — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:24:15 -0800

What is your best arroz con pollo recipe? All I know from arroz con pollo is the New York City Cuban restaurant version, which I love and would like to make myself.

How do I get the rice yellow? Just buy goya yellow rice?

I am feeling OK about the beans, but if there is anything you feel I should know let me know.

Japanese Cooking?

DisreputableDog — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 05:28:51 -0800

I am in Japan. I can not read or speak Japanese. I am a beginner cook. I have a limited budget; I can experiment but my first attempts better be stupid proof & edible. I am also a goat in that I am willing to eat just about anything (squishy squid, large amounts of raw egg, & crayfish that stare back seem to be at or near my limit; however, I love raw fish of many types & I often eat mystery meat on the streets of Asia). Help me master a few Japanese recipes? I'm already addicted to Japanese food...which is getting to be an expensive addiction on the weekends. The flavorful fish, the fresh veggies & fruit, the weird sweet meats, & sauces you just shrug at & dip your food into. I've been to a Japanese grocery store twice now and all of those mysterious packages & raw fish & tofu packages & little cutlets & veg aisles make my mouth water. I like seaweed & semi-scorn those Americans who need a steak or pork in order to survive here; I'm in a foreign country & want to eat what they eat & cook what they cook.

Help a beginner cook (I can make a pie, a messy shredded chicken rice dish, shrimp, ground hamburger, and anything that involves a can of beans + rice + hot sauce. And eggs + cheese) create a few Japanese staples to build off of? These websites of "create these basics!" are confusing for one who doesn't know her intimate way around a grocery store here & who's not used to shopping for meal planning at all, much less daily fresh food shopping as is prevalent here.

If you tell me to follow this guide first, make this dish, etc, I will practice that dish every other night until it's perfect. I just need to know where to start & what not to waste my money on.

I have a rice cooker, rice scoop, & other sundry utensils. Just make a point to mention it & otherwise assume I have it, because I soon will.

Thanks!

Salted rice

dontjumplarry — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:37:13 -0800

Is it common to add salt when cooking plain boiled or steamed rice? Specifically, is this widely done in India, China or Japan?

What do you put on plain white rice?

Leenie — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:23:54 -0800

I have seen people put several things on plain what rice to add some flavor, what do you use? Some people use simple butter, some add soy sauce, some other flavorings to plain white rice to "flavor it up" a little. Aside from adding meat or veggies, what to you add to plain white rice to flavor it?

My wife's selection: Popcorn Seasoning (I thought that was...weird. After trying it, it is strangely addicting)

Help me buy a rice strainer that clips to the bowl

royalsong — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:20:18 -0800

I need one of these pink things. Someone online must sell one. Do you know where I can buy one? I often cook rice for lunch in a small rice cooker I have at work. I wash it and use my hand to strain it. This is not really effective. This tool would be awesome!

Please oh please tell me you know of somewhere I can buy it?

What did I eat?

sagejumper — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:33:35 -0800

What did I eat? Fifty years ago, when I was a kid, a friend's Japanese mother made us a snack. She pulled 2 plain, fist sized rice balls from the fridge and sprinkled a dark green, watery sauce on them. It was salty and fishy tasting. It may have had some dark green flecks in it. I've seen nothing like it in Asian markets, and I think it may have been homemade, for it was poured from a wine bottle with a metal liquor spout tube. I've wondered for years.

Adulterated rice?

d. z. wang — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 13:09:25 -0800

I have a bag of "black rice" and after six weeks or so the black color has flaked off the outside of the rice grains. I now have a bag of white rice with a layer of black flakes at the bottom of the bag. Is this normal? Like, maybe the black color is part of some outer layer that mills itself off as the grains jostle around in the bag? Or was my rice coated in something to produce a fake black color?

But, I want the bad rice!

Fig — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:57:30 -0800

How are the rice clumps formed in Chinese take-out rice? They are my favorite part, but I can't figure out how this phenomenon occurs, let alone how to replicate it. So, sometimes when I get Chinese take-out , there will be 1 or 2 clumps of rice material amongst the regular grains. These clumps do not have any grain structure at all, and seem almost like gobs of rice starch. The texture is chewy, and I find them delicious.

How do I make this on my own? Is there a specific type of rice or technique that I can use to get somewhat close? I don't even know how to properly describe this, so maybe I am Googling the wrong terms. I'm fairly certain that these are anomalies, and not the fluffy well-separated grains of rice that people like, so that makes it more difficult.

This is NOT sticky rice, or sushi rice or anything like that. I have only seen these in Chinese food, never Thai or Japanese.

Can someone please explain why baby rice cereal goes sloppier rather than thicker over time?

soymilk — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:38:45 -0800

I am currently feeding my baby rice cereal (just powdered rice) which I mix with a little hot water and breast milk into a sort of thick goop however I have noticed that if I leave it for around five or so minutes it begins to turn into a much runnier almost liquid consistency. I would have thought it would have got thicker over time. Could someone please explain why this happens?

Help us save our coconut rice

ThaBombShelterSmith — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:38:58 -0800

Recipe Rescue: Help us do something with this borked batch of coconut rice. So we made this recipe for Coconut Rice (sans lemongrass) but instead of using a pot on the stove, we thought it would be brilliant to use our rice maker. It took two cycles to cook the rice to something that wasn't crunchy, and it does taste delicious, but it's pretty soupy and not really "rice-y" anymore.

So what can we do with about 4 cups of coconut rice? I would prefer to skew more towards the sweet rather than the savory, but any suggestions are welcome.

The rice is still warm in the ricer, but I don't think I want to cook anymore tonight, so any additions will be done to reheated rice tomorrow. The only things that are in/on the rice right now is coconut milk, water and rice. Assume that we can get most ingredients.

Thanks!

Chewy rice?

lunasol — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:23:10 -0800

How do I get that soft, chewy consistency to the rice I make at home? I'm thinking about the consistency of the rice in bibimbap - or to get really specific, the rice at Astor Mediterranean in Washington, DC. There are a few kinds of rice I'm thinking about as examples:

1. The rice typically found in bibimbap - it's soft/chewy, which helps it soak up the egg yolk nicely and provides a great counterpoint to the crunchy bean sprouts/kimchee.

2. This one really great little Mediterranean take-out place I used to go to in Washington, DC called Astor (here's a pic of their rice, although it's probably not that helpful).

The consistency is less chewy than sticky rice or sushi rice, but more than the rice you typically would get at a Chinese restaurant.

I'm guessing I need to buy a certain kind of rice, maybe something Korean. Is there something more specific that I should be looking for? And is there a certain way I should make it to get that consistency? More/less water?

I do have a cheapo rice maker, and I've already discovered that cooking rice in good broth does make it a bit more chewy.

What's going on with this rice?

something something — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:28:02 -0800

Why didn't my white rice cook through? Last night while cooking dinner, I put long-grain white rice on to cook the way I always do: ratio of slightly less than 2:1 (water:rice), bring to a boil, turn to very low and cover until done. Except it never got done. After 20 minutes or so it looked fine, so I tasted it and the center was still hard. Most of the water had been absorbed, however, so I added a couple tablespoons more water and left it to cook while I finished everything else up. Forty minutes later, it was still the same. I added more water a few times, tried turning the temperature up and then back down, and nothing. At the end, after an hour on the stovetop, I had a gloppy mess of white rice that was still crunchy in the center. If anything, it seemed to get worse as the time passed. What happened?

I'm a good cook who makes dinner from scratch every night. I'm also vegetarian, which means I eat (and cook) a lot of rice, and have been for about fifteen years. I do seem to remember this happening once before, years ago, but have no recollection as to the details. My working theories are that I possibly let it boil a minute or so too long before turning the heat down, or that my rice is bad. (Can this happen?) Ideas?

Help me make my wife like rice!

asnider — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:53:44 -0800

My wife-to-be doesn't really like rice. I am a big fan of rice. What are some good recipes to help someone realize the wonders of rice? She likes fried rice and sticky rice, but that's about it. I like pretty much any rice dish that there is. How do we bridge the gap? Give me some recipes! Help me convert my future wife to a lover of rice!

What Do You Do With A Problem Like Risotto?

The Whelk — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:23:13 -0800

Best Use For Lots of Leftover, Meaty Risotto? I accidentally made more like Risotto for 4 rather than two, and one person hardly ate as Risotto is very filling. What are the best uses for lots of Risotto besides sitting in my fridge laughing at me.? What other meals can I use it in or as a part of? The Risotto was cooked in a mushroom broth with dried mushrooms, bacon, and almonds. It's very savory and very heavy. I can eat it for lunch/dinner for the next two days but it's a lead brick of a meal, I don't think I could I put a dent in it that way.

Restoring data from a wet LG phone

timsteil — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:29:54 -0800

My son got his LG VX9200 phone wet. As in the bathroom, caught some spray from the shower, not under a constant stream or submerged. This morn, he turned it on, and now he only gets the Verizon screen...then flashes to all gray. and repeats that. The googlefu says put it in rice for a day to get the moisture out. It been in about 6-7 hours and no miracle cure. We are prepared for the fact he might need a new battery, or at worst a new phone, but the direst question he has, is will they be able to restore all his contacts/textx/messages? I thought Verizon did this for me once, they say "maybe", but he is convinced he has lost everything. tl:dr? Is there a way/a hack etc to get back the data off his phone?

Making pasta: must I use boiling water?

NoraCharles — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:30:45 -0800

Must I boil water to make pasta/rice? So with all this talk about being prepared for Hurricane Irene, I've gone through my cupboard and tried to see what I have to eat that I don't need power to prepare (because losing power is very likely). I was pleased to see I was pretty well stocked on "ready to eat" things but noticed I have a lot of pastas and rice. So it got me thinking...

If the power goes out and I am unable to boil water, is it possible to just put some pasta/rice in a pot of water and hope for the best? Any tips? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

One Pot, One Love?

codacorolla — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:29:11 -0800

I'm looking for cook books that present easy to follow, one pot rice cooker recipes for complete cooking novices. Shopping and freezing guides would also be nice. I have a 3 cup cooker with a steamer tray, and I'm cooking for 1. I'm more interested in complete books than individual recipes or hints, but I'd also be open to those.

They're all white...

kathrynm — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 06:24:13 -0800

Rice > pasta/bread? Why did the doctor insist today that I cut pasta and bread out of my diet, but eat more white rice. Is this a Korean cultural bias? Is white rice really more nutritionally sound than bread or pasta?

If it matters, overweight (but lost about 50 pounds so far) female, mid 30s, crazy, chronic pain/suspected fibromyalgia, hyperthyroid, generally healthy living in S. Korea.

Afghan rice recipe?

methroach — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:31:53 -0800

Please hit me with your best recipe for Bamiyan Kabob's rice. More authentic recipes are great too but I'd love to replicate their rice in particular because my entire family LOVES it. Thanks!

Calories of Rice And Beans?

Spurious — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:18:14 -0800

How many calories (ballpark) would there be in this bowl of rice and bean?s I am trying to save some money by eating rice and beans for lunch. However, I am also on a diet and having a tough time calculating how many calories there are in the rice and bean meals I am preparing.

I did not take this photo, but it is pretty much exactly like what my rice and bean meals look like: medium bowl of plain black beans, white rice, and tiny bit of onion, and some taco seasoning.

Obviously you'd just be guessing, but how many calories do you think there would be in that photo?

Department of Obvious Department, Sushi Version

hecho de la basura — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:07:45 -0800

Best practices for leftover sushi? So I love sushi and I love to make it. I pretty much only make vegetarian nori maki rolls--standard rolls of nori seaweed, sushi rice and filling. Sometimes I make inari or onigiri, but this question is specifically about the rolls. I use various fillings, but they are always vegetarian/vegan. And I *always* have leftover, unsliced rolls because I want to eat it the next day for lunch or was being an overly ambitious sushi roller.
HOWEVER refrigeration is not kind to the rolls and I find myself, next day, thinking "meh", where the night before I was thinking "YAY!". The rice texture changes and gets weird. So my question is this: how are leftover vegetable sushi rolls best stored in order to preserve maximum YAY factor? Is it even possible? I desperately want to have yummy veggie sushi leftovers!
Googling has brought me a variety of answers about sushi containing fish but these are useless to me.

Gluten-Free Baking with Rice Flour Gone Gritty

a robot made out of meat — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:55:56 -0800

What is up with the grittiness in rice flour and how do I make it go away? Ms. Vegetable is experimenting with gluten-free baking for some wheat-free friends of ours. She uses rice flour and chickpea flour, because that’s what we have. The rice flour seems to be causing everything to be gritty - is there anything to do to prevent that? Something to add, some order to mix things in? Or is this going to have to be a “you need to get all these other GF baking items to make it work”?
Please note: She’s baking desserts, not mains, not sides. Just enjoyable baked good desserts.

how to make sushi with long grain rice work out as well as possible?

dahliachewswell — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:19:31 -0800

I know it's a sin, but I have to use long grain rice to make sushi. No short grain of any kind in my area, I promise. So, any cooking tips for how to make it turn out as good as possible? Should I skip washing it so it is stickier? Should I tweak the cooking time? etc.

Arroz con blechhh

jaynewould — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:56:35 -0800

How can I salvage my failed rice pudding? I usually make rice pudding on the stovetop, using arborio rice, and I throw in a can of condensed milk. It is divine. Today though I was in a rush and I didn't want to stand and stir it for an hour so I put it in the oven instead, and I was out of arborio so I used jasmine rice, and I skipped the condensed milk since I was out of that too. Then I forgot to set the oven timer so it was in there a lot longer than I'd planned.

It's...pretty much what you'd expect. Not good. It's dry and mealy and tastes, unsurprisingly, like jasmine rice (which is generally nice, but doesn't play well with cinnamon and cloves). However, I have 8 servings and I'd feel bad chucking it. Now it's in my freezer awaiting inspiration.

Anything I can do with this mess? I've considered:

a) thinking of it like porridge (another bland, mushy substance) and tarting it up with cold milk, nuts, fruit, brown sugar et al.

b) blending it with milk and condensed milk or maybe a banana to make some sort of frothy rice-based smoothie beverage

c) smooshing it on my face in the hopes that mushy rice, sugar and milk have magical beautifying properties

I have considered a) and b) in the past, but have been unwilling to sacrifice my usual perfect rice pudding to any experiments. I'll try them now, but they'll only use part of the Pudding of Fail. Any other ideas?