Ever since I read a background to some "Study of Rice Starch Structure" research at UNE, I have been extremely sensitive to the type of rice that is used for various home cooking dishes. I will no longer tolerate long grain rice in my risotto (nor my rice pudding for that matter); I will complain at arborio rice being used in fried rice etc. etc. Today, I was asked (because apparently I am now a rice authority) if one should wash the rice before or after cooking. Quite clearly the answer is that one should do neither. The whole point of cooking it in the first place is to kill any remaining organisms in it, and otherwise make it edible and delicious.
The result of my oversensitivity to rice type usage is that whenever I eat a dish with rice in it that someone else has prepared, everyone looks expectantly at me for a reaction.
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I was making the mistake of washing my sushi rice after cooking and then wondering why it didn't stick together for my sushi. I'd thought I hadn't cooked it enough/not added the right amount of sushi vinigar etc etc. My cousin, who has no such problems noticed me doing it and pulled me up...I'm expecting good sushi from now on.
The rice-washing method taught to me be by Mari's mum
1. Put rice in bowl.
2. Fill bowl with water. Very briefly swirl rice and water with hand. Tip out water.
3. Repeat (x2)
4. Vigoursly kneed the soggy rice by hand. Fill with water. Swirl. Tip out water.
5. Repeat (x2)
6. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
7. Follow the directions on the rice cooker for amount of water for cooking.
8. Hey presto, cooked rice.
Tip: If tipping out the water is difficult then a colander can help.
I find this rice-washing method works really well. You can see the water becoming cleaner each time the bowl is filled.
She uses water from a mountain stream. This problably improves the taste.
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