182
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Is it possible to remove the smell from rice mistakenly stored in a detergent box?
The simplest trick is to place all the contaminated rice in the detergent box in the nearest trash bin, then obtain new rice. When it comes to cheap food staples like rice it's not worth the risk of ...
- 2,533
89
votes
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Why fry rice before boiling?
This is sometimes called "pilaf style", though technically actual pilafs do not require the sauteeing step. It is, however, very common in pilaf and related dishes.
The main function of this is to ...
- 4,416
80
votes
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Why drain soaked rice?
Apart from water, rice is mainly made from starch. Starch is initially packed in a crystalline structure that is not soluble. However if you soak it for long enough or expose it to heat, the starch ...
- 2,155
58
votes
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How many calories are in a cup of rice?
I’m afraid you may have misunderstood some results (or they were unclear in their descriptions).
A ballpark number for rice volume is that cooking white rice will give you about triple the dry rice ...
- 56.5k
50
votes
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Why would I buy a rice cooker?
I come from a culture where rice is our staple and I have a rice cooker. Here are some of the advantages from my perspective:
Rice is perfect everytime – not stuck to the bottom, not watery, not ...
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50
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What are these spaghetti-like strings in the rice I got from a Turkish shop?
It's toasted vermicelli.
This dish is called şehriyeli pilav in Turkey, riz bi sh’arieh in Lebanon and Syria, shehrehi yeghintz in Armenia, and reshteh polo in Iran.
The basic idea is that you brown ...
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47
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Is it possible to remove the smell from rice mistakenly stored in a detergent box?
Don't eat the smelly rice because it is probably irremediably mixed with chemicals that may be harmful. But you may use that non-edible rice for other purpose detailed below.
The rice smells like ...
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38
votes
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Why should (or shouldn't) we wash rice before cooking?
Reasons to wash your rice:
Reduce/Control Starch levels
Often when you're cooking rice you want distinct grains of rice and for your rice to have texture. In the case of Chinese fried rice for ...
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37
votes
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Can I leave uncooked rice sitting in water for an hour or longer before cooking?
That's fine. A lot of people actually do that on purpose, it's referred to as "soaking". It will shave a bit off the cooking time and won't negatively affect the rice at all. Give it a stir before you ...
- 58.3k
27
votes
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What is sortexed rice?
It's a word derived from the brand name for a machine used in processing the rice.
As the word already suggests, it is a machine for sorting the rice. With rice that has gone through this process, you ...
- 132k
25
votes
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Does the inside of a lid used to cook rice or steam vegetables have anything besides water on it?
Most likely yes, it has stuff besides water. Although I wouldn't lay my hand in the fire that it has it every single time.
The first scenario is the bubbling from starchy water, as Chris H already ...
- 132k
23
votes
I want to cook brown and white rice together
That is possible, but you need to stage the cooking process. If your preferred cooking method for brown rice takes X minutes and for white Y minutes, start cooking the brown rice as usual, and add ...
- 56.5k
22
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How to maintain the calories in rice (which were present in it in its raw form) after cooking it?
I'm afraid you interpret the tables wrong. You aren't destroying calories, you are adding water (=0 cal) to the dry rice. As the rice absorbs the water, you are in fact measuring rice + water for ...
- 56.5k
21
votes
How to prepare rice in rice cooker so it won't become sticky or clumpy, like Indian takeout in the US?
First, use basmati rice. Then, rinse your rice very well. Place rice in bowl, fill with cold water, drain, repeat until the water runs clear. I find that using the correct variety of rice, combined ...
- 69.2k
21
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Does the inside of a lid used to cook rice or steam vegetables have anything besides water on it?
Starchy foods, like rice, tend to bubble and splash. They will get starch on the inside of the lid. If you don't let it dry out, you might decide a quick rinse is sufficient, but if it dries it will ...
- 41.5k
20
votes
Why drain soaked rice?
Arsenic reduction
To add to what @ShiftyThomas said
Now, some ways of cooking rice reduce arsenic levels more than others. We carried out some tests with Prof Meharg and found the best technique ...
- 301
19
votes
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Quantity of rice per diameter of paella pan?
I don't think you'll find the information you are looking for, for multiple reasons:
The most direct one: because the same pan can serve well a really wide range of rations. We've cooked excellent ...
- 314
19
votes
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Why does baking cooked rice not overcook it?
Rice does taste a little different after baking, and its texture is also a little different, but the reason it is not mushy or overcooked is that the recipe controls the moisture levels. Totally ...
- 11k
19
votes
Why does baking cooked rice not overcook it?
There are several factors involved here.
Being stuffed
This plays quite a big role. My mother would usually run out of peppers and place the extra stuffing in the pan alongside the peppers. The ...
- 132k
17
votes
What are Japanese rice seasoning packets called?
I think it's called furikake. Per Wikipedia:
Furikake is a dry Japanese seasoning meant to be sprinkled on top of cooked rice, vegetables, and fish. It typically consists of a mixture of dried fish,...
- 199
17
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Could overfrying and/or undersimmering the Spanish rice have caused it to develop a cardboard-like taste and a pungent odour?
The simple explanation is that your mother regularly burned the rice. That would cause all of the off flavors you mentioned. The fact that she says it should be "really dark" would ...
- 54k
16
votes
Why don't most non-East Asian varieties of rice stick together?
Please see the excerpt below from this page . There is also a chart that lists different types of long, medium, and short grain rices and their characteristics and usage examples.
Rice is composed ...
- 18.3k
16
votes
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Reducing the moisture in cooked rice for making fried rice
Kenji López-Alt from Serious Eats dealt with the exact same issue (section Rule #2: plan in advance if you can, but don't worry if you don't). To sum up his findings:
Rice only need to be dry, not ...
- 4,618
16
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How to prepare rice in rice cooker so it won't become sticky or clumpy, like Indian takeout in the US?
There are many different ways of cooking rice, and you might not want to use a rice cooker if you really want individual grains, as it was developed for cuisines / rice varieties that are stickier.
...
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15
votes
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Why is rice parboiled? And how does parboiling change rice?
The following excerpt answers questions 1 and 2. Additionally it reduces the cooking time for the parboiled rice.
Also known as converted rice, parboiled rice has been pressure-steamed
and then ...
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15
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Is it possible to remove the smell from rice mistakenly stored in a detergent box?
It smells like detergent because it has absorbed chemicals not designed to be eaten.
Trust your nose, which is warning you! and move on.
Why risk yours or somebody else's health for such little gain ...
- 251
14
votes
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How did I screw up this rice pudding recipe?
I've never made a baked rice pudding before but I have a couple of guesses at what went wrong...
1. Chosen rice preparation method caused loss of needed starch.
First, I don't think the type of rice ...
- 16.2k
14
votes
Why does rice go bad next day?
Leftover rice is one of the most common causes of food poisoning. Once cooked it needs to be immediately cooled down if you aren't going to eat it straight away, and it needs to be kept cold until ...
- 141
12
votes
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Sushi rice not sticking to each other
It's hard to say exactly which thing was the issue. Rice sticks to itself because of starch on the surface.
As Joe pointed out, if it's actually still wet, it's not going to stick. It doesn't get ...
- 57.9k
12
votes
How to prepare rice in a very real emergency - no boiling (no electricity or alternatives)?
Do not eat raw rice, you might get very ill. From LiveStrong:
Lectin is a protein that serves as a natural insecticide with a strong affinity for carbohydrates. Found on uncooked rice and beans, ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible