Rice is an incredibly popular product: it is used to prepare a variety of side dishes and cereals, wrapped in rolls and added to salads, simmered in pilaf and kneaded into risotto. It is a valuable source of protein, vitamins, minerals and complex carbohydrates. But, despite its popular popularity, many people wonder how to cook rice so that the dish turns out delicious?
In order to fully enjoy the taste of a properly prepared dish, you need to figure out which type of rice is most suitable for it. After all, each type of rice has its own unique advantages. Let's figure it out together!
You can see several different types of MAKFA rice on store shelves. They all differ in cooking time, taste and method of use in various dishes.
How wonderful is rice porridge?
Every dish is doomed to always have supporters and opponents, pros and cons. Rice porridge did not escape this fate. A dish made from the now popular brown rice is considered healthier. The fact is that when grinding ordinary cereals, the fiber necessary for the body is removed. Brown is not sanded. Accordingly, the fiber remains in place. Ordinary rice is sometimes also evaporated using various treatments. This leads to the fact that it no longer contains useful substances. Only fast carbohydrates remain.
But there are plenty of carbohydrates in both types of cereals. The calorie content of brown is much lower than white. And from the point of view of benefits, this type wins completely and irrevocably. By the way, wild brown is a wild grass. How it got the name “rice” - history is silent about this.
Porridge made from rice is healthy, being a storehouse of complex carbohydrates. This cereal is a strong absorbent that cleanses the body of excess salt, destroying waste and toxins. There is no gluten in it.
The harm of this dish is reflected in the binding effect. But it is harmful for those who suffer from constipation. Consumption of cereals is not recommended for diabetics and people with excessive weight.
Important Tips
The professional chef camp is divided into two when it comes to rice selection. Brown aside, the debate is always about short grain and long grain. Both species have equal numbers of supporters. But still, round grain is better suited for porridge, it is sticky and softens. Long-grain, crumbly, dry. It goes well with seafood dishes as a side dish. It is also often used in risotto, especially in Russia.
Italians often prepare risotto from the Arborio variety - this is a medium-grain rice. But the point is that real risotto is not porridge yet, but very close.
Round-grain varieties are closer to medium-grain varieties, and they are better suited for porridges. To obtain a delicate composition, without large expenses for the budget, we can and should recommend the “Krasnodar” variety. All supermarkets sell loose rice, which costs an order of magnitude cheaper than what is packaged. That's why it's worth taking.
You can prepare cereals in various ways. There are supporters of cooking cereals according to Chinese recipes, and others according to others. Basically, the difference in how to cook rice porridge lies in one simple nuance. Place the cereal in boiling or cold water.
Still, for porridge, it is better to put the cereal in boiling water, but you need to rinse it in any case, due to which it does not turn out viscous, but becomes crumbly, although for this you also need to strictly follow the cooking process and time. Some Chinese provinces do not recognize rice washing, believing that there are a lot of useful substances on the surface of the grains that are washed off with water. And they are not far from the truth.
Each housewife comes to her own recipe by trial and error.
Preparing to cook
There are many varieties of rice, but the average person only needs to know two: long-grain white and round.
It is the first type that is best cooked in water, while the second makes an excellent milk porridge. Long-grain rice is more fluffy and quick to cook, making it better suited for novice cooks. Washing the rice is a must. However, the reason is not its contamination, but the coating with talc powder, which is produced for long-term storage and transportation. It is a carcinogen and, if consumed regularly, increases the risk of stomach cancer, so the container with rice must be filled with water, after which the contents must be thoroughly stirred with a spoon. The liquid is drained and the procedure is repeated to achieve a better result. Soaking is recommended to reduce cooking time, but is not at all a prerequisite. It should be taken into account that the volume of rice infused with water increases, and the amount of liquid poured into the pan decreases.
How to cook without milk
There are two simple recipes for making thick and thin porridge without milk using water.
№1
What is necessary:
- rice - 300 g;
- water - 600 ml;
- butter - 100 g;
- salt;
- sugar.
To properly cook rice porridge, you need:
- If the porridge is prepared from steamed rice, it must be soaked for half an hour.
- Otherwise, you need to sort out the cereal. It is more convenient to do this in a sieve.
- Then rinse the cereal in a groove in two stages. First in warm, then in cold.
- Pour rice into a pan previously placed on the stove with boiling water. The water can be salted at the beginning or before the end of cooking.
- As soon as the water boils again, the fire should be reduced to minimum. Cook the porridge for 20 minutes.
- By this time, the rice will have absorbed all the water. Add butter, sugar and salt to it. Mix the porridge well. Let the oil disperse. Mix again. Place on plates and serve the dish.
Photo recipe:
№2
What is necessary:
- rice - 240 g;
- water - liter;
- sugar - 60 g;
- salt - 5 g;
- butter - 50 g.
Recipe for water:
- Rinse the cereal under a cold stream.
- Boil water in a saucepan on the stove. Add rice.
- From the moment it boils again, cook over low heat. Readiness is checked by testing. The cereal will take up water in about 20 minutes.
- Throw it into a colander. Rinse.
- Take the sugar norm.
- Prepare salt.
- Cut off the desired piece of butter.
- Add the listed ingredients to the porridge. Mix. Let stand for a quarter of an hour.
The cooking process in the photo:
Steamed fluffy rice
Modern technology for processing grain with steam makes it possible to obtain unique fluffy rice, which when finished looks like “rice to grain.” The grains of this rice do not stick together and retain clear contours even when the dish is reheated. Thanks to steam, the grain becomes harder and acquires an amber hue.
What to cook?
Use it in Asian dishes and any variation of pilaf with meat or vegetables.
How to cook fluffy rice in a saucepan
Cooking time: 25 minutes.
Proportions: 1 cup rice - 2.5 cups water.
- Choose a suitable vessel: it should be a thick-bottomed pan, cauldron or tagine. You should not use enamel pans, as the rice can burn in them and ruin the flavor of the dish.
- Rinse the rice once to remove excess starch.
- Cover the rice with cold water and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes without stirring or lifting the lid.
- Don’t be surprised if the steamed rice changes its color from amber to snow-white during the cooking process, this is normal.
Steamed rice has a great advantage over other types of rice: it retains up to 80% of the vitamins and minerals contained in the grain shell.
With milk, Moroccan style
Ingredients:
- rice “Krasnodar” - 480 g;
- cold filtered water - 500 ml;
- milk 2.5% - liter;
- butter - 100 g;
- salt;
- vanilla sugar - 3 g;
- fresh berries (optional)
- sugar - 120 g.
Cooking method:
- Rinse the cereal well under ice water. Pour into a bowl. Soak for an hour. The ratio of cereal and water is 1 to 1. After this, pour out the liquid. Place the rice in a colander.
- Boil half a liter of water in a large saucepan or saucepan. Add the washed cereal. Cook over moderate heat until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. This will take 10-12 minutes.
- Pour enough milk into the saucepan. Add salt. Cook over moderate heat for a quarter of an hour.
- If you need to get a thinner porridge, add an additional 250 ml of milk to the saucepan shortly before the end of cooking. Cook the porridge for a couple more minutes. When the porridge is ready, add sugar and butter. Mix.
- Divide among plates. It is recommended to serve the dish with jam or fresh berries. Alternatively, the porridge is delicious with cocoa or honey.
- If the porridge is supposed to be cooked with fresh berries, it is better to make a sauce from them. Heat the butter in a saucepan and add sugar. Cook until the sugar and butter are completely melted.
Option 3: Rice porridge without milk with the addition of young peas
A simple recipe for a delicious side dish for baked meat or fish for the whole family. And rice porridge without milk is also good for the body.
What products will be needed for cooking?
- Any type of rice – 300 gr.;
- Pure water – 500 ml;
- A jar of canned peas;
- Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- Salt and coarsely ground pepper - to taste.
Preparation:
Rinse the rice thoroughly in running water until it becomes clear.
Place the rice in the heated oil and dry it, stirring evenly and frying in the oil.
Add water to the pan, stir and cover the rice with a lid for 5 minutes.
Add spices, stir, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
As soon as the grains become soft, add a can of peas, stir, and after heating the side dish, serve it.
Delicious advice! To make the dish look brighter and more elegant, you can add corn or diced sweet peppers along with the peas. And in order for the rice to be crumbly, before cooking it must be rinsed very well, you can even pour boiling water over it for a short time.
Sweetness to joy
Products:
- Short grain rice - 200 g;
- milk - 450 ml;
- water - 200 ml;
- raisins - 80 g;
- fresh strawberries - 50 g;
- unsalted butter - 60 g;
- sugar, salt - optional.
Preparing sweet porridge:
- Sort the grains and rinse until clear water.
- Pour water into the saucepan. Add rice. Cook over moderate heat, stirring regularly.
- When the cereal takes up all the water, pour milk into the saucepan. If the porridge needs to be thinner, increase the amount of milk indicated in the recipe to 600 ml.
- We remember how long to cook - only 8 minutes. Then add sugar, salt and steamed raisins.
- After the porridge is ready, you need to cover it with a lid and remove from the heat. You can cover the top with an additional kitchen towel. Leave for 15 minutes. Add butter. Mix. Divide among plates. Place fresh strawberry halves on top and serve.
Amazing crumbly
Ingredients:
- steamed rice - 160 g;
- milk - 220 ml;
- water - 220 ml;
- sugar - 30 g;
- salt - 5 g;
- butter - 60 g.
The process of making porridge crumbly with milk and water is very simple:
- Rinse the rice in cold water. Pour it into a saucepan. Pour in water. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes.
- By this point, the water should be completely absorbed into the cereal.
- Pour in milk. Stir well. Continue cooking.
- When the porridge boils, add sugar. Mix again.
- Then add salt. Mix again.
- Continue stirring until the rice has absorbed all the liquid again. If the cereal is not ready (you need to try), pour in a small amount of hot milk.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Cover with a lid. Leave for 10 minutes. Then arrange on plates and serve the dish. Place a piece of butter on top of the porridge.
How long to cook rice porridge in water for a child with diarrhea
If a child has diarrhea, it is recommended to use rice water. This folk method is worth using, because unlike drugs, it always works and is harmless. But the main treatment should be prescribed by a doctor, because rice water for diarrhea is just an aid in treatment.
Children's bodies can also react allergically to certain types of medications. That is why, when diarrhea is detected, the first step is to prepare rice water. In addition to its nutritional value, the decoction is useful because it envelops the walls of the stomach, preventing passage of harmful microorganisms. The decoction recipe is very simple:
- A third of a glass of cereal should be soaked in cold water for a couple of tens of minutes.
- At the same time, half a liter of clean, filtered water is boiled. Tap water should not be used.
- Pre-soaked rice is added to boiling water, which needs to be cooked for 50-60 minutes . To avoid burning, the rice should be stirred from time to time.
- After a little less than an hour has passed, the fire can be turned off. The next step is to let the rice cool for a couple of hours.
- When the liquid has cooled, you need to take gauze and strain it. Rice water for diarrhea is ready for use.
Diarrhea should go away if you give the child 2-3 tablespoons of decoction . The approximate time to relieve irritation is about a day after starting to take the decoction.
With pumpkin
№1
Ingredients:
- pumpkin - 1 kg;
- milk - 500 ml;
- round rice - 120 g;
- butter - 100 g;
- sugar;
- salt;
- spices.
Recipe:
- The fruit must be peeled. To cut in half. Clean out the seeds and inner fibres. Cut into medium cubes.
- Place the pumpkin in a saucepan. Add water until it barely covers the slices. In the process, it will give additional juice. Place the saucepan on the stove. Wait until it boils. Reset the fire. Cook for a quarter of an hour.
- Pour in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The milk may escape. Add sugar. Add some salt.
- After the milk boils, pour rice, rinsed until clean, into a saucepan. Wait until it boils.
- Reduce the fire to minimum. Cook the porridge for 20 minutes until the rice is completely cooked.
- Add butter to the prepared porridge.
- When serving, you can add pieces of different fruits to the saucepan. Divide into plates and serve.
№2
Products:
- milk - liter;
- pumpkin - 200 g;
- sugar - 45 g;
- salt - 10 g;
- round rice - 240 g;
- vanilla sugar;
- cinnamon.
Preparation:
- Peel the pumpkin. Cut into two halves. Remove seeds and inner fibers. Cut the pulp into medium cubes.
- Rinse the cereal until clear water.
- Pour milk into a large saucepan. Place the container over moderate heat. When the contents boil, add a little vanilla sugar (to taste), regular sugar. then add pumpkin. After the contents boil again, add rice. Cook for a quarter of an hour. Stir constantly.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Let cool slightly. Divide among plates and sprinkle a little ground cinnamon on top (optional).
In a pumpkin
The process of cooking porridge in pumpkin is very interesting.
Ingredients:
- pumpkin - medium size;
- rice - 240 g;
- raisins - 190 g;
- sour cream - 250 g;
- salt - 5 g;
- sugar - 50 g;
- chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
Preparation:
- Boil the washed cereal in boiling water for 10 minutes. Rice should be al dente. Throw into a colander. Drain the water completely.
- Wash the pumpkin well. Cut off the “lid”. Carefully remove the seeds and inner fibers. The pulp must be removed so that the sides of the pumpkin are no more than 2 cm.
- In a suitable container, combine boiled rice and steamed raisins. Add the amount of sour cream and sugar. Grind the removed pumpkin pulp with a grater. Beat the eggs with a mixer at medium speed. Pour the mixture carefully over the rice. Stir the contents carefully.
- Transfer the resulting mass into the prepared pumpkin. Cover with a lid. Place in the oven for an hour at 180°Ϲ. When ready, remove the pumpkin from the oven. Cool slightly. You can take the entire pumpkin to the table and place it on plates. This will look more impressive than simply placing the dish on plates in the kitchen and serving.
In a slow cooker
Products:
- rice - 200 g;
- sugar - 120 g;
- baked milk - 250 ml;
- water - 250 ml;
- dried apricots - 50 g;
- prunes - 50 g;
- pumpkin - 50 g;
- butter.
Preparation:
- Pour the cereal into the multicooker bowl. Add sugar. Pour in the required amount of water and milk.
- Add pre-soaked dried apricots, raisins cut into strips and processed pumpkin pulp. The pumpkin needs to be cut into small cubes.
- Add butter to the bowl. Add some salt. Set the multicooker to the “Porridge” program for a full cycle.
- When the signal sounds, transfer the finished dish to plates. Decorate with fresh berries and serve.
Preparing children's breakfast
Rice porridge with water is no more difficult to prepare than a similar dish made on the stove or in the oven. Pour drinking water into the multicooker bowl and bring to a boil in baking mode. After the liquid begins to boil, add round rice and granulated sugar. In this composition, the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, covered with a lid and cooked in porridge mode for 25 minutes. After the specified time has passed, chopped cinnamon, raisins (pre-processed) and butter are added to the dish.
After mixing all the components again, cover them with a lid and leave in heating mode for 20-35 minutes. During this time, all grains of rice should be completely boiled, making the porridge more viscous and thick.
After the dish is ready, it is placed on a plate and served for breakfast along with a sandwich with butter and cheese. Rice porridge with raisins, made according to the recipe described above, turns out very tasty, and most importantly, healthy and nutritious.
Dish "Bounty"
The list of things that can be prepared from porridge includes the surprisingly “Bounty” dish.
Ingredients:
- rice flakes - 50 g;
- coconut milk (can be replaced with regular milk) - 300 ml;
- sugar - 100 g;
- coconut flakes - 50 g;
- butter - 20 g;
- bitter chocolate - 40 g;
- cream - 60 g.
Preparation:
- Boil milk in a saucepan.
- Add cereal to milk. Add coconut and sugar. Bring contents to a boil. Cover with a lid. Remove from the stove and leave the porridge to brew.
- During this time, chop the chocolate. Pour cream into it and dissolve in a water bath. Microwave can be used.
- The dish is ready. One step left.
- Place the porridge in a bowl. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Sprinkle with coconut shavings and serve the dish.
Cooking process
Before cooking rice porridge in water, the cereal should be thoroughly processed. We described how to carry out this process at the very beginning of the article.
After the rice is prepared, pour plain water into a deep bowl or saucepan, add a little salt and place on the stove. After the liquid begins to boil strongly, add rice cereal to it. To make such a dish more nutritious, a small piece of butter (or a little vegetable oil) is also added to the dish.
Reduce heat to low. The crumbly rice porridge in water should be cooked over medium heat for about 30 minutes. At the same time, it should be stirred occasionally.
After the cereal swells, remove the pan with the porridge from the stove and leave it aside for another half hour.
There is another way to prepare this dish. As in the first recipe, rice cereals are placed in already boiling salted liquid, cooked until tender, and then thrown into a sieve, washed with cold water and scalded with boiling water. Finally, add a little butter to the dish, cover tightly and leave to simmer for about half an hour.
Also, crumbly rice porridge in water can be prepared in another way. Boil the cereal until it swells, then transfer it to a water bath and cook for another 30 minutes. During this time, the rice will be completely boiled, and you will have a very satisfying and nutritious porridge.
Instant cooking
Products:
- round rice - 150 g;
- water - 150 ml;
- milk - 150 ml;
- bananas - 250 g;
- sugar - 60 g;
- salt - 5 g;
- butter - 60 g.
Preparation:
- Rinse the cereal. Pour into a saucepan and add water. Boil, add salt, cover with a lid. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Boil the milk.
- Add rice. Stir. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes.
- Add sugar.
- Grind the banana into porridge.
- Add banana to rice. Stir.
- When serving rice porridge, add oil to the plate.
Making rice porridge with pumpkin in the oven
Rice porridge with water, the recipe for which involves the use of pumpkin, is not only very tasty, but also healthy for the body. This dish satisfies well and lowers cholesterol.
So, before you cook rice porridge in water, you need to prepare:
- round rice - 1 cup;
- drinking water – approximately 800 ml;
- fresh or frozen pumpkin – approximately 250 g;
- coarse granulated sugar – 1 dessert spoon;
- table salt - a pinch;
- high-quality butter - use as desired.