Rinsing rice before cooking is an Asian practice to remove dirt, dust and excess starch; but it's actually optional. However, we recommend cooking with a little less water if you rinse, because, without the starch to absorb the bit of extra water, your white rice may turn out too mushy.
"[Basmati] rice, that comes from the northern part of India and all the way through to Afghanistan, is a very long-grain rice and long-grain rice absorbs a lot of water," says Tan. "So that's why [South Asian people] always tend to wash the rice first and then, after that, it soaks [in order] for the rice to expand."
If you do not rinse the rice, residual starch from the grains will gelatinized during the cooking process and create cooked grains to be of sticky texture. The rice will look more like risotto than the fluffy rice that are served at restaurants.
Because Japanese rice contains much higher starch and protein than other varieties, it needs washing to remove the excess. The stickiness of rice (from the starch) is important to hold the cooked grains together so that they can be eaten with chopsticks, but if it's too sticky it becomes chewy.
The reason is to get rid of impurities such as dust, rice bran, and potential agricultural chemicals. There are some brands that are pre-rinsed before they are packed, but they are usually 20-30% more expensive.
*(Tip: there's no need to wash Australian rice before cooking to remove foreign matter.) Place a tight-fitting lid on the pan, turn the heat right down and simmer for 17 minutes. (Note: do not lift the lid, or the steam that is cooking the rice will escape.) Turn the heat off.
Yes, in Japan rice is generally washed before cooking, although the English word “wash” doesn't begin to convey the energy you're supposed to expend. To give you a better idea, the verb in Japanese is togu, the same word used for honing a knife against a whetstone.
Have you even wondered why Asian countries have eaten white rice for thousands of years, not brown? Because brown rice is full of phytates and lectins, which bind to vitamins and minerals and prevent them from being absorbed. Phytates are anti-nutrients found in grains and legumes.
When you wash the rice, that surface starch kind of separates from the rice, and it stays in the water. When you actually wash, rinse, or soak white rice, it becomes less sticky. And when you cook it up, the kernels of rice separate and get more fluffy.
Rinse basmati rice very well before cooking.
This will help remove starch from the surface of the grains. Starch is what makes cooked rice sticky and gummy, so for fluffy rice, it is important to remove the starch.
Save the disappointment and let me show you how to cook the perfect jasmine rice, every single time! First, make sure that you rinse the uncooked rice 3-4 times until the water runs clear. This is crucial to get rid of excess starch that makes it soggy.
Rinsing or washing rice removes that excess starch, resulting in grains that are more separate when cooked. (There's the added benefit that rinsing rice before cooking can reduce the level of arsenic, but FDA research shows that the impact is minimal on the cooked grain.)
Why You Should Always Wash Rice. The reason for washing rice (or any food, for that matter) is cleanliness. Rinsing rice removes dirt, dust, debris, chemicals, and bugs—in short, you're getting rid of the types of things you probably don't want to eat in your finished rice dish.
Asian cultures consume fish, offal, seaweed, and fermented food. These nutrient dense staples are rare in the standard American diet. Wheat is mostly out of the picture. Asians aren't leaner because they eat rice, they're leaner because they eat less wheat.
Dirty rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made from white rice which gets a "dirty" color from being cooked with small pieces of pork, beef or chicken, green bell pepper, celery, and onion, and spiced with cayenne and black pepper.
It's imperative that you rinse the rice, and that you use cold water to do so. But the question is, how many times? In Korea, the magic number is three. The secret is to rinse softly, grain against grain, drawing a circle around the washing bowl with your hands.
The bottom line from that group is that if you use US-produced rice, no matter which type (brown, white, wild or the various varieties that come in both white and brown such as basmati, jasmine, sushi or “regular” short, medium and long grained), you do not need to wash the rice before cooking it.
The Nantsuboshi Pre Washed White Rice is a nice, soft, and chewy white rice. This is a short grain rice that cooks up similar to sweet rice - the grains are not clearly defined like Basmati or brown rice, but instead are slightly softer in look and texture.
If you are thinking of washing your rice after it has been cooked, then don't. Rice is not meant to be washed after it has been cooked unless you want your rice to become soggy and sticky. By washing your rice after it has been cooked you will be rinsing off the nutrients such as carbohydrates and proteins.
Japanese rice is also healthier than other types of rice. It is lower in calories and has a higher fiber content. Japanese rice also contains more vitamins and minerals than other types of rice. This makes it a great choice for those who are looking for a healthy alternative to white rice.
While most rice eaten in Asia today is polished into white rice, colored rices (including brown, red, and black) have a long tradition throughout the Asian continent.
Don't leave food behind. It's considered bad manners to leave even grains of rice behind, so be sure to clean your plate! If there are some foods you cannot eat, ask to have them left out of the dish.
Soaking the rice ensures that the moisture penetrates each grain, so that they cook evenly and thoroughly in a relatively short time without getting mushy or leaving a hard uncooked center.
The stickiness of Japanese rice---the way the individual grains cling together----is due to its high proportion of starch. Starch is itself composed of amylose and amylopectin.
White rice generally needs a good rinse before cooking, to remove its starchy coating – not washing it leads to smellier rice that spoils faster. You put the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water and swirl around with your hand, repeating this several times until the water runs clear.