Do you wash rice before cooking?

[HotChocolatemarshmallows]

I never have and been eating it for years! Do you?

No because regular rice is already part boiled.

It gets rid of the starch.

The UK eats a lot more rice per portion though

The figures I linked to are in kilos per year.

Several Asian countries including Indonesia have an average consumption of 100 to 150 kilos per person per year.

In the UK, it is about 6kg.

Rinse thoroughly under cold tap until runoff no longer cloudy. Boil in plenty of water. Just before done (still some bite in centre of grain), empty into sieve to drain, then flush through with full kettle of fresh boiling water. Return to warm lidded pan and leave for five minutes. Fork through to separate grains and replace lid. Perfect after another couple of minutes.

Best advice I ever had!

No, I buy good quality basmati and it never sticks.

Yup like @SomethingOnce - except we add a little water with a drip of oil to the bottom when you are steaming it and put it into a cone shape. Cover for a couple of mins, lid off, drizzle oil around the he edge and add a small bit of water, tea towel then lid and turn low for 20 mins.

Now if youve never had tadeeg....

I rinse/soak and use absorption method to cook and my rice is fucking amaze-balls. Even according to my dad (who has never voluntarily complimented me in his life)

If I'm cooking properly then yes, though i more ofyen use microwave tilda these days because it's much more convenient.

I thought absorption was less good in terms of getting rid of traces of arsenic.

Loving the steamy rice cone, Lordfrontpaw, will add this to the procedure next time

Check YouTube for how to make proper Persian rice (I’ve had a glass or two of wine so am sure I’ve not explained it properly)🍷

Yes always (Indian heritage).
Grandparents and DM always rinse until clear, soak, rinse. I'm lazy and just rinse until clear. Not rinsing leads to pish pash (too sticky).
Generally use the absorption method for cooking.

Yes! In Japan it's often rinsed about 50 x before cooking.

I do it about 3 times, rinse off the starch and then cook.

Why do people not know these things?! If you're eating it, if you're putting something in your gob....wash it!

Yes give it a good soak and several washes. You can see the starch and gunk coming out.

I rinse it in cold water pre cooking and in boiling water at the end of cooking, for the wholly unscientific reason that that is what my Mum always used to do. She told me that it stops it clumping together. I am never organised enough to soak it though.
I don't worry excessively about the arsenic content as we are not big rice eaters. We never have it more than once a week and I do use the microwave stuff sometimes (2 packets for 2 adults and 2 teenagers) which obviously you can't wash. I read up on the arsenic issue quite a bit when my DS was diagnosed with CMPA and I was looking into alternative milks and the overall message seemed to be that as long as you are not a baby or toddler and you don't consume huge quantities of rice and rice products then its not worth losing sleep over.

No we rinse in boiling water after cooking. Also gets the starch off.

If rice contains arsenic, then either the entire population of China is immune to arsenic toxicity, or it is present in such infinitesimally tiny quantities that there is nothing to worry about.

I wonder which is more likely?

Not if I'm using "easy cook" style rice or making risotto. But otherwise,yes.

To all the rinsers / soakers are you using the bog standard easy / quick cook rice ? This has already been part cooked so any nastys in it will be already gone or impossible to get rid of with a few pints of water.

I use easy cook and never rinse / wash / soak mine , I Dont have any problems with it sticking together

I buy prewashed. But otherwise yes you must it's too starchy

Yes because it is often dusty and starchy.

I use basmati. I never knew it came prewashed.

No. I mostly use bog standard long grain rice and it doesn’t go clumpy.
I never understand all the fuss about cooking rice.
Rice cookers are good - if you have plenty of worktop space. I don’t.

Yes, gets rid of some of the arsenic

Also I was taught by my Greek grandmother to always add chicken or vegetable stock to both rice & pasta. Rinsing rice after cooking would rinse the stock flavour off...