Don't we all know, that cutting down on rice in our daily diet will help reduce stored fat in our body? Rice is a grain and digest very quickly, much quicker than meats, or nuts. When they digest, they turn to simple sugars for quick energy. If the energy is not used right away the energy is stored as fat.
I love rice. I cannot live without it. Being a South Indian and coming from a household that eats rice three times a day has made me a rice lover , can I say.. devotee.
So in order to fit rice into my diet , keeping in mind my daily schedule which does not involve much of physical exercise, I had begun to find out ways to cook rice better. I wanted to cook rice in ways which would to make it nice and light and fluffy, removing as much of starch from it as possible.
This method however, works best with white rice( rice that is white in colour) .I haven't tried this with the other varieties of rice (red, brown, black).
This is for all those who love rice but are scared of its starch content.
Rinse rice well before cooking, this helps in removing loose starch making it less sticky. For some varieties like basmati rice where the starch content is very high, soaking the rice in water for 20 minutes also helps remove the starch.
Boil water in a pot. Take about 4 times the amount of water as compared to the amount of rice.
Once water starts boiling briskly, put the rice in and stir well.
Do not cover pot , let the rice boil in the water.
If you like to add salt to rice, add salt now.
After 10- 15 minutes, stir rice around in the pot and check if it has got cooked . This can be checked by squeezing a grain between your fingers. If the grain is soft , the rice has been cooked well. Some might like their rice overcooked while some like it just about right. Cook rice to the level you want it to be cooked.
Once rice is cooked, drain the rice in a colander. In this way a lot of unwanted starch from the rice is removed through the water.
Another way of draining is to close the pot with the lid and tilt the pot until all water is drained out. This way the steam and heat still remains in the pot. The rice can be kept closed in the pot for some more time, allowing the rice to cook more.
This method of boiling and draining rice is better than simmering where the rice to soaks up all the water it cooks in as the water would have a lot of starch.
The difference can be felt while you eat rice cooked in this manner. It is lighter on the stomach and it will not give a full feeling after the meal.
So in order to fit rice into my diet , keeping in mind my daily schedule which does not involve much of physical exercise, I had begun to find out ways to cook rice better. I wanted to cook rice in ways which would to make it nice and light and fluffy, removing as much of starch from it as possible.
This method however, works best with white rice( rice that is white in colour) .I haven't tried this with the other varieties of rice (red, brown, black).
This is for all those who love rice but are scared of its starch content.
Rinse rice well before cooking, this helps in removing loose starch making it less sticky. For some varieties like basmati rice where the starch content is very high, soaking the rice in water for 20 minutes also helps remove the starch.
Boil water in a pot. Take about 4 times the amount of water as compared to the amount of rice.
Once water starts boiling briskly, put the rice in and stir well.
Do not cover pot , let the rice boil in the water.
If you like to add salt to rice, add salt now.
After 10- 15 minutes, stir rice around in the pot and check if it has got cooked . This can be checked by squeezing a grain between your fingers. If the grain is soft , the rice has been cooked well. Some might like their rice overcooked while some like it just about right. Cook rice to the level you want it to be cooked.
Once rice is cooked, drain the rice in a colander. In this way a lot of unwanted starch from the rice is removed through the water.
Another way of draining is to close the pot with the lid and tilt the pot until all water is drained out. This way the steam and heat still remains in the pot. The rice can be kept closed in the pot for some more time, allowing the rice to cook more.
This method of boiling and draining rice is better than simmering where the rice to soaks up all the water it cooks in as the water would have a lot of starch.
The difference can be felt while you eat rice cooked in this manner. It is lighter on the stomach and it will not give a full feeling after the meal.
can find ways to remove starch..bt cant exercise :P
ReplyDeletea very nice read and thanks for the tip.
Most of us cook rice in pressure cooker instead of boiling in a pot. Using pressure cooker also helps to get the rice cooked quickly and saves lot of gas. How can we reduce the starch content in rice by cooking in pressure cooker ?
ReplyDeletethanks for this info. do you know if the same method can/should be applied to lentils, mung beans, etc?
ReplyDelete