Especially for Rice

I'll admit it.  I LOVE rice.  I probably came to realize that when I was in the Air Force flying in Weather Reconnaissance around the world.  We would go to Japan for 30 days at a time about every six months.  I loved eating off base in the little town of Fussa.  It was right outside Yokota Air Force Bases' main gate.  We would go out in the evening walking around town and then decide on which new restaurant we were going to eat at.  Most of these places were little mom and pop places but they always had good rice.  The funny thing about the restaurants was they had a sample all the dishes listed on the menu made in plastic to match the colors of the food displayed in their front windows if they were a downstairs store.  The meal was all laid out on the plastic plate and looked real.  I have had about every flavor of fried rice I think there was.  Shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice, beef fried rice and even octopus fried rice.  So, this being the month in the Stake challenge that includes rice to add to your food storage, I thought I would add some information on it. 

The world has over 50 000 edible plants. Just three of them, rice, maize and wheat, provide 60 percent of the world's food energy intake.  Rice is a staple food for nearly one-half of the world’s population. In 1990, the crop was grown on 145.8 million hectares of land, and production amounted to 518.8 million metric tons of grain. Although rice is grown in 112 countries, about 95 percent of the crop is grown and consumed in Asia. Rice provides fully 60 percent of the food intake in Southeast Asia and about 35 percent in East Asia and South Asia. The highest level of per capita rice consumption takes place in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam.

Now that we have the facts, lets talk about how to prepare rice.  It seemed to be a mystery to me for a long time on how much water to cook it in.  I have found generally, that two times the water for the amount of dry rice works.  Here is what I got from Chef Tess.

1 cup Uncooked Rice            Cooking Liquid          Cooking Time          Yeild
Long grain white                     1 3/4 cups                     20 min                       3 to 4 cups
Long grain brown                    2 1/4 cups                     40-45 min                  3 to 4 cups
Parboiled                                 2 cups                           25-30 min                  3 to 4 cups
Medium grain                          1 1/2 cups                     20-30 min                  3 cups
Short grain                               1 1/4 cups                     20-30 min                  3 cups

Cooking Tips
Use broth, fruit juices or coconut milk in place of water for a change of flavor.
Measure accurately; use dry method for rice, wet method for liquid.
Time cooking accurately; use kitchen timer.
Do not open lid during cooking or moisture will be lost.
Do not stir rice or you will disturb steam vents needed for cooking. 
Rice will expand to 3 to 4 times its volume, so use appropriate size saucepan or casserole dish.
If rice is crunchy and liquid has been completely absorbed, add additional liquid, cover and cook 3 to 4 minutes linger.  Fluff with fork.  That is Chef Tess' way.  

Bob's way.
1.  Determine how much rice you are going to cook.  Put twice that amount of water in a sauce pan remembering that it will expand 3-4 times the amount you put in.  So, of you are going to cook 1 cup of dry rice, put 2 cups of water in the saucepan.
2.  Cover the pan and bring the water to a rolling boil.
3.  Add the dry rice into the saucepan, stir it, recover and turn your burner down to low.  Watch it so it doesn't boil over while the burner cools down.
4.  After about 20 minutes, uncover it and look into the saucepan.  Stick a spoon in it and move the rice to see if there is any water left.  If so, recover and let it cook a little longer until the water is all gone.  When there is no more water in the pan, sample it to see if it is done.  I have never had it not be done cooking it this way.  Now take it out and finish making what ever it was you were going to make with it.  I love making fried rice with all kinds of different things in it.  I even made hot dog fried rice one night.  haha.  I cut the hot dogs width wise, about 1/4 inch thick and then fried it up with the rice adding some soy sauce, dehydrated onion and garlic salt in it.  

Remember that rice can be stored just like wheat and for the same duration with the exception that you can't store brown rice for long term.  It will go rancid after 3-4 years.

The next blog will be about rolled oats.

Have fun with your food storage.
Bob and LouAnn Singer