Can You Fry Uncooked Rice
You can fry uncooked rice, and it makes a great, crispy addition to any meal. To fry uncooked rice, simply heat some oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the rice and cook it until it is crispy and golden brown. Do stir it frequently so that it doesn’t stick or burn.
Fry-in the-raw rice really helps enhance the flavor of the rice, and it creates a greater texture all over your rice than boiling the rice. When using uncooked rice in a fried rice recipe, you need to wash the rice and soak it prior to cooking.
| Steps | |
| Pot | Add the rice to a pot of water |
| Water | Bring the water to a boil over high heat |
| Rice | Reduce the heat to medium and cover the pot with a lid |
After rice is thoroughly drained, it is stir-fried for several minutes using small amounts of oil in a large pan. The cooking process caramelizes the starch of the rice, and the oil, which is roasting the raw rice, becomes the flavor vehicle. Roasting uncooked rice in cooked fat keeps the rice from sticking, and it imparts a delicate caramelized, or roasty, lightly nutty, taste to the rice.
If you are planning on serving something creamy or rich, such as a curry or stew, then cooking the rice in butter or coconut oil gives it a light, oily texture, which compliments anything creamy or rich. Mediterranean cuisines might benefit from toasting rice in olive oil, and more Middle Eastern dishes would taste great with rice sauteed in butter.
Rice can be either toasted in a dry skillet, or browned in butter with some aromatics, then added to a liquid before cooking (as in a risotto). Rice is cooked by boiling water with salt until the liquid is reduced to the texture of a thick porridge. In India, rice is generally cooked by boiling in water, since this makes the rice softer, and rice water is generally discarded. Roasting the rice before boiling involves briefly roasting, pan-frying, or roasting, the grains, making the rice slightly brown before going in water.
If you are cooking rice from scratch in order to make fried rice, be sure to wash away any excess starch first. Whatever the case, if your rice looks dried or if it is still firm or crispy after absorbing all of the liquid, add in up to 1/2 cup of water and bring back to a boil, covered. Rinse and wash under running cold water until clear, brushing rice in your hands a few times, for about 1 minute.
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Once the 2 cups water has reached a full boil, strain out the water from the pot, then return the rice to the same pot. While you are waiting for 2 cups of water to heat, put 1 cup of uncooked white rice in another bowl, and pour in just enough cold water to fully submerge the rice. Keep in mind you might need to cut your cooking time a few minutes short because the rice has already been heated.
Cook until the rice has absorbed water and is soft, about 10-15 minutes, or according to manufacturers directions. Deep-fry rice pieces, one at a time, leaving ample space around each, until crisp and golden. Add onions, garlic, and carrots, saute in the middle of the wok for 1 minute, and mix in with the rice to combine. The second trick is to do batches, adding at most a cup of rice at a time in the wok, STIRRING it immediately after going in so that it is well coated with oil.
Seasoning rice after it is cooked and ready to be served may help impart a little flavor, but the key is to let flavours explode before the rice has even touched the water. Also, toasted rice can help to infuse more flavor and rich, nutty texture into your dish, making it that much more delightful. Many people assume that stir-fry gets all its flavours from the sauce, but that starts by cooking in oil first, before adding the other ingredients. Just like how I would put herbs into a tomato sauce before mixing with the noodles, I love adding fresh, green elements into a fried rice dish before serving.
If you begin with sticky, hot, freshly cooked rice, your fried rice will come out limp, lacking those distinctive, chewy grains that a good stir-fry has. A freshly made batch of hot (or even lukewarm) rice is not going to preheat very well once it hits a hot pan, and it will end up in mushy, gooey lumps–no good. If you place uncooked rice into the hot pan, the surface of the rice will instantly start popping and crackling due to moisture trapped inside the grains. Meanwhile, internal moisture in the grains will start moving outward, adding moisture to the surface of each grain, and making it harder for rice placed in a cooler to cook.
Left overnight in the fridge, the rice grains will have solidified, making them easier to separate, and decreasing the chances that your fried rice turns out rubbery. If you cannot wait, air-dry freshly cooked rice to remove any moisture, then store rice in the refrigerator a couple hours before baking. If you do not have an hour to wait, you can place still-hot rice on a plate and allow surface moisture to escape.
This process can be done quickly by spreading the rice out on a plate at room temperature, or by chilling the rice in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. To microwave-fix the undercooked rice, add additional water to the rice in the bowl, cover with a paper towel, and cook in the microwave for up to 2 minutes. To make steaming rice, just add rice to a pan filled with water, bring water to a simmer on high, lower the heat to medium-low, and cover the pan. In a very hot pan, using 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil, such as canola or vegetable, fry the raw rice, then remove from pan.
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Stir 1 tablespoon butter into finished rice using a fork to prevent breaking up the rice, which could make it sticky. Rice pilaf traditionally calls for browning or toasting rice in cooking fat before adding water or stock. If you are making stir-fry rice from scratch, it is fine to just heat up the rice for 3 minutes, but if you are using frozen, precooked rice, which is what I recommend, you will want to allow the rice to sit for at least 5 minutes.
Do you have to cook the rice before frying it?
Many believe that fried rice derives all of its characteristics from the sauce, but it begins by cooking in oil before adding other ingredients. The rice’s surface gains flavor by allowing a mild browning in the hot wok. Stirring is done every 30 seconds during this procedure, which lasts around 5 minutes.
What happens if you fry dry rice?
Your rice benefits from cooking into distinct grains. Caramelizing part of the rice’s starches also gives the rice a little taste. Additionally, it includes oil, which may contain scents of its own and aid in dispersing flavors that are fat-soluble in the other components.
How do you fry rice first?
Uncooked rice grains are added to a pan that has been heated with oil. Add this and stir until the grains are just barely covered. The rice is prepared for the boil as they begin to turn a deeper shade of golden and you notice a nutty scent.