Soaking Details: Time And Temperature

Trouble: Dry rice tends to overcook, because it heats unevenly. While the inside is still dry, hard and undercooked, the outside get mushy, soft, overcooked and sticky. The usual result is porridge rice. This is worse with whole grain brown and wild rice than with white rice.

Whole grain brown and wild rice bran naturally keeps water and heat out. Newly harvested rice contains roughly 1/4 water (25%). Rice is preserved naturally by drying. Sun dried rice looses half its natural moisture, down to roughly 1/8 water (12%). Soaking returns the whole grains to normal harvest moisture (20-30%).

The moisture inside helps transfer heat, cooking more evenly and more quickly.

Soaking raises the moisture content and leaches starch. Once water penetrates the kernel, the water will help transfer the cooking heat from the outside to the inside, allowing the rice to cook evenly. (Dry white rice takes 15 minutes in boiling water for heat to reach the center of the kernel, and half that time, 6-8 minutes, for soaked rice.) Rinse the soaked rice to wash the leached starch, which would otherwise make the rice sticky.

Start soaking in the morning, or the night before. Dry rice is hard and crunchy like pebbles, similar to dry pasta. Wet rice will be hard but not crunchy and taste starchy. (There will still be water left, meaning absorption stops ~30%.)

Soak brown rice for at least 1 hour. Brown rice requires longer soaking than white rice. Measure and soak rice in the morning, for use in the afternoon or evening. 1 hour soaking raises moisture ~10%.

Dry rice is is around 10% moisture. Freshly harvested rice, and soaked wet rice, is 20-25% moisture. That’s twice as much water as dry rice. The maximum water rice holds is 30% moisture, if rice swims in water for a long time. That’s three times as much water as dry rice.

Hot water speeds soaking, but keeping water hot is probably too much work for a home kitchen preparation. A hot soak needs to be stay below cooking temperature, where starches gel, at 55-85C. The hottest soak possible is hot water tap temp of 50 C (122 F). 1 hour at 50 C (hot water tap temperature 122 F) raises moisture to 20%. 4x longer, longer 4 hours at 50 C is required to raise moisture to maximum 30%.

- 2 hours @ 25 C (room temp 77 F) = 20%
-1 hour @ 50 C (hot water tap temp 122 F) = 20%

At room temperature, soaking 36-48 hours brings moisture to an maximum 30%. It’s almost impossible to soak rice for too long.

Trouble: Eventually, brown rice will actually sprout at little rice plant! Try this: After soaking 1 day, the seed needs oxygen, so place in strainer on top a paper towel, and keep the paper towel moist, for 1-2 days.

Simmering Basics: Cooking Brown Rice

Cooking rice with water and heat does two things:

- Gelatinize rice starches. This is the same process that thickens a liquid like a sauce or gravy. Soaked wet brown rice cooks in only 20-30 minutes, compared to dry brown and wild rice which cooks in 40-60 minutes. Starches gel at 55 to 85 C, which is a gentle simmer.
- Pulls additional moisture, from 20-30% to 60%. Fresh or soaked rice has moisture of 20-30%. Cooked rice has moisture of 60%.

The amount of water needed to cook wet rice is equal to the amount of rice. The wet rice to water ratio is 1:1. An equal amount of water was already used to soak the rice, so the total amount of water for soaking and cooking is twice the amount of rice. Instructions for dry rice use twice the amount of water. Half that water rehydrates the rice, the other half cooks the rice.

Simmer brown and wild rice for 20-30 min. Simmer is a very gentle boil. The bottom of a pot, closest to heat, just starts streaming tiny bubbles, and the top of a pot remains below boiling, with steam gently coming off the top. Simmer is typically achieved by bringing water to boil and turning down heat.

Rice is done when starch is just finished cooking, both inside and outside. The grain should be softened but still firm.

Cooked rice expands to about twice the volume of wet or dry rice.

STOVE POT
Measure wet rice into pot, and add measured water, to cover the rice. Bring to slow boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer uncovered to make it easy to watch the simmer, check water level, and test doneness. Simmer uncovered 20-30 min.

Occasionally check water level. Check bottom of pot with wooden spoon. There should be visible water. If dry, add just a splash of water, 1/8 − 1/4 cup.

While checking water level, check rice for doneness.

RICE COOKER
Measure wet rice into rice cooker, and add measured water, to cover the rice. Don’t bother with the rice cooker marks or measuring cup. Close the lid and turn on the rice cooker. The rice cooker will simmer the rice, at the right temperature, without boiling.

The rice cooker stops when the cooking rice has absorbed all the water. The dry pot, without any cooling water, suddenly begins to heats above 100 C, which a thermostat detects and turns off the heat.

Steaming Basics: Don't Burn

Steaming finishes to cook the rice gently while avoiding burning and sticking. Steam brown or wild rice for 10-15 minutes. While steaming, the doneness of rice changes from firm to tender, and the finish of rice changes from moist to fluffy.

When rice becomes firm remove heat. Drain any remaining water. Cover pot and steam rice until tender in its own heat and moisture. While steaming, the moisture finishes moving from outside to inside of the grain, making the rice fluffy, moist but not wet.

Keep the pot covered to keep the rice warm until ready to serve.

Tip: Add a paper tower or thin dish towel between pot and lid to keep steam. The towel will become moist and trap the steam.

Tip: Suspend rice in colander, and simmer small amount of water, covered, to steam cold rice.

Tip: With the perfect amount of water, the rice becomes firm just as the pot becomes dry. It’s difficult to measure the perfect amount of water, because water is lost to steam. Uncovered pots loose more water than covered pots. Wider pots loose more water than a narrow pots. Rapid boil looses more water than simmer. Longer cooking brown and wild rice looses more water than fast cooking white rice. A good rice cooker controls these different variables. Until the perfect amount is discovered, just use extra water, and drain.

Trouble: Once water is gone, the dry pot, without any cooling water, suddenly begins to heat above 100 C. This is when rice begins to burn and stick to the bottom of the pot. If this happens, add enough splashes of water to cover the bottom and begin simmering again. Use a wooden spoon to move some rice and check the water at the bottom of the pot. Don’t scrape or use the burnt rice.

Tip: With source heat removed, the pot and rice retain heat, and the rice continues to cook. As pot and rice gradually cool from simmer temperature (85 C) to hot temperature (50 C), the rice continues to cook. Remember that starches begin to gel from 55 C to 85 C, so they also continue to cook from 85 C to 55 C. If your rice has cooled too quickly, use a warm burner or warm oven to add enough heat so the rice finishes cooking. A rice cooker warm setting adds just enough heat so the rice doesn’t cool too quickly and finishes cooking.

Steaming Details: Rice and Water

Cooked rice, 60% moisture, is 60% water, by weight. Dry rice, 10% moisture, is 10% water by weight. So 50% moisture is added, during soaking and cooking, or +50% water by weight. A cup of rice (200 grams, 7 oz) and a cup of water (236 grams, 8 oz) weigh roughly the same. So the amount of water added needed to soak and cook rice is roughly 1:1. Nearly every recipe uses a total of 2:1 ratio, because half of that water is lost as steam during boiling and steaming.

Tip: With the perfect amount of water, the rice becomes firm just as the pot becomes dry. It’s difficult to measure the perfect amount of water, because water is lost to steam. Uncovered pots loose more water than covered pots. Wider pots loose more water than a narrow pots. Rapid boil looses more water than simmer. Longer cooking brown and wild rice looses more water than fast cooking white rice. A good rice cooker controls these different variables. Until the perfect amount is discovered, just use extra water, and drain.

Tip: With source heat removed, the pot and rice retain heat, and the rice continues to cook. As pot and rice gradually cool from simmer temperature (85 C) to hot temperature (50 C), the rice continues to cook. Remember that starches begin to gel from 55 C to 85 C, so they also continue to cook from 85 C to 55 C. If your rice has cooled too quickly, use a warm burner or warm oven to add enough heat so the rice finishes cooking. A rice cooker warm setting adds just enough heat so the rice doesn’t cool too quickly and finishes cooking.

Tip: Add a paper tower or thin dish towel between pot and lid to keep steam. The towel will become moist and trap the steam.

Tip: Suspend rice in colander, and simmer small amount of water, covered, to steam cold rice.

Tip: Pilafs cook rice in broth. During cooking, you want to concentrate the flavor, not dilute it, so you don’t want to add water. And after cooking, you don’t want to drain and waste excess broth. So getting the perfect amount of liquid is important for pilafs. When cooking a pilaf, keep a sauce pan of extra broth nearby, and add hot broth, not water. Water lost to steam reduces the broth and concentrates the flavor.

Tip: During the steaming step, recipes may also gently cook finishing ingredients like small fresh vegetables or delicate herbs and spices, such as fresh green peas, coconut or cilantro leaves.

Trouble: Once water is gone, the dry pot, without any cooling water, suddenly begins to heat above 100 C. This is when rice begins to burn and stick to the bottom of the pot. If this happens, add enough splashes of water to cover the bottom and begin simmering again. Use a wooden spoon to move some rice and check the water at the bottom of the pot. Don’t scrape or use the burnt rice.

Spicy Baked Potato Wedges

Excellent snack or side. Can modify spice mix to taste. Make a few extra along with any burgers. Most other potato wedges recipes include fats and oils. Fats and oils are unnecessary with the full flavor spice toping, which sticks well with just the potato starch and moisture. Even more flavor comes from dipping in tomato ketchup or barbecue sauce. This is a whole plant food recipe. This recipe is vegan and low fat, but not low salt. Leave out salt if you want. Serves 4. One potato serves 1 person. I often make a few extra for leftovers. One baking sheet holds ~6 cut potatoes.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp black pepper powder
1/8 tsp chili pepper powder

Preparation
Peel and cut potatoes into wedges. Measure spices into ziplock freezer bag and mix. Add potato wedges and shake until coated evenly.
Cook on non-stick baking sheet or baking sheet with parchment paper in 350 F oven for 30-40 minutes.
Test with fork. Once done, use broiler to brown top, 2 minutes Serve with side of ketchup or barbecue sauce.

Mixed Bean Chili

Spicy Central American bean stew. I grind dried chilies in the spice mix and simmer beans from scratch, to really control the flavors, adding some corn and olives for color and texture. Tasted different variations in Chicago and St. George Island, Florida on my recent summer vacation. Serve over rice.

Ingredients
BEANS
1/2 cup dry red beans (kidney), soaked
1/2 cup dry black beans, soaked
1/2 cup dry white beans (pinto), soaked
2 cloves garlic, whole, crushed
2 bay leaves, whole
1/4 tsp black peppercorn, whole
1/4 tsp cumin seed, whole
1/8 tsp salt
SAUCE
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed, sliced
1 tbs ppaprika
2 tsp cumin, ground
2 tsp coriander, ground
1 dried red chili (Guajillo Chili); ground
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, ground
1/4 tsp black peppercorn, ground
1/8 tsp salt
MAIN
1 cup yellow corn
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
FINISH
bunch green onion, chopped
handful cilantro, chopped

Preparation
Prepare by soaking beans overnight, keeping each bean color separate, at least 8 hrs. If mixed together, colors will bleed. Retain the soaking liquid for cooking.
To simmer beans: In large pot add beans, soaking water and extra water, and whole spices. Bring to boil, then turn down and simmer, 2-4 hours, until tender. Tender beans require both overnight soaking and a long time slow cooking. Drain and set aside.
To grind whole spices: Grind whole chili, cumin seed, corriander seed, black peppercorns, and red chili into coarse powder in spice grinder. Set aside. This step can also be done while browning onions, along with chopping base vegetables.
To start base: In large pot, brown onion, lowering heat once it colors, 10-12 min. Add splash of water, tomato, garlic and ground spices, and simmer 2-3 min. Result should be chunky fragrant vegetable mix, without much excess water, which would only slow cooking. Cover with 1-2 inches water and blend coarsely, with hand blender.
Main: To large pot with vegetable base, add beans, corn and olives, and cover with 1-2 inches water. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer, 1 hours until flavors blend together.
Finish: Add green onion and fresh cilantro to garnish.

Spicy Carrot Soup

Spices are inspired from the Caribbean mixture of American, African and Asian cuisine. Though I first tasted from the menu a fancy Italian restaurant in Berkeley, California, at the beginning of a summer vacation trip back east. The hint of curry comes from cardamom and turmeric. Allspice is Caribbean, and I picked up whole allspice berries from West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio, on the same trip. Vegetable base is onion and carrot, with potato for thickening; all roots that keep well. Cooked during the vacation, and adjusted spices back home.

Ingredients
BASE

1 onion, chopped

8 carrots, chopped

1 potato, peeled, chopped

SPICE

1/4 tsp allspice berries, ground

6-12 pods green cardamom seeds, ground

1/8 tsp black peppercorn, ground

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp salt

Preparation

To grind whole spices: Remove cardamom seeds from pods, and grind allspice berries, black peppercorn and cardamon seeds. Set aside. This step can be done while browning onions, along with prepping the main ingredients.

To start base: Brown onion, lowering heat once it colors, 10-12 min. Add splash of water, carrot and potato, and simmer 10-15 min, adding water as necessary. Result should be soft vegetables. Puree in blender and return to pot. Add spices and continue simmer 30 min.

Finish: Garnish with croutons and fresh parsley or cilantro.