Since early age of my life, rice has always been a great companion to the main entrees on our dinning table.  My grandma taught me how to wash and cook the rice, and I always follow and honor this tradition since then.  Washing rice is a common must-do before cooking in Asia, a step that American cooks never learned along the way.  And I am sure that you will be surprised with the result.

• Rice processed in USA

During milling and polishing, most of the nutrients are lost.  Therefore, almost all the rice processed in the United States is fortified with vitamins, and minerals.  When you open the package, you see this fortification in the form of a powdery substance.  If you wash the rice, you will be washing away the added nutrients.  You may still want to pre-soak rice in the limited amount of water to increase heat conductivity of the grain to reduce cooking time.  For this purpose, use 3/4 cup of plain water for each cup of rice.

• Rice imported from Asia

The rice imported from Asia is not fortified with any nutrients.  The powdery stuff you see is the starchy residue after milling and polishing.  You should wash and rinse the rice.  The starchy residue will make the rice stick together, and even cause boil over.  You should wash and rinse about 3 times to get ride of the residue.  After washing, the rice should be presoaked to increase thermal conductivity.  Use 1 1/2 cup of water for each cup of rice. 

*For best results, brown rice should be presoaked longer than white rice which is at least 30 minutes before cooking.  Also different kind of rice can be chosen for different kind of cuisine. 

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