bad sticky rice

[nkisu82]

I love the sticky rice that I get with my take out so I went to the asian grocery store and bought this huge bag of glutinous rice. I rinsed it really good and let it soak for an hour. I admit that I boiled it because I don't have a steamer of any kind, but I've read about others who have boiled it instead of steaming it. It turned out horrible. It was really bitter and I couldn't eat it. What did I do wrong and how do I fix it? Or did I just get some bad rice?

[nattythecook]

I have never had bitter sticky rice. I would recommend tasting the raw rice and see if it tastes bitter. If it is bitter, then something is wrong with the rice. Whichever cooking method you use, the rice should never be bitter, unless it's burnt.

You can can cook sticky rice in microwave too. Search 'microwave sticky rice'.

[Sushiqueen36]

You bought glutinous rice which is different than what you were looking for. The type you bought is great if you want the type of sticky rice they serve in bamboo baskets in Thai restaurants (that you generally have to request- it doesn't come with the meal). It requires several hours of soaking and then steaming- I steam mine in cheesecloth in a bamboo steamer. I think you can also boil it but haven't tried that. Here's how Food Network rec's: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/co...

To make the sticky rice you were desiring, look for brands like Nishiki or Calrose - they are fairly common (though I'm in the Asian-rich Northwest)- they will often say "excellent for sushi". They will have easy to follow instructions on the bag. You will immediately notice a difference in color of the grain - the glutinous sweet rice is white white but the Japanese style is translucent.

[nkisu82]

Thank you. I've not read about this difference anywhere. I will try a different type of rice.

[Chemicalkinetics]

nkisu,

I agree wtih sushiqueen. It really depends what you are looking for. If you mean sticky rice, as the rice they serve in typical Japanese restaurants, then the one you bought is not. The one you bought is much sticky and is often served in Thai restaurants and Chinese restaurants as special dish. For example, the lotus leaf glutinous rice. Maybe this is what you want, maybe not:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&am...

If you looking for the slightly sticky rice from Japanese restaurants, then go for something like Kokuho rose or Nishiki rice

[hannaone]

Also agree with sushiqueen -

A few more brands
Hinode
Seoul shik poom
Kokohu rose
AKITAKOMACHI
Hitomi

Many brands will say "Calrose", "Calrose Rice", or "Calrose Style" on the label.

Another tip: Look for "New Crop" on the label

Soaking the rice for at least 1/2 hour prior to cooking is one of the keys to "sticky rice".
You can somewhat control the "stickiness" by longer or shorter soak time.
Cooking the rice "straight from the bag" will give you a firmer texture with more separation of the kernels.

[jvanderh]

aha! I always thought that soaking would remove the starch coating the grains and make it less sticky. It sounds like this is not the case at all! Do you use the soaking water to cook it?

[Sushiqueen36]

Nope- use fresh water. I generally rinse the rice until the water's nearly clear (I'm not obsessive about having clear water), drain and then add fresh water. Sometimes I cook immediately but generally I use my rice cooker which has a timer function so the rice will soak an hour to several hours before cooking.

[jvanderh]

But if you're putting it in the rice cooker to soak, then the rice is being cooked in the soaking water, right?

[Sushiqueen36]

Sorry - yes. I was interpreting your "soaking water" as "rinsing water".

[hannaone]

"Do you use the soaking water to cook it?"

Usually not. Some rice is coated in talc so you rinse well, soak, then rinse again.

Some rice is "fortified" with vitamins, usually with a coating - this rice can be cooked in the soak water.

If I am doing one of the Korean "five grain" rice dishes I will use the soak water.

[jvanderh]

Thanks :-)

[Sushiqueen36]

I wouldn't toss the bag you bought though. One of my favorite all-time desserts is coconut sticky rice with mango. You might as well give it a try since you've already bought the relatively hard to find rice!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
The editors in this recipe suggest using a conical steamer but I've found that lining a bamboo steamer with cheesecloth works just fine.

[huiray]

Ditto the others here - agree with sushiqueen.

In my experience almost any "Asian" or "Japanese" type rice, even Western supermarket medium grain - and even long grain - rice will give you "sticky rice" similar to what you get from your C-A takeout joint, with varying amounts of 'stickiness' depending on your water-to-rice ratio and whether you wash it repeatedly or not. I do stove-top rice cooking.

I myself dislike 'sticky' rice [as opposed to glutinous rice - as in "lor mai kai" or "joong" and other such stuff] and prefer my rice to be fluffy and with discrete grains more-or-less. I use Basmati rice frequently with my Chinese meals, and as my regular rice. Even there, if you use a bit more water it comes out pretty much like the sticky mess you get with "Jasmine Rice" etc.

[whinendine]

Jasmine rice is not a sticky rice! In Thailand and Laos, plain (glutinous rice) sticky rice is served in little bamboo baskets. You usually eat it with something like a larb. If you are talking about "naw mai gai" (sticky rice with chicken, etc. at dim sum house) or "joong" (wrapped in bamboo leaves) these use glutinous rice with various ingredients.

You don't need anything elaborate. My mother used to steam in a wok all the time without the bamboo steamer. In the Asian market, look for a metal item that looking at it one way (from top to bottom) looks like a circumference of a circle then from a side view it has 3 legs coming down. Here is a link to something equivalent:
http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Cookware-Stainless-Steel-Steaming/dp/B0051F76PG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_6.

You can use any wide pot, but when you select the dish that you are going to steam the rice in, be sure you have enough room to get it out of the pot without burning yourself.

Rinse the rice several times and then soak it in water for several hours. See how clear the water is in this:
http://www.iveneverdonethat.com/blog_files/stickyrice.html

Here is a how to from a Thai home cooking site:
http://www.shesimmers.com/2010/09/tha...

I hope this helps. Really it is not that hard and seriously I did try the microwave version once and it worked fine. I haven't used that method again because I don't cook sticky rice that often (my mom does it).

[huiray]

Yes, thanks for the links. Very nice articles.
(BTW the ivenever... link needs a .html at the end of the url, not a .htm)

I don't normally make glutinous rice (what you call sticky rice) at home; I'll have my lor mai kai & etc at restaurants and for dim sum at places outside home. :-)

As I wrote in my post, I delineated what i meant by 'sticky' rice - yes, including Jasmine Rice - as rices that tend to give slightly clumpy rice varying in 'stickiness' depending on type of rice and amount of water used and whether you rinse or soak the rice and how extensively it is done. Again, I don't generally like rice that clumps together when I cook it, hence the reason why I prefer basmati rice. I cook on the stove top in general and have tended to do so over the last 30 or 40 years I've been cooking rice, with a rice cooker being used on occasion only in my early years. :-)

As for steaming procedures and steaming devices, I've certainly done that too, whether in a proper steamer or in a deep pan/pot with water and a dish sitting above the water. A simple tuna can (IIRC what it originally was) with both ends removed serves quite nicely as the stand with the dish+deep pan method (I've even used a shallow smallish bowl on occasion), no need for that thingie from Amazon. The plate or bowl/whatever I steam stuff in would always be one with a rolled edge or all-around lipped edge, which I put in and take out from the steaming pot or pan with the three-pronged adjustable calipers meant for that exact purpose that one can buy from Chinese or "Asian" stores.

[whinendine]

Oh, sorry I misunderstood and thank you for saying so. I'll fix the link. Thank you.

[huiray]

Oh no - No need for any apology. :-)

Yes, I presume what I call "lor mai kai" (糯米雞) - is what you call "naw mai gai".

[whinendine]

I have cooked sticky rice in a pot before but it was on the instructions of the rice bag. Someone had once posted about cooking sticky rice in the microwave and I tried it and it worked. Sorry, I just searched and found a few, but I do not remember which one I tried.

If you have a wok, you can get a stand that sits in there. You put the stand in your wok, add water (level below the height of the stand) and place your dish on the stand then cover. This is what I used for years before getting a steamer. If you do steam your sticky rice, make sure that you soak it overnight (per my Mom).

[jjjrfoodie]

First, I;d ask your takeout place what brand of rice they use and that will give you some idea of the type of rice they use and where they source it.

I love takeout white rice but have found that the typical store brands in clear bags in the big-box grocery stores come in long grain and medium grain white rices but the taste and texture are FAR sub-par to the rice Asian restaruants use. I've try both long and medium grains in white from std. stores and they taste like cardboard and it's likely because they are an enriched grain rice and they seem to be consistantly bad..

When I switched over to buying Asian rice from a local Int'l market that deals in bulk, the results were just like carryout rice.

I'll have to see if I can scrounge up the brand of medium grain Asian style white rice (not basmati or jasmine of course) I buy in bulk but I also buy sushi rice in bulk from the same place and now only use Nishiki brand due to consistantly good results,

If cooking on the stovetop, I rinse rice in a collendor in running water for about 3 minutes, then let it drain. I do not and have never soaked my rice whether for an hour or overnight.

Long and medium grain I do 2:1 water to rice and for sushi rice I do 1:1 water to rice when cooking.

I put both in a heavy bottomed pan with rice/water and bring up to a boil. Once beiginning to boil I turn teh stove down to low and put lid on and let cook on low. Then let rice set with lid on after desired cook time and burner turned off.

For long and medium grained rice I bring to boil, add lid, cook on low for 10 minutes and then let sit lidded with burner off for 15 minutes (I call it the 5-10-15 method- 5 minutes to bring to a boil, the cook 10 and rest 15).
I use same process for sushi rice but do 5-15-15, which is bring to boil, lid and cook on low for 15 minutes and then let rest with lid on for 15 minutes.

Perfect rice every *&&^% time. Also-no peeking once you put the lid on as letting steam escape may affect the water content of your rice.

Good luck.

[hannaone]

What cuisine is your take out? Different cuisines can use different rice for "sticky rice".

For example, Korean "sticky rice" is just standard short or medium grain rice.

[nkisu82]

It's just standard chinese take out in the midwest.

[ipsedixit]

What kind of sticky or glutinous rice did you buy? There are different types.

[nkisu82]

it is Golden Phoenix brand "sweet rice". i attached photos of the bag because honestly i don't know what i'm looking for.

[ipsedixit]

That still doesn't tell me what it is. Generally "sweet rice" is 糯米.

To cook 糯米 you can simply slowly simmer it with some stock, or boil and then reduce heat and let it slowly steam covered on low heat.

[zfalcon]

Boiling should be fine. Shouldn't be bitter unless you burned it? I usually just throw it in my rice cooker though and use the sticky rice setting, which is more or less boiling.

[vttp926]

I don't know how it would be when just boiling it. But in our house, we always soak it overnight.