Effortless Asian Cuisine: How to Make Sticky Rice in a Rice Cooker
When a friend came to my house and wanted to eat sticky rice, but there was no special steamer at home. Therefore, I cooked it in an rice cooker. Unexpectedly, it was very successful. Today, I will share with you the skills of cooking sticky rice flour in an rice cooker. It's super simple!
How to make sticky rice in a rice cooker?
First, prepare the sticky rice. The choice of sticky rice is very important. It is recommended to choose fresh and plump sticky rice. In this way, the cooked sticky rice will taste better.
After washing the sticky rice, soak it in clear water for 3 - 4 hours or longer to allow the sticky rice to fully absorb water. The cooked rice will be more glutinous and soft, and the cooking time will also be shorter.
Next, drain the soaked sticky rice and then put it into the rice cooker. Add an appropriate amount of clear water. The amount of water should be slightly less than that of the sticky rice, about 0.8 - 1 times the amount of sticky rice. The specific amount of water can be adjusted according to personal taste. If you like a softer texture, you can add a little more water. If you like a slightly harder texture, you can add less water.
Then, cover the lid of the rice cooker and press the cooking button to start cooking. After the rice cooker automatically jumps to the keep warm button, don't rush to open the lid. Let the sticky rice simmer in the rice cooker for about 5 minutes to make the sticky rice more flavorful and softer.
Finally, open the lid of the rice cooker and gently stir the sticky rice with a rice spoon. You can eat it! According to your own preferences, you can add some ingredients such as red dates, wolfberries, and sausages to increase the taste and nutrition.
How to make sticky rice in rice cooker without soaking?
sticky rice can also be cooked in an rice cooker without soaking in advance, but it takes longer.
First, you need to wash the sticky rice and then put it into the rice cooker. Be sure to add enough water. Because the unsoaked sticky rice is relatively dry, the amount of water is about 1.5 times the height of the sticky rice.
Then you can add a small spoonful of oil to the pot. Oil can make the cooked sticky rice more shiny and smooth. You can add some sugar or salt according to your own taste for seasoning.
After that, press the cooking button. After the cooking button jumps up, don't rush to open the lid. Let the sticky rice simmer in the pot for about 10 - 15 minutes. Unsoaked sticky rice is relatively hard. Letting it simmer for a while longer can make it cooked thoroughly. The texture will also be softer and avoid undercooked situations.
What is the ratio of water to rice for sticky rice?
It depends on the hardness of the sticky rice.
The amount of water added to the boiled sticky rice is related to the hardness of the sticky rice, under normal circumstances, if the sticky rice is soaked for 2-3 hours in advance, the water is slightly lower than the sticky rice, and the water is 0.8-0.9 times that of the sticky rice. This is because the soaked sticky rice has absorbed some water and does not need much water to cook.
If there is no sticky rice is not soaked, then the water should be more, about 1.3-1.5 times the height of the sticky rice, only in this way can ensure that the sticky rice can fully absorb water, and the cooked sticky rice will not be too dry and hard.
However, it should be noted that there are also some differences in the cooking situation of different brands of rice cookers. If your rice cooker is dry, you can put a little more water; If the rice is moist and soft, the water can be slightly less. You can adjust the ratio of water and rice according to the temper of your rice cooker and the taste of sticky rice.
Can you make regular rice into sticky rice?
Ordinary rice can't be turned into sticky rice.
In essence, ordinary rice and sticky rice are different varieties. The starch in sticky rice is almost all amylopectin, which gives it a sticky and soft taste. Ordinary rice contains more amylose, so the taste is looser and less sticky.
However, if you want to make the taste of ordinary rice close to sticky rice, you can add more water when cooking, cook the rice softer, or add a little starch to increase the viscosity, but this is only slightly similar in taste, and real sticky rice is still very different.
How to make rice fluffy and not sticky in rice cooker?
If you want to use a rice cooker to cook fluffy and non-stick rice, you need to pay attention to the following tips.
First of all, the taste of rice cooked with different rice types is very different. Generally speaking, choosing fresh, full-grained rice will make it easier to cook fluffy, non-stick rice.
Secondly, washing rice is very important. Just wash the rice gently 2-3 times. Don't rub it too hard when washing the rice, otherwise the nutrients of the rice will be lost and the starch on the surface of the rice will be lost too much, causing the rice to become non-sticky.
Then, adding water is also very particular. Generally, the ratio of rice to water is about 1:1.2 - 1.3, but different rice has different water absorption and can be fine-tuned according to the actual situation.
Before cooking, you can drop a few drops of cooking oil into the pot. The cooking oil can make the rice more shiny and prevent it from sticking to the pot.
After cooking, do not open the pot immediately. Let the rice simmer for another 10-15 minutes to use the residual heat to make the rice fluffier.
After boiling the pot, use a rice spoon to gently stir the rice from the bottom. This will loosen the rice and prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Does adding more water make rice sticky??
Adding too much water will make the rice sticky.
You should know that there is a certain amount of starch substance in rice. When cooking rice, if too much water is added, the starch will be overly gelatinized. Excessive water wraps the starch and makes the connection between starch molecules very tight. The rice will become sticky and mushy. The taste will also become soft and lose its granularity.
Personally, I think the sticky rice taste is not very good. The rice is easy to form lumps. It is difficult to fry out the effect of distinct grains and rich taste.
Solution
If you accidentally add too much water, after the rice is cooked and the rice cooker trips, don't open the lid immediately. Let the rice simmer in the pot for a while to let some of the excess water evaporate as much as possible.
Secondly, you can force out the excess water. You can press the rice with chopsticks or a spoon to let the excess water gather at the bottom of the pot. Then open the lid. In this way, the stickiness of the rice will be reduced to some extent. However, this method may not completely solve the stickiness problem, but it will improve.
