They are many types of rice, all of which are gluten free. Knowing how to cook them can increase the range of meals you can prepare for your gluten free diet.
Rice, can be categorized as either short, medium or long grain. Normally, short grain is used for puddings and long grain for savory meals. Medium grain rice can be used for either, but is commonly used for dishes such as paella or risotto.
Let's look at each of these in more detail and then I will provide instructions for cooking rice below.
This has had the husk and bran removed and it has been polished. The grains remain separate and fluffy, if cooked correctly. There are a number of varieties that are generally known as long grain, including...
You can use leftover long grain rice in Fried Rice recipes.
As with brown or wholewheat flour, brown rice contains the whole grain (apart from the very tough husk) and the bran gives it a nutty flavour. It is the most nutritious of all the rice types.
It takes longer to cook than white rice, in fact roughly twice as long! And even when cooked correctly, it may still seem a little chewy. When cooking rice of this type, you need to know that it will absorb a lot more water than other varieties.
We use arborio rice in creamy gluten free risotto recipes.
We normally use this for milky rice puddings as it is a sticky grain. We also use it for the Turkish recipe Dolmas, which uses a rice stuffing for vine leaves and we can use it in risottos, if Arborio rice is unavailable.
Despite its name, Glutinous rice does not contain gluten. They use it in Asia for Sushi and desserts. The grains stick together when cooked.
Wild rice is not actually a type of rice, but a grain. However, I will include it in this list as we use it for the same purpose. It is often available in a mixed bag with basmati.
Black rice is also sometimes know as purple, as it turns that colour when cooked. It is an excellent source of iron. In China, it is used to make black rice cake or bread.
I will outline two methods for cooking white long grain rice. For both you want to measure out around 2 oz or 60 grams per person, and twice that amount of water.
ONLY STIR ONCE: If you continue to stir, you will break the grains and release the starch, resulting in sticky rice rather than it being fluffy.
Ensure you wash brown rice carefully before cooking to remove the debris. Your water will probably end up cloudy after the first wash, so continue until it runs clear.
Whichever way you cook it, rice makes a useful addition to a gluten free diet and can stand in for carbs that are off the menu, such as pasta, couscous or bulgar wheat.
It can also be ground into rice flour and used for baking.
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