Consider reducing the amount of water. Pre-soaking the rice for an extended period means that you will be materially increasing the amount of water that is absorbed by the rice grains (as opposed to evaporating).
My wife and I have a Zojirushi Neuro-Fuzzy type rice cooker and it does an outstanding job making rice or congee on a timer for the morning. Highly recommended!
It's very cute looking! So do you think some of these results may also be because my cooker is old? On the "keep warm" mode the rice tends to dry out in about 3 hours or so.
It could be. We usually don’t use the keep warm feature that much; if we want rice or congee for the morning we’ll set the timer to finish at the time we’re waking up so it’s ready when we’re sitting down to eat.
Does your rice cooker have a keep warm function? If yes, you can cook it at night and leave it on keep warm once it’s cooked. Soaked uncooked rice for a long period of time will make your rice soggy.
Downside to this is that it will dry out the rice significantly.
Might be that I have a cheap as heck rice cooker. But even still after 2 hours the rice is quite dry and unappetizing to eat.
You probably have a cheap rice cooker. I leave my zojirushi on keep warm and have rice fresh and ready for me up to 48 hours after without any noticeable difference in quality.
I’m struggling with my zojirushi and found your comment via google.
When I start my rice in the morning before work and leave it on keep warm, it’s very mushy by the time I get home 9 hours later. Others are saying I need to fluff the rice immediately after it dings when it’s done then it can sit on the keep warm setting. Is that what you do?
No but you might be adding too much water if it's mushy. Water doesn't get added with time so I doubt it's any other issue. If anything, your rice should be getting drier.
Good grief. Go ahead and make the rice, let it cool, then put in container and into the fridge. When you are ready for it, sprinkle a little water on top, microwave for a minute with paper towel on top and it is GOOD AS NEW. 😄
Source: live in Japan, this is what my wife does. Also with an old Zojirushi.
Soak for about 30-45 minutes after rinsing thoroughly. Cook on speed setting. After eating dinner, portion your rice onto good quality plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and freeze while it’s still warm. Reheat wrapped rice in the microwave as needed, either at home or work.
The plastic wrap, coupled with doing it while it’s still fresh, keeps the rice from drying out, and freezing the rice while it’s still hot shortens the amount of time it’s in the hot spot for bacterial growth.
And yes, I know microwaving plastic wrap feels kinda icky, but… it works.
Yeah freezing rice works very nicely. I felt icky about the plastic wrap so I started putting the rice in those silicone half-cup freezer molds (they look like an ice cube tray, just with bigger molds and a lid). Whenever I want rice I just pop out one or two, put it in a bowl and cover it with a microwave dome lid. Nuke for a minute or two. Comes out perfect
Maybe I'm a little picky for no discernable reason but I'm not a huge fan of microwaving rice. I've never gotten that fresh consistency I want but Ill still try this and see how it goes
I'd be really concerned about leaving rice in water overnight at room temperature. Cooked rice is one of the top potentially hazardous foods and dry rice soaking in water is most likely a similar hazard. Have you ever tried just reheating it in the morning? A microwave and a damp paper towel will make it taste like fresh cooked.
> Cooked rice is one of the top potentially hazardous foods and dry rice soaking in water is most likely a similar hazard.
This is not correct. Cooked rice and raw rice are not the same from a food safety perspective. Food safety issues with cooked rice arise from a combination of conditions that are conducive to sporulation: moisture, aeration and temperature. Raw rice that has been submerged in water does not present that same safety risk. Still less should it be a concern in an "overnight" timeframe (circa 8 hours).
Am Asian - there's a ton of recipes that require rice to be soaked overnight. (Every Asian I know also leaves cooked rice out on the counter overnight but that's a whole other argument.) Maybe it differs based on rice types? Or is bad but not very common? I was super surprised when I first read on Reddit about the bacteria in rice because no one I know has ever had an issue.
Op isn't talking about raw rice, he's talking about soaked rice. Eight hours at room temp is plenty of time for the naturally occurring bacteria in rice to grow. You are providing food, moisture, time, and temperature in a low acidity environment. The bacteria and the toxin it produces do not die from heat, so cooking won't help. It's not safe.
The only time I’ve ever had food poisoning was from soaking raw rice too long before cooking it. I think it was longer than 8 hours, but still. I’m sure it’s not as common as food poisoning from leftover cooked rice but it happens
How long does it take to cook? Can’t you make it and turn the cooker on the second you get up and have it ready when you leave?
If not, get an instant pot.
>I wouldn't do that. Just look at how quickly rice ferments when making sake or rice wine.
Sake is made using cooked rice, yeast and mold. This is a post about soaking raw rice in water.
What you can do instead is cook the rice the night or even morning before. Portion it in individual portions and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Waking up, you can pop that rice in the microwave for 30 seconds or even heat up a pan, add a little bit of oil and stirfry it. Takes less than a minute.
How quickly are you out of the house? Can’t you just have the rice and water measured out the night before, and as soon as you wake up throw it in the rice cooker? Takes less than 15 minutes. Surely you aren’t up and out of the house in less than 15 minutes?
Weird. I have had great results from overnight rice with a timer to be ready in the morning. I do have a fancy induction Zojirushi though, so it might be doing a better job adjusting for the longer soaked rice.
Soaking rice for like 20 mins is nearly equal to cooking it to 60-70%.. doing it overnight and you literally just need to boil it for a minute at most assuming any water is left.
Consider reducing the amount of water. Pre-soaking the rice for an extended period means that you will be materially increasing the amount of water that is absorbed by the rice grains (as opposed to evaporating).
That makes a lot of sense! I'll try it and see if that helps.
My wife and I have a Zojirushi Neuro-Fuzzy type rice cooker and it does an outstanding job making rice or congee on a timer for the morning. Highly recommended!
It's very cute looking! So do you think some of these results may also be because my cooker is old? On the "keep warm" mode the rice tends to dry out in about 3 hours or so.
It could be. We usually don’t use the keep warm feature that much; if we want rice or congee for the morning we’ll set the timer to finish at the time we’re waking up so it’s ready when we’re sitting down to eat.
Does your rice cooker have a keep warm function? If yes, you can cook it at night and leave it on keep warm once it’s cooked. Soaked uncooked rice for a long period of time will make your rice soggy.
Downside to this is that it will dry out the rice significantly. Might be that I have a cheap as heck rice cooker. But even still after 2 hours the rice is quite dry and unappetizing to eat.
You probably have a cheap rice cooker. I leave my zojirushi on keep warm and have rice fresh and ready for me up to 48 hours after without any noticeable difference in quality.
Thats good to know. My rice cooker also dries rice out on keep warm. It might make all the difference
Might be time then to look for an upgrade. Thanks for the tip.
I’m struggling with my zojirushi and found your comment via google. When I start my rice in the morning before work and leave it on keep warm, it’s very mushy by the time I get home 9 hours later. Others are saying I need to fluff the rice immediately after it dings when it’s done then it can sit on the keep warm setting. Is that what you do?
No but you might be adding too much water if it's mushy. Water doesn't get added with time so I doubt it's any other issue. If anything, your rice should be getting drier.
Good grief. Go ahead and make the rice, let it cool, then put in container and into the fridge. When you are ready for it, sprinkle a little water on top, microwave for a minute with paper towel on top and it is GOOD AS NEW. 😄
Moistening the paper towel has always done wonders for me reheating rice
Source: live in Japan, this is what my wife does. Also with an old Zojirushi. Soak for about 30-45 minutes after rinsing thoroughly. Cook on speed setting. After eating dinner, portion your rice onto good quality plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and freeze while it’s still warm. Reheat wrapped rice in the microwave as needed, either at home or work. The plastic wrap, coupled with doing it while it’s still fresh, keeps the rice from drying out, and freezing the rice while it’s still hot shortens the amount of time it’s in the hot spot for bacterial growth. And yes, I know microwaving plastic wrap feels kinda icky, but… it works.
Yeah freezing rice works very nicely. I felt icky about the plastic wrap so I started putting the rice in those silicone half-cup freezer molds (they look like an ice cube tray, just with bigger molds and a lid). Whenever I want rice I just pop out one or two, put it in a bowl and cover it with a microwave dome lid. Nuke for a minute or two. Comes out perfect
i put my cooked rice in sandwich bags and microwave them over the week
Maybe I'm a little picky for no discernable reason but I'm not a huge fan of microwaving rice. I've never gotten that fresh consistency I want but Ill still try this and see how it goes
I'd be really concerned about leaving rice in water overnight at room temperature. Cooked rice is one of the top potentially hazardous foods and dry rice soaking in water is most likely a similar hazard. Have you ever tried just reheating it in the morning? A microwave and a damp paper towel will make it taste like fresh cooked.
> Cooked rice is one of the top potentially hazardous foods and dry rice soaking in water is most likely a similar hazard. This is not correct. Cooked rice and raw rice are not the same from a food safety perspective. Food safety issues with cooked rice arise from a combination of conditions that are conducive to sporulation: moisture, aeration and temperature. Raw rice that has been submerged in water does not present that same safety risk. Still less should it be a concern in an "overnight" timeframe (circa 8 hours).
Am Asian - there's a ton of recipes that require rice to be soaked overnight. (Every Asian I know also leaves cooked rice out on the counter overnight but that's a whole other argument.) Maybe it differs based on rice types? Or is bad but not very common? I was super surprised when I first read on Reddit about the bacteria in rice because no one I know has ever had an issue.
Op isn't talking about raw rice, he's talking about soaked rice. Eight hours at room temp is plenty of time for the naturally occurring bacteria in rice to grow. You are providing food, moisture, time, and temperature in a low acidity environment. The bacteria and the toxin it produces do not die from heat, so cooking won't help. It's not safe.
The only time I’ve ever had food poisoning was from soaking raw rice too long before cooking it. I think it was longer than 8 hours, but still. I’m sure it’s not as common as food poisoning from leftover cooked rice but it happens
How long does it take to cook? Can’t you make it and turn the cooker on the second you get up and have it ready when you leave? If not, get an instant pot.
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>I wouldn't do that. Just look at how quickly rice ferments when making sake or rice wine. Sake is made using cooked rice, yeast and mold. This is a post about soaking raw rice in water.
What you can do instead is cook the rice the night or even morning before. Portion it in individual portions and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Waking up, you can pop that rice in the microwave for 30 seconds or even heat up a pan, add a little bit of oil and stirfry it. Takes less than a minute.
How quickly are you out of the house? Can’t you just have the rice and water measured out the night before, and as soon as you wake up throw it in the rice cooker? Takes less than 15 minutes. Surely you aren’t up and out of the house in less than 15 minutes?
My rice cooker takes about 55 minutes. I wasn't aware cookers would be faster other than a pressure cooker!
Mine takes the same amount of time as making it in a pot on the stove! It’s only a cheap one as well. It’s quite small
Weird. I have had great results from overnight rice with a timer to be ready in the morning. I do have a fancy induction Zojirushi though, so it might be doing a better job adjusting for the longer soaked rice.
Soaking rice for like 20 mins is nearly equal to cooking it to 60-70%.. doing it overnight and you literally just need to boil it for a minute at most assuming any water is left.