Freezing rice?

tiff

If you can buy frozen rice in the supermarket, you can certainly cook it yourself and freeze. You just need to make sure its reheated properly, I would make sure its defrosted before cooking. I have done it myself but plan to make a load when my second freezer in the shed is connected up.

Also if making egg fried rice they always advise to cook the rice first and chill before making egg fried rice as it works better that way.

System

I've been freezing and reheating rice for years with no ill effects

Ben84

You can cook rice in the microwave, in fact it's really easy and gives excellent reliable results.

For one serving I put half a coffee cup in a sieve and rinse under the tap to remove excess starch, then stick it in a bowl with hot water from the kettle (about twice the hight of the rice level) and in the microwave on full (750W for mine) for 11 minutes, remove and strain remaining water. You may have to adjust the time a bit depending on your microwave, but once you know the time it's exact, you can just stick it in and it will be cooked perfectly every single time from them on. Very consistent and easy, you can just ignore it and let it get on with it while you do other stuff as there's no stirring or testing needed this way. No messy pan either, as the heat didn't come through the sides of the bowl it doesn't stick and washes up easily.

marmiterulesok

!!!!!! wrote: »

I've been freezing and reheating rice for years with no ill effects

Yes,me too!

floyd

I use rice for all my single portion work lunches like curry and chilli and have done so for the past 5 years without any problems.
I boil brown rice until cooked then run it under the cold tap until completely cold (I taste it to check). I then portion it out with whatever sauce goes with it but always make sure the sauce is cold first so it can go straight in the freezer.

This would probably work for something like egg fried rice if you store the plain rice in the freezer then just throw it in a frying pan with some spring onions, soy sauce etc to heat it through thoroughly.

totallybored

Ben84 wrote: »

You can cook rice in the microwave, in fact it's really easy and gives excellent reliable results.

For one serving I put half a coffee cup in a sieve and rinse under the tap to remove excess starch, then stick it in a bowl with hot water from the kettle (about twice the hight of the rice level) and in the microwave on full (750W for mine) for 11 minutes, remove and strain remaining water. You may have to adjust the time a bit depending on your microwave, but once you know the time it's exact, you can just stick it in and it will be cooked perfectly every single time from them on. Very consistent and easy, you can just ignore it and let it get on with it while you do other stuff as there's no stirring or testing needed this way. No messy pan either, as the heat didn't come through the sides of the bowl it doesn't stick and washes up easily.

This is what I do too. 250g of rice, 500ml of boiling water and microwave for 11 minutes. The water will all evaporate and the rice will be fluffy. You'll also have a clean bowl to wash up!

I also make a Mexican one with 500ml chicken stock and a squirt of tomato pur!e the same way.

Callie22

krlyr wrote: »

One technique I've read is to spread the cooked rice out on a large baking tray - by increasing the surface area of rice exposed to the air, it will cool a lot quicker than in a bowl or still in the pan.

If you feel that you must bulk cook rice then this is the safest way to do it - you need to cool it quickly as the bacteria (bacillus cereus) thrive in warm, moist conditions and this is exactly what you get in the middle of a big bowl of rice if you just leave it to cool slowly - or if you leave your bowl of rice salad at room temperature for a few hours. When you watch Japanese chefs making sushi they'll spread the rice out and fan it so it cools really quickly (and add vinegar so that it becomes more acidic, which means it's harder for the bacteria to grow).

I used to work in catering and professionally I would *never* bulk cook rice, or reheat it. Personally, I have done it but I am paranoid about getting it as cold as possible, as quickly as possible. I was told by an Environmental Health Officer that most people who get a dodgy tum after a takeaway curry are suffering because of the reheated rice, and not the curry!

System

People keep mentioning this bacteria that might grow, but does anybody know of anyone that has been affected?

It's all well and good talking about the risk from this bacteria but would somebody like to quantify that risk? I and other people on this thread have been freezing rice for years with no ill effects and to be honest the risks from freezing and reheating rice are probably no greater than doing the same with just about any other food.

I was told by an Environmental Health Officer that most people who get a dodgy tum after a takeaway curry are suffering because of the reheated rice, and not the curry!

probably because that rice has been sitting around in a takeaway kitchen at a warm heat for about 2 hours before you get it

jenster

i have a microwave rice cooker

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001IWD7O/ref=asc_df_B0001IWD7O7272494?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&!!!!!hydra0b-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0001IWD7O&hvpos=none&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15780267631918863566&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=

one cup rice 2 cups water 10 mins in microwave done

tiff

I just looked it up on google and found on the NHS website the risk with rice is how long its been sitting at room temperature after its cooked. That is when the bacteria can reproduce. So, as long as you cool the rice down quickly (run a cold tap over it) and then freeze it will be fine.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning.aspx?CategoryID=51&SubCategoryID=215