What is parboiled rice and how to cook it? Is it nutritious? What are the benefits of eating parboiled rice?
Basically, it is partially precooked rice. Parboiling rice is done through three ways; soaking, steaming and drying the rice with its husk still unremoved.
The color of it is slightly yellow in hue; parboiling rice makes it easier to remove the husk, makes the rice fluffier and less sticky.
The process of parboiling makes the rice healthier to eat than regular white rice. It has fewer calories and fewer carbohydrates than your traditional rice. Thus, its a good source of iron and calcium and can improve our gut health and can reduce diabetes symptoms.
Unlike regular rice, the starch of parboiled rice acts as a prebiotic; allowing good bacteria to grow, making it good for our gut and it also has a low impact on our blood sugar.
Cooking Parboiled Rice
If you are wondering if it’s hard to cook or not, the answer is, it is easier to cook than the traditional rice. The cooking procedure is actually the same; the only difference is that it requires less cooking time than the regular rice.
Cook it in your pot, microwave and even in a rice cooker. As simple as that. Well, alright let me give you some tips to cook your parboiled rice in a lesser time.
How to cook Parboiled Rice using a stove.
The first tip is to soak the rice for thirty minutes. Why? Soaking it can reduce the amount of cooking time. More flavorful rice can be achieved when you cook it in less time than usual.
Second is to drain the rice before cooking. Put it into a sieve to drain the rice .
The third procedure is to boil water with a pinch of salt. If you’re wondering about the quantity of rice and water, use the 1:2 ratio where 1 part is the rice and the 2 is the part of water.
Just as the water boils, add one part of the parboiled rice to the boiling water and stir it quickly to evenly distribute the rice into the pot. Make sure that the soaked rice is sieved to avoid hot water from splashing when rice is being put into the boiling water.
Cover it and simmer it for 15-20 minutes or until it’s cooked.
Make sure it’s cooked; stir and serve immediately.. and serve immediately..
How to cook Parboiled Rice using a rice cooker
The ratio to be used is always 1:2, (1 part parboiled rice into 2 parts water), but you might want to check your manufacturer’s manual. Sometimes they have preferred cooking ratios for different kinds of grains.
Wait for the rice to be cooked in the rice cooker and as soon as the indicator says it is cooked, the rice cooker will automatically turn off.
Let it stay in the cooker, to avoid it being mushy, for about 15 more minutes.
Transfer to a plate, fluff it, and serve.
You might want to check out these best-seller rice cookers available on Amazon. Surely, you will love these high standard products.
Zojirushi NS-ZCC18 Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker & Warmer, 10 Cup, Premium White
Have you own one of this kind? It has a sensor inside where it is focused on the weight of the object inside, letting it think for itself and keeping it focused on time and temperature.
This one allows you to cook different kinds of rice and it has a stay-cool handle features for your convenience. This also has an easy to remove lid so you can wash it easily and safely. Also, one of the highest rated rice cooker on Amazon.
Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH Induction Heating System Rice Cooker and Warmer
A triple heater type of rice cooker that uses induction heat process is also good for cooking rice of different types. Its superior induction heating process concentrates on the bottom of the inner cooking pan; when the magnetic field is activated; the bottom, side and lid heats up as it cooks, resulting with a flawless rice. Who wouldn’t want to eat perfectly cooked rice?
Aroma Housewares Professional 12-Cup (cooked) / 3Qt. Cool-Touch Digital Rice Cooker, Food Steamer & Slow Cooker, Sauté-then-Simmer function
Have you tried to steam some fish or vegetables or anything while cooking rice? This rice cooker allows you to steam while cooking rice or anything. Yes, you can cook stew and a lot more with this professional rice cooker and you can also sauté through this! This multi-cooker is awesome to use, especially when you are in a hurry. You might want to add this to your kitchen.
Aroma Housewares 20 Cup Cooked (10 cup uncooked) Digital Rice Cooker, Slow Cooker, Food Steamer
The difference of this rice cooker from the one above is that this is made with 8x bonded granite which makes the inner cooking pot a more durable performance and this is really a non-stick pot so washing is made a lot easier. Also a multi-cooker that allows you to cook multiple kinds of grains, you can also steam while cooking and it also has the slow-cook feature that allows you to cook hard-to-cook foods.
Toshiba Digital Programmable Rice Cooker, Steamer & Warmer, 3 Cups Uncooked Rice with Fuzzy Logic and One-Touch Cooking, 24 Hour Delay Timer and Auto Keep Warm Feature
It’s a multi-cooker in one. Lets you keep food in warm mode for 24 hours. Has a durable non-stick pan, detachable lid for easy to use, and clean with automatic keep warm feature. This is good for small family use only.
How to cook Parboiled Rice using Microwave
You have to use a microwavable container with lid. Combine the parboiled rice, water, and a pinch of salt in the container. Stir and place it inside the microwave and set to the highest temperature for 5-10 minutes or until it boils.
After it boils, cover the lid and cook it for another 15-20 minutes until it’s done. Add 5 more minutes of cooking time if the water is not fully absorbed yet. If it’s finished cooking, fluff it and serve.
You might as well want to check my microwave list below, surely there is something that will interest you.
Toshiba EM131A5C-BS Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor Easy Clean Interior, ECO Mode and Sound On-Off, 1.2 Cu. ft, Black Stainless Steel
Guaranteed one of the best-seller microwaves on Amazon! How would you want to cook from the microwave as easy as one click, not thinking of how many minutes to set for one specific food to another? This microwave features a sensor function for easy cooking; it has 6 auto menus that you can just click and the microwave will do the rest starting from adjusting the cooking temperature and cooking time. This is a big help to your kitchen, especially to busy working moms.
Farberware 1.1 Cu. Ft. Stainless Steel Countertop Microwave Oven with 6 Cooking Programs
This microwave also has a child lock features for safety measures to avoid unsupervised use. You can also take advantage of their 6 auto cook programs, defrost and reheat features; with a memory function that can store your favorite cooking settings.
Sharp Smart Countertop Microwave Oven, 1.1 Cubic Foot, Stainless Steel, with Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Charcoal
How would you want a smart microwave oven that works with Alexa? This is an awesome microwave that can be used with just using your voice. It’s like you are talking to a human to cook this, reheat this, defrost an icecream and more. Also it has a smart speaker with improved quality that you can use while cooking.
COMFEE’ CM-M091AGN Retro Microwave with Multi-stage Cooking, 9 Preset Menus and Kitchen Timer, Mute Function, ECO Mode, LED digital display, 0.9 cu.ft, 900W, Green
A compact size microwave that can cook a full meal. Features of this microwave are: energy saving, express cooking option, easy defrost, easy operation and position memory. It’s an easy operated microwave for your kitchen.
Final Thought
Parboiled rice is way easier to cook than regular rice, plus it is healthier. It can be cooked in some easy methods, but in my opinion cooking it in rice cooker is more convenient, specially to those busy person out there who always multi-task in their kitchen.
If you don’t have a rice cooker at home, you can use your microwave, but it requires you to supervise the cooking.
Use a stove if you prefer it more than the two methods mentioned above.
