I recently bought a packet of ‘sticky’ rice for the first time.
It said I could cook it in two ways:
tear off corner of packet and microwave for two minutes
take rice out of packet, add a small amount of boiling water and heat in a covered pan for three minutes
I chose the microwave and the rice was fine (a bit bland, but I added soy sauce.)
A few minor questions:
why microwave in the packet?
the packet felt like glossy plastic. Was it OK in a microwave?
why did the pan method need water, but the microwave method didn’t?
I do not know what you got, exactly, but sticky rice takes more than three minutes to cook. I mean, it’s rice. I have never tried microwaving it! Plus, people soak it for several hours.
E.g., here is one recipe (ignore the wall of text…)
where it comes down to steaming it for 30 minutes. Or you can boil it in a pot or rice cooker.
It’s precooked. The different instructions are just for heating. It’s probably assumed the rice will dry a little too muchwhen reheating in a pan so they have you add a splash of water that isn’t needed in the packet/microwave.
It’s always worthwhile to include a link to the product in question so we can answer the question in more detail.
Otherwise, @jnglmassiv is most likely correct. I wouldn’t even call this “cooking” rice, just reheating a prepped package, although it may just be “mostly” cooked/par-cooked.
The microwave option figures you’re losing minimal moisture from the torn off corner, and the moisture in the pre-cooked rice is sufficient (probably a bit more than home cooked rice in the first place).
The stovetop option also probably includes the extra water to not only heat it, but to prevent it from burning when warmed in a heated pan. I note they want boiling water, and wouldn’t be surprised if the hot water itself wasn’t almost enough to fully reheat the product - which implies again it may be par-cooked, say 70-80% done so you can make it more/less tender to your personal preferences.
Yeah, that’s already cooked. The instructions say 90 second in the microwave, or 2 -tablespoons- of water in a skillet until it’s heated. No actual cooking then, just getting it warm/hot.
To be clear, I’m not dismissing or going down the route of any of our “What is home-cooked” threads, just trying to accurately describe the product! I’m more worried about the proliferation of single serve and toss plastic-stored instant foods, but that ship has long since sailed.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with mentioning a product name. I believe you’re in the UK but that looks to be the same stuff we have here. Yes, it’s precooked and microwaving for 90 seconds right in the bag is the right way to do it (the bag should be standing upright and opened a bit for venting).
Yes, that’s the stuff. I’ll use the Basmati prepared rice on some rare occasions because it goes well with some types of seafood like grilled shrimp and scallops. But beware of the flavoured varieties, especially if you’re watching sodium intake – most of them are sodium bombs! The plain ones like Basmati, Jasmine, or the OP’s sticky rice should be OK. My usual go-to rice is Uncle Ben’s converted white rice, which I prepare on the stovetop in the usual way.
The previous reluctance to feature Uncle Ben prominently in ads stood in stark contrast to the way other human characters like Orville Redenbacher and Colonel Sanders personify their products. That reticence can be traced to the contentious history of Uncle Ben as the black face of a white company, wearing a bow tie evocative of servants and Pullman porters and bearing a title reflecting how white Southerners once used “uncle” and “aunt” as honorifics for older blacks because they refused to say “Mr.” and “Mrs.”
So yes, it was racist, though that’s probably a hijack.
I agree. I’m not sure why the poster thought this fell under “advertising” on the board. Brand names are listed here all the time. So, who knows, maybe I’m the one not understanding.
Speaking of which, the name change in this part of the world must have been fairly recent, because the bag of rice I still have in the cupboard says “Uncle Ben’s converted rice” and has the image of the iconic Uncle Ben. New products I see online are all now “Ben’s Original”.
Ha! I’m so glad they changed the name, because I was suspicious of the bag of a small amount of remaining rice that was actually labeled “Uncle Ben’s”. Turns out, I had been refilling my large rice container from a much newer bag, and this one had been stuck at the back of the cupboard for years – expiry date: August, 2021!
I don’t know if 3+ year old expired rice is edible or not, and I don’t want to find out. The stuff currently simmering on the stove is, thankfully, the fresh stuff.
The plain ones like Basmati, Jasmine, or the OP’s sticky rice should be OK. My usual go-to rice is Uncle Ben’s converted white rice, which I prepare on the stovetop in the usual way.