CRISPY RICE

Crispy Rice

Today, a technique to make crispy rice at home.

What to do with crispy rice ?

- Come on! You'll know naturally what to do with crispy rice ! :D

- Otherwise, for you're breakfast 

- Or else, homemade cereal bars...

- But it also could be used in the making of desserts (I'm gonna make one soon)

Though, that is not so easy to prepare, we have to respect some rules. Otherwise we'd get a fried rice completely hard and not crispy at all.

Ingredients : 

- Rice

- Oil (most neutral one if possible)

- Patience 

First we have to cook the rice in hot salted water (classic method). Try to not over cook it. I used long rice but my guess is a round one should've been better.
When done, drain it and plunge it in cold water (this step allows to stop the cooking and to cool down the rice quite faster). Drain it once again and spread it thinly on an oven tray covered with greaseproof paper. 

Now, 2 solutions :

- 1) Leave it 2 days at room temperature in order to dry (that's what I did, I left it in the oven, turned off obviously)

- 2) Place it in the oven at very low heat until it get dried. It should take some time (just keep an eye on it). I partially tested it, I know it can work. If you feel to test it...

When the rice is dry (must not stick anymore, ) it is ready to the next step.

If the rice grains are stuck to each other, try to separate them with the palms of your hands when they start to dry. 

After 2 days the rice is dry

Now, the tricky part, be careful, it's really easy to fail.

Pour oil in a saucepan like over 2 mm. Heat up, must be hot but not too much.

The rice has to seem dry but I think it has to keep a little bit of humidity inside (like a dry corn grain)

So, when you feel the oil is ready, test it by throwing one rice grain in it. If it got brown instantly it's because the oil too hot. If the grain fries slowly with no reaction, the oil is not warm enough. Actually the rice kernel should pop immediately, get whiter and double its volume.  

Then, if the oil is ready, you can throw like 1 tablespoon of rice in the warm oil, be careful it lasts only 2 seconds, then remove right away from hot oil with a skimmer and drain on kitchen paper. Start again until you have no more rice left. Add more oil some times to maintain the initial level. I think one tablespoon each time is reasonable, more than that could cool down too quickly the oil and jeopardize the process.

It also might work in an oil bath so we could make more rice at the same time... but I'm not sure, I'll test one day.

Watch the video (click here) made by Zuzullo.  

 Must be crispy and not crunchy ! 

Soon, recipes with crispy rice, stay tuned...

An example of what we can do with homemade crispy rice !
 Here : same weight of rice and melted chocolate