Content

• Ingredients
• To step
• Part 1 of 2: Cooking the rice
• Part 2 of 2: Deep frying the rice
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

If you like the light, crunchy texture of puffed rice, you can learn how to roast rice yourself at home. To make the rice as light and soft as possible, cook your favorite type of rice until the grains are soft. Then dry the rice and fry it in hot oil until it puffs. If you want smaller, firmer puffed rice, don't boil the rice and fry the uncooked grains of rice until they swell.

Ingredients

• 200 grams of rice
• 400 ml of water
• 1 or 2 pinches of sea salt
• Sunflower oil, vegetable oil or canola oil for frying

For about 75 grams of puffed rice

To step

Part 1 of 2: Cooking the rice

1. Rinse the rice of your choice. Put 200 grams of rice in a bowl and fill the bowl with cold water. Stir the rice into the water with your hand, then pour the contents of the bowl through a fine sieve to drain the water. Return the rice to the bowl and add clean water. Keep rinsing until the water running out of the bowl is clear. This will remove the excess starch from the rice, so that the rice does not clump and stick together during cooking.
   • You can use all types of rice, such as basmati rice, sushi rice, brown rice, or long grain rice.
2. Bring the water to a boil and add the rice and salt. Pour 400 ml of water into a pan and put the lid on. Heat the water over high heat until it boils. Then add one or two pinches of sea salt, as well as the rinsed rice.

   Variation: to prepare the rice in a rice cooker, put the rinsed rice together with salt and tap water in the bowl of the rice cooker. Close the rice cooker and switch it on. Cook the rice according to the instructions in the user manual of the appliance.

   
   
3. Cook the rice until it is soft. Put the lid on the pan and turn down the heat so that the water simmers gently. Simmer the rice until the grains are soft. After 18 minutes, start checking the rice.
   • How long it takes for the rice to be ready depends on the type of rice you are using. Wild rice, for example, is ready in 25-30 minutes, but short grain rice cooks much faster.
4. Spread the cooked rice on a baking tray. Take a baking tray with a raised edge and place the warm rice on it. Use a spoon or spatula to spread the rice so that you get an even layer.
   • The rice will dry faster and more evenly on a baking tray than in a bowl.
5. Dry the rice in the oven for two hours at a temperature of 120 ° C. Preheat the oven and slide in the baking tray with rice when the oven is up to temperature. Fry the rice at this low temperature for two hours to get all the moisture out of the rice grains. When the rice is dry, take it out of the oven and turn off the oven.
   • The rice should be completely dry and hard when you are going to fry it.
   • If you prefer a method that takes less effort, spread the rice in a drawer of your food dehydrator. Place the rice in the food dehydrator and dry it for at least eight hours or overnight.
   • You can also leave the rice as is if you want to eat puffed rice for breakfast.

Part 2 of 2: Deep frying the rice

1. Put the oil in a pan and heat it to a temperature of 190 ° C. Add a five centimeter layer of sunflower, vegetable or can oil oil to the pan and place the pan on the stove. Clip a deep frying thermometer to the pan and heat the oil over medium heat until it has a temperature of 190 ° C.
   • It is important that you use oil with a neutral flavor that you can heat to a high temperature. It is therefore better not to use extra virgin olive oil.

   Tip: use a pan large enough for a small fine mesh strainer. This way you can easily remove the puffed rice from the oil.

   
   
2. Add a few grains of rice to the pan to test the temperature of the oil. When the oil is 190 ° C, add a few dried rice grains to the pan. The granules should swell immediately when the oil is warm enough.
   • If it takes more than 10-15 seconds for the rice to pop, heat the oil longer and check the accuracy of your frying thermometer.
3. Put the rice in the oil and fry it for 5-10 seconds. Pour the dried rice into a small fine mesh strainer and lower the strainer into the pan. The rice will start to swell in the oil after five to ten seconds.
   • The puffed rice floats upwards in the oil.
   • If you're using dried rice that you haven't cooked first, it will take more than 20 seconds for the rice to pop.
4. Remove the rice from the oil and place it on a baking tray. Turn off the heat and place paper towels on a baking tray with a raised edge. Slowly remove the fine sieve with the puffed rice from the hot oil. Then place the puffed rice on the paper towels.
   • The paper towels will absorb the excess oil from the puffed rice.
   • Allow the oil in the pan to cool completely before storing or disposing of it.
5. Let the puffed rice cool and eat it. Let the puffed rice cool for at least five minutes before seasoning and eating it. You can sprinkle salt, icing sugar or cinnamon sugar over the puffed rice to taste.
   • Instead of eating the puffed rice like that, you can also make rice cakes or biscuits.
   • To store leftover puffed rice and rice cakes, place them in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature. Use the puffed rice within five to seven days.

Tips

• Sprinkle puffed rice over your favorite salad or add it to student oats or granola.

Warnings

• Always be careful when heating oil and frying food. Hot oil can splash from the pan and cause burns.

Necessities

• Come on
• Fine strainer
• Baking tray with raised edge
• Spoon or spatula
• Measuring cups and kitchen scales
• Pan with lid or rice cooker
• Frying thermometer