What is rice wash??

[Barbarainnc]

I was reading a recipe for cooking Filipino Fried Chicken, and the chicken is cooked in 6 cups of rice wash and two chicken cubes. I assumimg it is water with chicken bouillon cubes. Then it is drained then fried. Am I right about the rice wash?? Thanks for your help!!! :) :) :) :)

[Michael in FtW]

The best answer I can find for you is that "rice wash" is the water used to wash rice before cooking - basically: put 6-cups of cool/cold water into a bowl and add 2-3 cups of raw unwashed rice, swish it around with your fingers for a couple of minutes to wash the surface starch off of the rice, then drain and reserve the liquid - this would be your "rice wash". You would add your chicken bullion cubes to that.

Hope this helps.

[kitchenelf]

And I was JUST going to post the same thing ^^^ as Michael. That's exactly what it is and it's probably a way to save on water. It adds some starch to the water of the soup, which in turn thickens it. But then it actually adds some cloudiness to the soup which I guess is a good thing?

[.Carla]

Lol.. I use rice wash all the time in my soup and food and everything! And basically over here, it's the 2nd wash of the rice.. You know, when all the icky stuff is not there anymore but some starch is carried over to the water.. And, well, we use it for two reasons:
1. We think it makes the food taste better (I really don't know as I have never not used it yet.)
2. And yes, it does save water and time..:)

Hope you still want to know.. Or, at least, for any other person out there wondering what on earth rice wash is..:)

~~C

[rubiksolved]

is it really bad if you don't wash the rice before you cook it? I'm actually very meticulous about cleaning it through many times.. but never dared not cleaning it...

are the consequences of not doing so...dire? haha

[GB]

Nope not dire at all. All washing does for the most part is get rid of some of the excess starch. You can get away just fine without washing if you want.

[rubiksolved]

generally speaking.. is it dirty? or does wash come clean?

[GB]

The water is cloudy from the starch. The rice itself is clean. You are just washing to rinse away some starch.

[rubiksolved]

thank you : ) i'll try not washing it as much next time

[GB]

It is generally thought that washing will give you a better end product, but try do washing and come to your own conclusion.