Question about cooking grains for cold salads.

[Graphix]

If I'm going to cook say brown rice and Quinoa for a cold grain salad, do I still have to cook them like rice? Can I just cook them in a big pot of boiling water till tender and then drain?

[nickrey]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "cook them like rice."

There are several methods of cooking rice, including boiling it and simmering until the rice has absorbed sufficient water to make it tender and then draining it. As you are using it in a salad, you may consider cooling it with running cold water. There is also the absorption method where you use the appropriate amount of water and cook it covered at decreasing amounts of heat until the water is absorbed. Rice cooked through the absorption method is not drained.

Either of these methods could be used for preparing these or other grains for salads.

[Graphix]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess whenever I cook grains or rice I've used the absorbtion method carefully measuring water and rice amounts. I've never just cooked rice in a big pot of water and drained off the excess at the end.

[Darienne]

Cold rice salads have never been my favorites, but a tabbouleh using bulgar is lovely beyond compare. And you don't even have to cook the bulgar.

[nickrey]

Cold rice salads have never been my favorites, but a tabbouleh using bulgar is lovely beyond compare. And you don't even have to cook the bulgar.

I never used to cook the burghul for tabbouleh but always found it too grainy even after prolonged soaking. A few nights ago, I cooked it and the result was perfect. It was more like a couscous addition to the Tabbouleh but with the nutty wheat flavour of the burghul.

[Lisa Shock]

Don't forget to use a short-grain rice, not a long-grain one. Short-grain rices are tender when cold, long-grain ones will be hard due to having more amylose -it crystalizes when cold.

[Chris Amirault]

And don't forget to rinse, rinse and rinse again.

[Darienne]

This thread is very interesting to me because as I noted in my first post, I don't like cold rice salads. Now I am going to try them again, short grain rice and many post cooking rinses.

More advice??? tips??? favorite inclusions??? favorite dressings???

[Porthos]

If I'm going to cook say brown rice and Quinoa for a cold grain salad, do I still have to cook them like rice? Can I just cook them in a big pot of boiling water till tender and then drain?

That is how I cook grains for my grain salads. I do salt the water.