General questions about cooking rice

[Hiroyuki]

There is a new type of barley product, in which each grain of barley is halved so that it is almost of the same size as a rice grain when cooked. It mixes well with rice.

An example:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/hakubaku/376830/377227/

Barley rice reminds me of my childhood days... My mother often mixed vitamin-enriched oshi mugi to rice.

[torakris]

I couldn't find a really good picture, this is the best one I could find but you might have to look really close.

http://www.ktv.co.jp/recipe/nani/n-030903.html

You can see the mugi mixed in with the rice, the mugi is about the same size as the rice but you can see a dark brown line down the middle of it. The mugi actually fliffs up a bit during cooking so it isn't as flat as it looks before cooking.

[Kiem Hwa]

I found something called "Pearl Barley" in the store the other day. I cooked it up and it was like a fatter version of rice with a brown line down the center, similar to what I remember in the restaurant. I cant say if it is the same flavor or not, (I overcooked it - opps). Well, Ill try again in a few days.

However, I am definately going to try the oshimugi as well like Kristin suggested.

http://www.foodsubs.com/GrainBarley.html

[Palladion]

A fairly common item in the lunches at my school is mugi iri gohan (rice with barley). It probably has a ratio of, maybe, 1 (barley) : 3 (rice). In this case, the barley seems to change the texture more than flavor of the rice.

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Alex Parker

[kguetzow]

Has anyone made mixed grains in a rice cooker

Any Hints? The bag I have is a combo of barley, millet, sweet brown rice, brown rice, jobs tear, red bean, black bean, mung bean, black sweet rice, corn, green pea.

The birds outside may enjoy this more than me

[Culinista]

I've made mixed wild, white, and brown rices in a rice cooker with reasonable results, but your mix might be more difficult because of the longer cooking times of dried red and black beans.

I imagine this would be a problem on the stove as well. What do the package instructions say? And just curious, for what dish is this mixture intended?

[kguetzow]

I believe it is used asa healthy substitute for white rice. Kind of an ULTRA brown rice. I have recipes for red beans and rice mixed. My rice cooker has several settings for different styles of rice, and the package suggests soaking and using a pressure cooker, but says you can use a rice cooker. Each seems a little vague, and was hoping someone had some experience with this. I can't find any exact references anywhere to the dish

Here is the package

http://www.rheebros.com/product/detail.jsp?prodId=11

[torakris]

For some reason I can't see the picture in the link....

I use a grain mix that looks like this

I soak this mix for about 6 hours and then I add it to rice that has soaked for about 30 minutes to 1 hour and I cook it in the rice cooker with no problem.

I usually use 1/2 cup of the mixed grain to 3 cups of white rice. One cup being the rice cooker cup of 180cc...

[helenjp]

Some mixes may need a little more water than the setting for plain white rice.

I'm not quite so fond of the all-in-one mixes, as some of them seem to have quite different cooking requirements! However, I do use them to reduce my exposure to rice.

[torakris]

I just realized your mix has the brown rice already in it...

I should read more carefully.

Does your rice cooker have a brown rice setting?

In either case you should soak it for at least 5 hours, then try it in the rice cooker, if that does work I guess you will need to do it at the stove.....

[kguetzow]

For some reason I can't see the picture in the link....

I use a grain mix that looks like this

I soak this mix for about 6 hours and then I add it to rice that has soaked for about 30 minutes to 1 hour and I cook it in the rice cooker with no problem.

I  usually use 1/2 cup of the mixed grain to 3 cups of white rice.  One cup  being the rice cooker cup of 180cc...

←

Thanks! thats basically the same. I thought mixing it with rice was the thing to do. Does anyone ever serve this without mixing it with rice? What setting do you use on the rice cooker (fuzzy logic of course, My logic is always fuzzy). And I also wondered if this is served with anything particular, or is it just a rice alternative for any dish/day/mood?

Thanks again

[torakris]

Actually I haven't really seen this eaten too much in Japan...

I picked up my bag at a Korean store and I tend to serve it with Korean meals...

[Hiroyuki]

Actually I haven't really seen this eaten too much in Japan...

I picked up my bag at a Korean store and I tend to serve it with Korean meals...

←

Very true. The Japanese are such lovers of white rice.

I wish I could help you, but can't. If you start another in the Elesewhere in Asia/Pacific Forum, you may get more response.

[torakris]

Actually I haven't really seen this eaten too much in Japan...

I picked up my bag at a Korean store and I tend to serve it with Korean meals...

←

Very true. The Japanese are such lovers of white rice.

I wish I could help you, but can't. If you start another in the Elesewhere in Asia/Pacific Forum, you may get more response.

←

there was some discussion of mixed grains over in this thread on black rice

[torakris]

I made mixed grain rice two nights ago, following the process I described above

[kguetzow]

I made it yesterday. Used a 2/3 white 1/3 mixed proportion. The beans were undercooked but edible and the purple color was quite intense. I think I'll try a

3-1 ratio next time. Maybe a touch more water. My daughter used to eat brown rice, but since has decided that it's yucky. So now I usually use Tamaki brand "Haiga" rice, its has the germ left on it, but still resembles white rice.

[jbonne]

can i get a ruling on the proper, not-for-gaijin temperature and texture of rice for nigiri?

there's lots of utterly contradictory information floating around online, but my general understanding has been that it should be slightly warm (just above body temperature is quoted occasionally) to help warm the fish -- which for both aesthetic and sanitary reasons means no piece of sushi should linger on the plate.

texturally, my understanding was that it should bind together solidly enough to be eaten by hand, while not being so sticky that you have to pry it off your fingers.

but i may be enormously misinformed.

i ask because i'm finding the sushi rice in what otherwise is a great sushi town (Seattle) has been lackluster of late.

(torakris, if this has already been well discussed elsewhere, please feel free to delete.)

[torakris]

What you have just written is what I have always thought as well, body temperature is what I have heard.

It can be hard to get the perfect sushi unless you are sitting at the counter of a very well trained suchi chef....

This is why it is best to order it piece by piece one at a time.

[Hiroyuki]

Depending on who you ask, rice for nigiri should be as hot as or slighter hotter than hitohada. Hitohada (人肌), which literally means human skin, is generally considered about 35 to 40 C (95 to 104 F).

Examples of webpages describing hitohada:

http://www.sakebar.net/nomal/drinking.html

http://www.outdoorjapan.com/columns/masumi-6.html

One webpage says that you should enjoy the contrast between lukewarm rice and cold fish. Another says that lukewarm rice and a cold topping are mixed together in your mouth to bring out the flavor of the topping.

People in Kansai (Western Japan), which includes Osaka, tend to prefer colder rice because Osaka is where oshi zushi originated and this type of sushi is served cold.

As for texture, rice should not fall apart when you hold it, but it should when you put it in your mouth. This is contradictory. It takes ten years or more to master this artistic skill. But now, there are machines that can do this perfectly:

http://sushi-master.com/jpn/waza/waza02.html

[tokyogurumegal]

I heard that some restaurants add enzymes to the rice to reach a certain texture if the quality of rice is mediocre. Has anyone heard about this before?

[jbonne]

thanks, folks, for the explanations! hadn't ever heard about skin temp as the basis for warm sake, to say nothing of rice.

i've generally ordered 3-4 pieces at a time, if only to avoid pestering chefs with lots of tiny orders. but the enormous platters never made any sense to me.

[Hiroyuki]

I heard that some restaurants add enzymes to the rice to reach a certain texture if the quality of rice is mediocre.  Has anyone heard about this before?

←

I don't know whether enzymes are used, but many kaiten zushi (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurants seem to add various additives to both shari (sushi rice) and neta (toppings). But, one kaiten zushi chain called Kura Corporation, Ltd. (Japanese only) has developed additive-free sushi.

This webpage

makes mention of Kura Corporation, Ltd. (but no mention of additive-free sushi).

According to one blog, Kura's kaiten zuzhi restaurants are by far better than others.

[SuzySushi]

A Japanese doctor friend taught me about rice with barley years ago. She said the barley was added to the rice to increase the vitamin & amino acid content (since the Japanese prefer polished white rice to whole grain). She made it with pressed barley (oshi mugi) in an approximate 3 or 4 parts rice : 1 part barley content, and cooked it just like regular Japanese rice.

In the USA, pearled barley is most often used for soup. I like it cooked it like rice, though. I don't remember the proportions I used (I follow the directions on the back of the store bag I prefer) -- I think it's more like 2 parts water : 1 part barley.

You can also use pearled barley to make risotto: saute the dry barley in a little butter or oil, then add broth a little at a time, stirring and not covering the pan, until the broth is absorbed and the barley is tender to the bite. You can add chopped onions & other risotto ingredients as desired when cooking.

[nakji]

My husband has announced he would like to start eating okayu in the morning for breakfast. I'm happy to start making it, as I feel like we waste a lot of money on bread. It's likely I'll be making it from left-over dinner rice, since I don't have a rice cooker with a handy timer. I have a recipe in Andoh's "Washoku", but would welcome any input on how to make it nicely. I'm not a huge fan of okayu myself, but it would be much cheaper than steel-cut oats in the morning, so I'm willing to compromise.

How do you make it, and what toppings do you like?

[Hiroyuki]

I use leftover rice to make okayu just like you.

As you may know, okayu in Japan is an equivalent to chicken soup in other countries; it's something that you have when you have a cold. When I was small, my mother used to make okayu with beaten eggs (and dried bonito shavings?), flavored with soy sauce.

I rarely have okayu these days, except nanakusa gayu (7-herb porridge) on Jan. 7. My son likes to have okayu when he has a cold. He usually has it with umeboshi.