How to Clean Ration Rice
I mention “Ration” Rice only to indicate rice with lot of –
dust, mud / clay particles, small tiny stones, worms, beetles, husk etc.
Nowadays Supermarkets in big cities offer cleaned rice and other materials.
There is no need to further work upon them. Such stuff in polythene packets may
be right away used for cooking. But rice procured from farmers sold via small
shops are often full of dirt and other inedible matter and requires cleaning.
Process for clarification / cleaning of rice involves few
steps, as outlined below:
1. Pour
the rice onto a large metal, say Aluminum plate.
2. Select
and separate out a small portion – say one or two spoonfuls – apart.
3. Spread
such a separated part sparsely.
4. Small
insects like beetles, ants and particles like stones, mud or clay pieces appear
clearly. Pick up each one and throw it off
Special steps:
1. Worms
require special handling. They are tiny and difficult to hold between thumb and
index finger. Wet the tip of your index finger using a wet sponge. Lightly touch
the worm. It will stick to your finger. Then twirl it off forcibly. If the
batch of rice that you procured is infested then there might be clumps of rice
hiding worms in a bunch. These clusters have to be removed physically only.
2. Dust, fiber and husk can be removed by winnowing.
Winnowing requires practice and skill. But it can be developed easily. Observe
how a housemaid does it – the angle, the force, the distance rice is allowed to
be thrown up, how lighter particles fly off the winnow etc.
3. Certain floating particles of contamination can be
removed while cleaning the rice with water before cooking. Light contaminated particles will float and
can be easily decanted off.
Tips:
- Buy Rice from supermarkets that sell pre-cleaned rice
- When you are idle watching TV or listening to music, clean a lot of rice and stock separately to save time.
- Same techniques mentioned above may be applied to Rava (semolina), Maida pulses and cereals etc also.
