Cooking rice and draining the water

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sola24
sola24 Posts: 334 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This question is mainly towards indians who eat a lot of rice in their everyday diet (Bengali and South Indians)

I have seen from childhood my mom boils the rice in the open pan and then drains the white starchy water. She says it makes rice less heavy. Pressure cooking rice or cooking rice in rice cooker retains that starch making it heavy. If you eat, you can feel the difference as well. Also she has always washed rice very thoroughly before cooking as well.

My question is, draining that thick starchy water from rice, does it reduce calories? If it does, how much?

Replies

  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Waste of time, and the rice is not as good.

    When dieting I go for brown rice, which is more filling. Soak it for at least 24 hours.
  • sola24
    sola24 Posts: 334 Member
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    Waste of time, and the rice is not as good.

    When dieting I go for brown rice, which is more filling. Soak it for at least 24 hours.

    Actually its not about that. I am going home so will be eating food cooked my mom.. and thats how she cooks.. So i need to know if that makes a difference.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Log it the same way.


    If you lose weight too fast, then maybe consider changing it.
  • happyindian
    happyindian Posts: 89 Member
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    i had googled this fact a few days back and most of the sites said, yes, it does reduce calories but also wastes away the already few nutrients we get frm rice. as far as i can remmeber, the calorie reduction is about 35 per cup, but am not sure . anyways. i too am one for cooking rice ur mom's way only.
  • sola24
    sola24 Posts: 334 Member
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    i had googled this fact a few days back and most of the sites said, yes, it does reduce calories but also wastes away the already few nutrients we get frm rice. as far as i can remmeber, the calorie reduction is about 35 per cup, but am not sure . anyways. i too am one for cooking rice ur mom's way only.

    Thanks a lot :):) I dont care about the nutrients as of now, I am sure I will get enough of them from other stuff.
  • LarryDUk
    LarryDUk Posts: 279 Member
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    My answer may not be popular, but I think you might be taking this calorie counting a little bit too far. Calories without water/with water absorbed is going to make such an insignificance difference it really isn't worth worrying about.
  • DrewMontoya
    DrewMontoya Posts: 77 Member
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    My answer may not be popular, but I think you might be taking this calorie counting a little bit too far. Calories without water/with water absorbed is going to make such an insignificance difference it really isn't worth worrying about.

    I agree.

    I found at least one expert on health24.com who said, "The energy values for cooked rice are usually expressed for cooked, drained rice."

    http://www.health24.com/Experts/Question/does-drained-rice-contain-less-calories-20080414

    In other words, track it normally. The difference in calories is going to be pretty small either way.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    I grew up on japanese sticky rice that we always wash and I was told 2 things. The first thing was washing it made the texture not as sticky and gelatinous. And two, where there's grain there's dust and bugs so washing was important. Nowadays the cleaning/storage process is probably better so it's usually washed for more of a texture thing,

    That being said, don't over think it. Just log the rice. I can't imagine trying to figure out the calories you washed away because I don't know how long or vigorously you wash it. And you would have to wash it the exact same way, every single time.
  • TheLung
    TheLung Posts: 58
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    My wife is Punjabi and she washes the rice. I had never seen this done before as I wasn't a big rice eater. I asked her why she does it and she said it is mostly to wash any bugs and to check for rocks(lentils and beans done this way also). She cooks it in a ratio of 1 cup rice to 2 cups water and cooks covered till no water is in the pot and there are tunnels/holes. I was never a big rice eater till I met her. Basmiti rice is the best out there.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I grew up on japanese sticky rice that we always wash and I was told 2 things. The first thing was washing it made the texture not as sticky and gelatinous. And two, where there's grain there's dust and bugs so washing was important. Nowadays the cleaning/storage process is probably better so it's usually washed for more of a texture thing,

    That being said, don't over think it. Just log the rice. I can't imagine trying to figure out the calories you washed away because I don't know how long or vigorously you wash it. And you would have to wash it the exact same way, every single time.


    Lol no, in modern times we have the same contaminants in rice, and washing short grain rice definitely improves it.

    The dust and bugs aren't dangerous though. A few weevils just mean extra protein.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    I grew up on japanese sticky rice that we always wash and I was told 2 things. The first thing was washing it made the texture not as sticky and gelatinous. And two, where there's grain there's dust and bugs so washing was important. Nowadays the cleaning/storage process is probably better so it's usually washed for more of a texture thing,

    That being said, don't over think it. Just log the rice. I can't imagine trying to figure out the calories you washed away because I don't know how long or vigorously you wash it. And you would have to wash it the exact same way, every single time.


    Lol no, in modern times we have the same contaminants in rice, and washing short grain rice definitely improves it.

    The dust and bugs aren't dangerous though. A few weevils just mean extra protein.


    You're right about the protein though. I used to pretend it was pepper flecks...or something.
  • morticia16
    morticia16 Posts: 230 Member
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    Juts log the rice as you normally would.
  • prisky780
    prisky780 Posts: 30 Member
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    These answers are kind saddening. I am trying to bump up my calorie count so I cannot log the calorie as the normal rice counts. I need to know how much less of calorie I'm consuming so I know exactly how much to bump up.

    I cannot find it anywhere. I'm a bengali and I completely understand the difference between cooking rice in rice cooker or all the water absorbed vs. draining out the water like pasta. I grew up eating rice that way until my college year when I started cooking rice with rice cooker. Sigh!

    There is a huge difference but I guess I will count it as 35 less calories per cup than regular.

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