Cooking /washing Rice..

[Sir_Sanuk]

Is the tap water in Bangkok safe to use for washing rice and then boiling it? Or do you guys use bottled water?

Thanks

[BambinA]

Is the tap water in Bangkok safe to use for washing rice and then boiling it?

Yes

Or do you guys use bottled water?

No

[skippybangkok]

if you can handle the calcium, I think now it is "drinkable". any body got any updates. ? ( hope so, cause i have take small swigs from the basin tap at night instead of going to the fridge)

[Rinrada]

Dont go out of my way to drink the water in Bangkok (funny looking stuff-no taste)but never had any problems cooking,making tea/coffee or brushing teeth.

Up in C.M. our new place has a mountain stream not too far away so will check that out for possible "Peckham Spring "enterprise.....

AKA..."ello Del Boy......

[suegha]

My favorite rice is a basmati that you don't need to rince before or after you cook, I do however, use bottled or filtered water for cooking no matter where I am, UK or Thailand.

Edited February 2, 2006 by suegha

[blue eyes]

In the MooBan we use the rain water from the cisterns.Never cooked in Bangkok only visited so always ate out.

[sabaijai]

Rice connoisseurs *always* rinse polished rice to rid the grains of the powder clinging to them. Polished rice is almost always packed with talc, rice starch or glucose powder so that it won't stick together in the bag. If you don't rinse the rice it won't have the texture prized by people who eat rice as a staple food, particularly Asians.

Cooked rice should not stick together in clumps, i.e., every grain should separate easily from neighbouring grains. This is the perfect bowl of rice, not one where the starch/glucose/talc/whatever has created a film over the grains and caused them to stick to one another almost like glue. I find that happens with every variety of polished rice, including basmati. Of course some people like their rice to be a bit sticky, so it's ultimately up to individual taste.

[suegha]

That's interesting about the need to rince all rice. The basmati I buy in 20kg bags was recommended by my asian neighbours.

It states on the bag 'don't rince' so I don't, and it is always perfect! 2 to 1 ratio bring to boil and steam for 20 mins. The make is Veetee. Is there a way in production to overcome the need for rincing perhaps?

[Ajarn]

That's interesting about the need to rince all rice. The basmati I buy in 20kg bags was recommended by my asian neighbours.

It states on the bag 'don't rince' so I don't, and it is always perfect! 2 to 1 ratio bring to boil and steam for 20 mins. The make is Veetee. Is there a way in production to overcome the need for rincing perhaps?

Beyond the talc issue, I've found bugs, rocks, and other stuff enough times in rice to insure that it always gets at least one rinse.

I've also heard from some that rinsing the rice also lessens the amount of vitamins and minerals you get from the rice.

if you can handle the calcium, I think now it is "drinkable". any body got any updates. ? ( hope so, cause i have take small swigs from the basin tap at night instead of going to the fridge)

Last I heard, Bkk water was considered safe to drink... It's the chemicals from old pipes leaching into the water that causes problems, from what I've heard.

[sabaijai]

That's interesting about the need to rince all rice. The basmati I buy in 20kg bags was recommended by my asian neighbours.

It states on the bag 'don't rince' so I don't, and it is always perfect! 2 to 1 ratio bring to boil and steam for 20 mins. The make is Veetee. Is there a way in production to overcome the need for rincing perhaps?

I think a lot of rice packagers add the label "Don't Rinse" because it is thought that the rice starch in the bag is rich in vitamins (including vitamins added to the starch for extra nutrition, ie, to replace vitamins lost through polishing).

Thus from the pure perspective of maintaining vitamins, etc, it's better not to rinse rice. From an aesthetic perspective it's something else again. Of course unpolished rice has more vitamins, protein, fibre and other nutrition than polished rice to begin with so if I were concerned with the vitamins contained in rice, I'd eat unpolished/brown rice.

By the way Thai jasmine rice is sometimes called 'Thai basmati' because, like the basmati rice of Indian and Pakistan (of which there are 11 registered varieties, across a wide price range) it's a long-grained, aromatic rice. I prefer jasmine rice myself, with high-quality Pakistani basmati a close second. Still, when I cook basmati I have to rinse it to get rid of the starch.

If the rice comes out perfect for your tastes, I wouldn't worry about it.

There's also the issue of other detritus that Ajarn mentions. No rice I've ever seen is totally free of it.

[sabaijai]

Reminds me of a bit of Thai folklore about rinsing the rice three times. When I first came to Thailand XX years ago, I lived with a Thai family in Chainat (central Thailand) for awhile. The husband shared the cooking responsibilities, and it was the first time I'd seen anyone cook rice. I noticed he always rinsed the rice three times before putting it in the ancient Toshiba steamer they had, and asked him why. I was expecting an explanation related to taste or hygiene, but he smiled and said, "one time each for the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha"!

Since then I've asked other Thais about this story, and they usually say something like 'oh yeah my grandmother used to say that, but I just rinse it three times to make sure it's clean and to make it come out the way it's supposed to'.

[zzap]

We get our own harvest milled locally, nothing added at all.

Still need to rinse, plenty of dust from the milling.

RE-Bangkok water: I used it for cooking, the water is 'clean' at source, but there is a risk of contamination from leaking underground pipes, and, worse, the storage/flow containers located on the roofs of apartment buildings, you may find many insects and the odd dead rat in there.