Commercial instant rice is easy to use, cheap and can be found almost everywhere. So what does it lack though?
Simply a deep taste and as well the texture that good quality rice has. Sadly with commercial instant rice you do have a major trade off. In burritos or used in soups on the trail it isn’t so noticeable. But if your rice is the focal point it can come up very lacking.
Drying your own rice can open up a vast array of choice from Jasmine, sticky rices, brown, black, red and even wild rice. If you can buy the rice at the store you can dry it up! Considering you can find only white and a not-so-great brown rice in the majority of grocery stores, this allows you to have many more gourmet meals – and it only takes an hour or so total of your time to do it.
In most cases you will want to double whatever is the “serving size” on the rice package. That is often 1/4 cup dry rice. Figure 1/2 cup per serving of uncooked rice for trail appetites.
Cook your rice how you prefer making sure you don’t add in oil or fat. For white rices I often bring 3 cups water to a boil and add in 1 1/2 cups rinsed rice, bring it back to a boil, stir well and put the lid on. Turn it down to low and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes. When done fluff the rice up well.
A great way to make brown rice was featured on Alton Brown’s Good Eats show. Just leave out the fat (and it doesn’t need all that salt either!)
Spread the cooked rice on prepared dehydrator trays – if you have fine mesh screen use them, if not line your trays with parchment paper. 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice takes up about 2 trays when cooked. Dry at 135-145*.
If you are drying using your kitchen oven spread the rice on cookie trays and set the oven to it’s lowest setting. Put the trays in the oven and prop the door open a tiny bit with a wooden spoon.
Either way, check on your rice every hour and stir it breaking up any clumps. As the rice gets dry it will become very easy to get single grains.
The time depends on the humidity and if your dehydrator has a fan to help move off the moisture. Expect to take 4-12 hours (this isn’t an exact science!)
Once the rice is brittle dry (no flexibility) turn off the dehydrator and let the rice cool to room temperature. Pack in freezer bags in serving sizes. While you can leave your rice in bulk storage, by splitting it up you will have ready to go bags. I ended with 3 bags of 3/4 cup cooked and dehydrated rice each. (This was based on 1/2 cup uncooked rice per serving)
For rehydrating use a ratio of 1:1. For 1 serving from above add 3/4 cup boiling water to the 3/4 cup dried rice. Stir well and put in a cozy for 15 minutes. Serve as usual!
The texture of the rice tastes almost the same as when it came out of the pan. Try drying your own and you most likely will never go back to using commercial instant rice.
