Brown rice aricini but always end up with too much water
I want to make simple aricini (eggs + cheese + rice) but with brown rice and chopped spinach. When I made this I ended up having too much water in the mixture. As brown rice takes lots of water to cook and spinach secretes water when chopped fine.
How do I go about this?
Best Answer
Keep good notes?
Seriously, just use less water, until you have the correct proportions figured out. Trial and error is a long process, but I don't see any shortcuts in you case if you can't find a recipe already using brown rice and spinach. The extra water used in making brown rice should really be absorbed by the rice, the preparation shouldn't have too much extra water left in it unless there was a mis-measurement. The water added by the spinach has to be accounted for, but without knowing amount or preparation of spinach, or anything else there's no way to guess how much water would be added (and therefore how much needs to be removed to balance it out).
The recipes I found for Arancini (I I think this is the same thing, please mention if if you meant something else) - have the rice and other ingredients cooked risotto style first, rather than in a rice cooker or by some hands-off method that requires pre-measured water. In short, it means you don't have to get the amount of rice exactly right immediately, you can use much less water at first, and slowly add more if it's getting too dry, or even cook a bit longer to reduce if it's getting too wet. Longer cooking may change the texture a bit, if you aren't careful, but if you are gentle with the heat it may come out alright - especially since the recipe is going to be cooked again anyway to make the balls with.
If you are intending to have the spinach stuffed into the balls, instead of mixed into the risotto - then Joe's link will be useful, as you need to get as much water as you can out of the spinach beforehand (possibly you can still add it to the risotto), and there are limits in how dry you can make the risotto to balance the extra moisture. If you cannot balance the moisture even after pushing the spinach and the risotto to their limits, you may just have to use a different preparation of spinach, or lesser quantities.
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How do you cook brown arborio rice?
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off heat and allow rice to sit covered for 10 minutes.How much water do I use for 2 cups of rice?
To cook rice, the general rule of thumb is to use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. So, for 2 cups of rice, you would need to use 4 cups of water. However, this is just a basic guideline. Depending on the type of rice you are cooking, the ratio of water to rice may be different.How do you stop arancini from falling apart?
For every 2 or so cups of risotto (or for 16 arancini), you'll want two eggs and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano. If you'd like to err on the side of caution re: the balls falling apart, you can also add 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs here (either homemade or the store-bought, Italian-style ones).How many cups of water do you need for rice?
What is the Ratio of Water to Rice? The basic water to white rice ratio is 2 cups water to 1 cup rice. You can easily, double and even triple the recipe; just make sure you are using a pot large enough to hold the rice as it cooks and expands.HOW TO MAKE SICILIAN ARANCINI LIKE AN ITALIAN AT HOME - EASY AND DELICIOUS RICE BALLS by your Fran
More answers regarding brown rice aricini but always end up with too much water
Answer 2
After cooking your rice separately, drain it in a colander, if needed, before spreading it on a parchment-lined sheet to cool completely.
An effective way to limit the amount of liquid produced by spinach is to dry- sauté it in a frying pan. Chop it first, put it in a medium-hot skillet, and stir constantly; it will take only a few minutes to cook through. Remove to a colander and gently press to remove any excess liquid.
Then, add your rice and spinach to the rest of the ingredients (beaten eggs, cheese, and bread crumb) before shaping into balls and rolling in additional bread crumbs.
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