Should rice be washed with hot water or cold water?

It is usually recommended that basmati and jasmine not be rinsed because they are not overly starchy and the taste is better unrinsed. American style short grain rice and japanese rice is usually rinsed to provide a cleaner flavor, but this can also wash away some of the vitamin fortification. Do not rinse risotto rice, since the starchiness is important to the dish.

When you do rinse rice, the purpose is to clean it and reduce the starch, but not to cook it, so cold water is probably best, but it likely does not matter much.

In the end, rinsing or not is not terribly noticeable, and mostly comes down to taste. You will definitely see both sides argued well. To me, this usually means either way is fine.

I cook both jasmine and basmati on a regular basis and I no longer bother to rinse either of them. The recipes I started with suggest rinsing with cool water until the water goes clear, but I found that it didn't really make a noticeable difference to me, so I stopped rinsing it. My rice turns out fluffy and delicious every time. Other types of rice might have a more noticeable difference whether rinsed or not. For example, a starchy rice like arborio, you specifically DON'T rinse because you usually want the starch to make risotto or rice pudding creamy.

My guess is that jasmine and basmati just aren't starchy enough to make the rice sticky with my cooking method, since that would presumably be why you'd want to rinse -- for a fluffier, less sticky result. Getting the right ratio of rice to water will probably have a bigger effect on the final texture. Whether you prefer the texture achieved with or without rinsing is largely a matter of personal taste. Since I like it just as much without rinsing, I skip that step.

For reference, here's my cooking method:

• 1.5 cups jasmine rice (or 2 cups basmati rice)
• 1.75 cups water (or 2.5 cups for basmati)

Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes (or 10 minutes for basmati) with the lid on.

Unfortunately I don't agree with the given answers. I recently bought a $350 zojirushi rice cooker. According to the manual there is such a thing as "rinse-free" rice. There is even a function on the rice cooker for this setting. In addition, the rice cooker manual explains that the rice should be rinsed several times with cold water.

The main reason for rinsing, and indeed soaking, rice is not starch, but arsenic. Surprising people are unaware of this. 'Arsenic In Rice: How Concerned Should You Be?': https://foodrevolution.org/blog/arsenic-in-rice/