Toasted Rice Powder
Makes 1/2 cup rice powder
Nutty, fragrant toasted rice powder is the a subtle ingredient in many Asian cuisines; it adds pleasant, mildly gritty texture to soft foods and helps thicken stewed foods. Making it at home is a snap and a fun project that takes 10 minutes or less; store unused rice powder in a tightly covered container in a cool place and it will last nearly forever…but do consider making a fresh batch if it really has been forever.
2/3 cup white, short grain Asian rice
1. Over medium heat, pour rice into a cast iron skillet or wok. Stir rice occasionally and toast until light golden brown, about 5-7 minutes; to insure the rice doesn’t burn, remove it from the pan before it turns overly dark as the rice will continue to toast a minute or so after it’s removed from a heat source. Pour the rice onto a plate and spread grains to help speed up cooling.
2. When the rice is cool enough to handle, grind in a blender or food processor; as you might imagine a Vitamix type blender is especially good at making a very fine powder. The rice powder will be gritty, that’s okay. Store completely cooled powder in a tightly covered glass or plastic container.
Variation, multi-grain rice powder
It’s fun to blend a few whole grains for an earthy toasted powder or for your super health nut friends. Try a mix of brown rice, quinoa and barley to start. However, don’t toast together very tiny grains like amaranth or teff with rice, as the teeny grains will burn before the rice is fully toasted.
