I love a steaming bowl of Cream of Rice® for breakfast, but I definitely don't love how overpriced it is. Isn't it just ground-up bits of quick-cooking rice, enhanced by nothing more than a Kraft logo and an inflated price tag?
I asked mom if I could grind up regular grains of rice in her beautiful sleek Cadillac of blender, but she figured I'd probably dull the blades quite brutally. . .
. . .yeah . . . mothers are usually right.
But my curiosity remained stubbornly set on discovering a way to do this myself.
That's when I spotted an inexpensively-priced bag of idli rawa in the international section of the grocery store, and realized that the label said ground rice. 'Aha!' I said aloud, picking up the package. 'Home-made cream of rice, here we come.'
Now, I know it's probably horridly disrespectful to the idli rawa to make cereal out of it, instead of the traditional steamed cakes, but I thought I'd give it a try.
On my first attempt, I cooked the idli rawa exactly like rice -- pouring 1 cup of idli rawa into 2 cups of boiling water, then covering the saucepan and simmering for fifteen minutes. Can we say 'bad idea'? This method resulted in a lumpy and grainy glob which, although edible, was hardly the dish I had in mind.
Undaunted, a gave it another try a few days later, taking a cue from an old polenta method which I modified for the occasion -- and this time, a wonderfully creamy bowl of breakfast cereal emerged.
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3 cups water, boiling
1 cup water, cold
1 cup idli rawa
1/2 - 1 cup water, additional
Bring 2 cups water to boil in saucepan.
Meanwhile, in separate bowl, whisk 1 cup dry idli rawa into 1 cup cold water until completely
blended.
When water in saucepan comes to a boil, slowly pour the blended idli rawa into the saucepan. Be sure to whisk thoroughly and quickly as you slowly pour the mixture into the boiling water -- the key is to fully incorporate the idli rawa mixture into the boiling water and thus prevent lumps.
Tightly cover the pan, turn burner down, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup additional water, whisk to incorporate, and promptly re-cover. Simmer for 7 more minutes.
Ladel into dishes, add a splash of rice-milk, and voila! Lovely cream of rice.
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3 second helpings:
to satisfy my curiosity I'll have to look and see if I can find Idli Rawa. What a great idea!
If anyone ever wants to try to grind their own here is how I did it.
I used a low dollar blender... :o)
The Bob's red mill cream of rice cereal say to use 1 part cereal to 3 parts water and simmer 20 minutes on low.
I made a smaller portion for my daughter this morning. I used 1/4 cup of rice blended to a mixture of powder and rice bits. I brought 3/4 of a cup of water to a boil and then I stirred the cereal in as I added it. I put the lid on and turned the stove to the lowest setting and set the timer for 20 minutes. It was ready sooner. It started to stick to the bottom.
Viola! She liked it!
Thanks for the Idli Rawa info!
I googled "homemade cream of rice" and found this post. THANK YOU!!!
We grew up eating Cream of Rice as kids and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get rid of those lumps!
I made it your way this morning with milk (like my mother used to make) and it tasted EXACTLY the same. Thanks!
just grind rice in a coffee grinder
boil about a cut of water in a pan
i add some sugar and raisins while boiling...then i toss in 3 or 4 heaping table spoons of rice flour
YOU PEOPLE ARE OVER THINKING THIS!
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