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We all know that cooking rice takes time. Fortunately for us busy (or lazy) people, there is the possibility to cook rice in larger quantities and then freeze it for later use. Problems come when the inoffensive spores containing bacterias aren’t totally killed by the cooking process. When rice is reheated, bacterias released by spores start to multiply and provoke food poisoning. To avoid this, here’s a few rules to prevent an upset stomach:
1. Seems obvious but never re-freeze rice you already thawed or re-heated.
2. Cool down the rice as soon as you can and by the quickest means – you can rinse plain rice in cold water. For pilaf, spread it as a thin layer into a shallow container so the maximum surface area allows a faster cooling down. Cooling down rice fast won’t allow bacteria to develop at their optimum temperature. If the cooling process takes too long, this can lead to dangerous levels of bacteria and spores.
3. Get into the fridge or freezer as quick as possible and don’t store for too long.
4. When you reheat the frozen rice, defrost in the fridge for around 1 hour and just make sure that you heat it thoroughly to kill maximum bacteria that survived.
5. Since you’ve frozen cooked rice because you wanted to save time, you probably want to defrost it as quickly. The easiest way to thaw rice is to use a microwave. If you’ve wrapped the rice after rinsing or while it was still warm, your frozen rice has enough moisture and you can thaw it without any additional water.
Do you have any tips for freezing rice?
