During the preparation of cereals, you need to know the general rules that should be followed:
Groups, before, should be cleaned of possible litter (dirt, bad and empty grains and chases).
Before cooking, sorted cereals must be washed. But not all cereals should be washed and not always. Let’s say rice is washed only if a side dish or pilaf will be prepared from it. Semolina, corn, buckwheat, barley groats, Hercules flakes – do not wash at all (unless otherwise indicated).
It should be taken into account that the washed cereal has some amount of moisture and this must be taken into account when calculating the water for cooking porridge.
As a rule, the right amount of salt is rarely indicated, which is necessary for cooking cereals. Therefore, you must adhere to the following parameters:
– For sweet and milk porridges – 5 grams of salt per 1 kilogram of finished porridge;
– For cereals on the water – 10 grams per 1 kilogram of cooked porridge.
It is recommended to add some of the required fat while cooking porridge. This will significantly improve the taste.
It should also be taken into account the fact that in large pots, water boils slower than in small dishes and small pots.
For cooking porridge, it is advisable to use dishes with a Teflon coating or with a thick bottom. This will keep the porridge from burning.
After the cereal is poured into boiling water, it must be mixed with a spoon or wooden spatula, lifting the cereal from the bottom. Floated dirt and debris should be collected with a slotted spoon or spoon and discarded. When the cereal swells and absorbs all the water, mixing should be stopped.
On low heat, porridge is cooked. But at the same time, the temperature should not be lower than 90-100 degrees.
Thanks to these general rules, almost all cereals are boiled (crumbly, viscous and liquid).
These useful tips to keep in mind will help you prepare delicious and healthy cereal porridge:
Tip 1. Porridge will turn out much tastier, it will be crumbly and will not burn if you put the pot with porridge in another – a large pot of boiling water. That is, make a water bath.
Tip 2. When cooking liquid rice porridge, add one teaspoon of salt to 1 cup of cereal. For crumbly buckwheat porridge, salt per 1 cup of cereal will take half as much.
Tip 3. If you cook rice in a thin pan, then the groats at the bottom may burn, and the top will remain raw. Therefore, it is better to use a cast-iron pan and deep. This will ensure that the pan heats up evenly.
Tip 4. If you add a few tablespoons of cold milk to a pot of boiling water, the rice groats will not boil.
Tip 5. To ensure that after cooking the rice remains white, you need to add juice from half a lemon or a little vinegar to the water.
Tip 6. For the preparation of crumbly porridge from unground cereals, it is impossible to wash the cereals. You just need to dry it in a pan without adding fat and stirring occasionally. From such cereals, porridge will cook twice as fast.
Tip 7. Sweet dishes prepared from semolina will be more magnificent and more pleasant if you soak the cereal in milk or water before cooking (for about 30 minutes).
Tip 8. When cooking liquid and viscous cereals, stir the porridge with slow movements. Stirring quickly increases the cooking time.
Tip 9. If millet porridge has a taste of bitterness, then the cereal was washed poorly. Millet groats must first be washed 3-4 times in warm water.
Tip 10. If you put a very thin cake of dough on the bottom of the pan, you can avoid rice sticking to the bottom of the pan during cooking.
Tip 11. If you pour cereals with cold water, you get porridge-slurry. And if you pour boiling water, in this case, the porridge will turn out crumbly.
Tip 12. If you add beaten egg white to rice porridge before eating and mix, then the porridge will be much tastier.
