Rice

I've tried giving rice to Kyle before, but he didn't seem to fond of it. But, I decided to try again, and used some leftover rice from the night before. Again, he didn't seem too crazy about it, but after he spat out the first mouthful, I decided to try something different. The rice had come out much stickier than I had planned, so I was able to make some little rice balls for him, and all of a sudden he LOVED the rice and I couldn't make the balls fast enough. Of course, it was a little messy, as they did break apart as he picked them up and put them in his mouth. But they did stay together enough that he liked the texture instead of the individual grains.

To make the STICKY rice - I used brown basmati rice (from Trader's Joes). I rinsed it 3 or 4 times with water, and then cooked it for 35 minutes with twice the volume of water. After that, it was still a little soupy in the bottom, so I gave it another 5 minutes with the lid off.


Word of warning - using leftover rice can be dangerous...

Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will germinate into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins.

So, the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat. It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.