puffed rice

[darklar]

How do I puff rice at home? Can I make my own rice cakes or puffed rice snacks? Is it like popping corn?

[nickmo]

To make at home - buy an industrial sized pressure steamer, and heat the rice grains, after polishing, and the steam under high pressure will 'pop' the rice kernel to the puffed effect. Doubt you can make it at home as the process requires high presure and heat, but a domestic pressure cooker may be able to give the reults - cheaper to buy the stuff ready to use though.......

Puffed rice cakes and bars ideas at: http://www.recipelink.com/mf/1/4561 120 to keep you happy..

[rd14962]

In the case of a Rice Crispies, you pop the rice similar to the way you pop popcorn. If you have read about how popcorn works, you know that you need three things to make popcorn: Moisture inside the kernel, starch inside the kernel and a hard shell to contain the pressure. Normal rice is missing the moisture, but if you condition it with steam to get enough moisture inside the kernel, you can either oven-pop rice or oil-pop it. It's not as dramatic a transformation as popcorn, but it pops using the same mechanism. Rice Krispies are oven-popped, which gives them the right texture to "snap! crackle! pop!" when milk is added.