We started by soaking wild rice in our alkaline bath (0.5% salt and 1% baking soda) for 18 hours. Then we rinsed it off and began cooking. The wild rice took 30 minutes to cook. It was tender, with a nice chew. We decided to take some of this cooked rice and dehydrate it for frying. This took about 3 hours in a dehydrator. We fried the dried rice in 204°C/400°F oil. It crackled and puffed. Every grain. We drained it on paper towels and seasoned it. First with salt and then with carrot salt. If we were more clever we would have used rice salt or rice seasonings. Next time.
What was most interesting to us was that all the rice puffed. In our past explorations frying wild rice, we simply fried the raw rice. Every time we fried it, only a percentage of the rice would puff. Here everything puffed. The crackling rice was exceptionally crispy and light, tasting almost like popcorn. Finally, it stayed crispy all afternoon. Super crispy. The process of soaking, cooking, and drying seemed to make the fried results better. Then again, pork skins and chicken wings are occasionally treated with baking soda to produce lighter, crisper, and more crackling skins. So why would it be strange that the process works for rice too? Makes me wonder about popped hominy and revisiting french fries.
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