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Comment by sometimeshuman | Hacker News Reader

Wether or not it is popped, is it ready to eat ? From a prepper perspective it would be great to have an alternative way to prepare rice without having to boil away water that might be in scarce supply. It's also attractive to cook rice in 2 minutes as opposed to waiting for a pot of water to boil.

Edit: If no one replies, I'll try tonight and report back by tomorrow morning.

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Rice (or any other cereals) can be cooked in a microwave oven in between 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the amount and on the oven, and without using more water than will be absorbed by the rice, which is typically about 4 times the mass of the rice (e.g. 125 g of rice + 500 g of water).

There is no need for a pot of water or for fuel, but electricity is needed. Bread can be made with much less water, but that does not save anything, because in that case you must drink more water.

To follow-up: I heated a skillet until water sizzled when dripped on it, then added long grain basmati rice and kept it at medium high heat for 2m30s. The grains moved, crackled, and browned.

Since they didn't pop or puff the result doesn't provide much food volume and it's about as crunchy as crushed pecans. Given its neutral flavor, which is unsurprisingly like Rice Krispy cereal, it would function well as a topping but definitely not like the main carb portion of a meal. Probably won't make it again.

Where do you live that water would be in that short supply? It only has to be a reasonably fresh and clear, not necessarily drinkable given it's going to be boiled for several minutes.

Since the GP said "from a prepper perspective", I assume he's thinking of conditions after some catastrophe has disrupted normal services.

Can't speak for anyone else, but here in Phoenix, if the municipal water stops pumping for whatever reason, options are very scarce, and hope you have a good multi-stage filter + UV setup with at least an OK source of water. You should generally have 15 gallons of clean drinking water per person on hand, which should last a couple weeks. In addition to a larger supply of water for washing/flushing.

TBH, I don't have this much, have about 15 gallons of fresh drinking water for 2 people, and a pool in the back with enough chemicals to keep it treated for a few months (flushing/cleaning use)... I could probably rig something with my RO and a UV light with a tank pump and a few other bits if it really came down to it though.

Have thought it might be cool to build a trailer with a generator, portable filtration system and water tank... The reality is, if things went bad, generally would only be for a couple weeks where I am, or would be bad enough that migration to another area would be necessary and at that point, who knows.

Assuming you have sunny days could you leave the (river? rain?) water all day in clear containers for the UV? You might need to do a lot at once to save for non sunny days.

Assuming no industrial pollution.

Probably want some resorts before this last resort though.

I'm in Phx, so all sun... too much even. Not enough water, so mobility to get to water and transport is much more critical.

Aside from the other responses, the second biggest city in Mexico just had a drought for months.

Not to say people are going to begin experimenting with popping whole grains over it, but water goes into short supply all over the world. And in those cases the water you can get has things like heavy metals and runoff that don’t just boil out.

I tried this with quinoa today. It did not puff, but it tasted fully cooked with a nice carmelized flavor similar to popcorn. It worked really well on top of a salad. Here's my recipe:

- Heat one cast-iron or heavy bottomed pot under medium heat.

- Add 1/2 cup quinoa (work in batches for more)

- Stir consistently for 1-2 minutes, until quinoa turns medium-brown or smoke begins to appear

- Remove immediately from heat.

- Add 2 tsp oil. Mix in pinches of salt, garlic, onion powder, paprika.

- Let cool 3-4 minutes and serve.

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