Page:Indian Cookery and Confectionery.djvu/26

 non-sticky, as is often the practice with the Europeans, is not proper. It appreciably spoils the taste and food-value of the rice.

It is the practice with the Bengalis to drain off the excels starchy water from the boiled rice but it will certainly be a better practice to take the rice along with the starchy water, as it is rich with nourishing compounds, even though the taste differs a little.

We may note here that the vitamin contents in rice reside entirely on the bright brownish skin of the grains. This skin is entirely removed to give a whitish look to the grains when the paddy is husked in the rice mills. But it is not so when the paddy is husked in an indigenous implement called "Dhenki". Therefore rice husked in Dhenkis are superior in quality to those husked in mills. But nowadays it is very difficult to find any rice husked in Dhenkis in the market. On the other hand Atap Rice are richer in vitamin contents than Siddha Rice as they are neither boiled before nor the skins are removed.

Atap rice and specially those husked from the new corn in the early months of winter are very tasteful and possess a characteristic flavour. They are, of course, not so easily digested as the old rice, and cannot, therefore, be recommenedrecommended [sic] for patients and those of ill health in general.