Generality
What is rice pasta?
Rice paste is a food product based on rice flour. There are mainly two types of rice pasta:
- Rice noodle or rice noodles
- Substitute of Italian wheat-based pasta .
Rice Noodles
Rice noodle or rice noodles
Rice noodles are typical foods of East and Southeast Asia; they are produced in various thicknesses and marketed fresh, frozen or dried.
Rice noodles take the form of very thin spaghetti; the main ingredients are white rice flour and water, but in some cases they can also contain tapioca or corn starch, which improve the starch gelatinization and make the dough more transparent and elastic during cooking.
There are also dark variations produced with brown rice flour.
Replacement Pasta
Rice paste: not just spaghetti
Rice paste as a substitute for traditional Italian food is considered a diet food. It was born to replace wheat flour, unsuitable for the diet of celiacs (gluten intolerant) and for the nutrition of allergens to wheat proteins. This need arises from the fact that, in Italy, pasta is an extremely rooted food in traditional gastronomic culture and many people (even if out of necessity) struggle to exclude it totally from their dietary habits.
On the market there are numerous formats of substitute pasta based on rice: penne, fusilli, sedanini, spaghetti etc. From a nutritional point of view, it is not very different from that of wheat; also in this case some alternative versions are proposed, such as the whole or mixed with corn flour, quinoa etc.
Nutrition
Nutritional characteristics of rice pasta
Due to their extreme nutritional similarity, in this section we will not distinguish between oriental noodles and traditional Italian pasta substitutes.
Rice pasta has a high energy supply, supplied mainly by carbohydrates, followed by proteins and marginally by lipids.
Carbohydrates are basically complex (starch) and peptides of medium biological value.
The fibers are present in medium quantities and cholesterol is absent.
As far as vitamins are concerned, rice pasta contains above all some water-soluble of group B, such as thiamine and niacin (although some values are not shown in the table). In reference to minerals, the levels of phosphorus and manganese can be defined as satisfactory.
Rice pasta is suitable for most diets, but in case of overweight, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia it becomes necessary to reduce the average portion by about 30%.
Containing no gluten, it is suitable for celiacs; it is also free of lactose and wheat protein. It is also tolerated by vegetarian and vegan philosophies.
The average portion of rice paste is about 80 g dry (290 kcal).
| Rice paste, white, dry | |||
| Nutritional values per 100 g | |||
| Power | 364.0 kcal | ||
| Total carbohydrates | 83.2 g | ||
| Starch | - g | ||
| Simple sugars | - g | ||
| fibers | 1.6 g | ||
| Grassi | 0.6 g | ||
| Saturated | 0.2 g | ||
| Monounsaturated | 0.2 g | ||
| polyunsaturated | 0.2 g | ||
| Protein | 3.4 g | ||
| water | 11.9 g | ||
| Vitamins | |||
| Vitamin A equivalent | 0.0 μg | 0% | |
| Beta-carotene | 0.0 μg | 0% | |
| Lutein Zexanthin | - μg | ||
| Vitamin A | - IU | ||
| Thiamine or B1 | - mg | -% | |
| Riboflavin or B2 | - mg | -% | |
| Niacin or PP or B3 | 0.2 mg | 1% | |
| Pantothenic acid or B5 | 0.1 mg | 1% | |
| Pyridoxine or B6 | - mg | -% | |
| folate | 3.0 μg | 1% | |
| Choline | - mg | -% | |
| Ascorbic acid or C | 18.4 mg | 1% | |
| Vitamin D | - μg | -% | |
| Alpha-tocopherol or E | - mg | -% | |
| Vit. K | - μg | -% | |
| Minerals | |||
| Football | 18.0 mg | 2 % | |
| Iron | 0.7 mg | 4% | |
| Magnesium | 12.0 mg | 3% | |
| Manganese | 0.5 mg | 25% | |
| Phosphorus | 153.0 mg | 15% | |
| Potassium | 30.0 mg | 1% | |
| Sodium | 182.0 mg | 8% | |
| Zinc | 0.7 mg | 5% | |
| Fluoride | - μg | -% | |
Kitchen
Gastronomic properties of rice pasta
Rice noodles and Italian rice noodles are cooked differently. While Italian rice pasta is dipped in boiling water, in the same way as our traditional food, rice noodles need a different treatment.
First of all, rice noodles should not be dipped in boiling water; it is of primary importance that the temperature is around 90 ° C. Secondly, cooking takes place inside a bowl and down from the fire, not inside the pot, let alone on the lit stove. The total time is 7 '.
Both types of rice pasta lend themselves to being sautéed, although, unlike rice noodles, Italian food substitutes also go well with liquid sauces such as tomato sauce.
The main difference between rice and wheat pasta is the cooking resistance and the final consistency; even if, compared to the past, modern Italian substitutes have improved their properties over long periods of time, they still do not compare with durum wheat semolina pasta and egg pasta.
