The Turkish pantry
Small, plump white rice grains for tender puddings, soups and fillings. Match the grain and cooking method to the dish.
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This guide concerns uncooked, milled white short-grain rice. It is distinct from brown rice, long-grain rice, parboiled rice, instant rice and glutinous sweet rice. The nutrition reference is specifically unenriched; an enriched product needs its own label values.
Short, plump grains that typically become moist and cling together when cooked; use the uncooked quantity specified in a recipe.
Added nutrients change the nutrition profile. Check the ingredient list and follow that product’s preparation instructions.
These have different processing and cooking requirements. Brown rice retains bran; parboiled and instant rice are not interchangeable with raw white rice by timing alone.
A particularly sticky rice sold for different uses; do not assume every short-grain rice is this product.
It can give a related moist texture, but check that the recipe supports the change and adjust its liquid and cooking time. It remains a different ingredient identity.
Usually gives more separate grains. It changes the texture of a pudding or filling and is not an equivalent replacement simply because both are white rice.
Use a recipe designed for that form; its cooking needs differ from the raw white short-grain ingredient here.
Rice, white, short-grain, raw, unenriched [1]
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 358 kcal |
| Protein | 6.5 g |
| Total fat | 0.52 g |
| Saturated fat | 0.14 g |
| Carbohydrate | 79.2 g |
| Dietary fiber | Not reported |
| Total sugars | Not reported |
| Sodium | 1 mg |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Calcium | 3 mg |
| Iron | 0.8 mg |
| Potassium | 76 mg |
| Vitamin D | 0 µg |
Raw unenriched white short-grain rice, before cooking. This reference does not describe enriched rice: check the product label for added nutrients. Cooking adds water, so these are not values for 100 g of cooked rice or pudding. Values are rounded for readability; “not reported” does not mean zero. A “<” value is below the source’s measurement limit.
Nutrition values come from the reference source named above. They are published reference values, not our own measurements. Actual products and cooking methods may change the values.
Our published recipes use this exact rice identity in baked rice pudding, soup, vegetable fillings and savory dishes. These are examples from this collection, not a claim that all Turkish rice dishes use short-grain rice or that one cultivar is universal.
Lamb liver and rice with currants, pine nuts and herbs, wrapped in caul fat and baked. Ciğer sarma is associated with Edirne and the wider Thracian/Rumelian repertoire. This herb-and-spice adaptation keeps its lamb liver, rice and caul structure. Buy cleaned food-grade caul from a butcher.
A warming red lentil soup with bulgur, rice, tomato, dried mint and pul biber.
Creamy milk-and-rice pudding with an unevenly browned top, chilled in individual oven-safe bowls.
Delicate zucchini blossoms loosely filled with rice, tomato and fresh herbs.
Dried eggplant shells filled with beef, rice and currants, gently cooked in a tomato-and-pepper sauce. Currant-filled dried eggplant is associated with Denizli. This home version uses onion, herbs and mixed tomato and pepper pastes; local variations exist.
Tender leek pieces, carrot and rice in a gentle lemon and olive-oil cooking liquid.
Tender vine leaves wrapped around fragrant rice with onion, herbs and warm spices.
