Title of Invention

"AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF RICE NOODLES/VERMICELLI"

Abstract

An improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli which comprises a) soaking polished (milled) rice broken in excess water containing an oxidizing agent, b) washing the soaked rice and grinding with water to a fine thick paste (slurry) having around (40%) moisture, c) adding salt to taste, d) steaming the above said slurry for a period ranging from 5 to 30 minutes to get a dough, e) then kneading the steamed dough, f) extruding by conventional methods such as herein described the noodle/vermicelli strands, g) again steaming and drying at a temperature 60-80°C for a period 1 to 3 hour to obtain rice noodles/vermicelli, characterized in the said oxidizing agent is selected from sodium/potassium metabisulphite having 0 05 to 0 3% sulphur dioxide

Full Text

This invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli. More particularly this invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli from rice or rice brokens based on wet grinding of soaked rice/brokens and further improvement in processing to the patent application filed earlier on the same subject viz. No.688/DEL/96 dt.29.03.86 entitled A process for making noodles/vermicelli from rice' by the same Inventors. The earlier process consisted of the following steps: Rice is soaked under specified conditions, dried and ground to flour. The rice flour is partially or fully etrudate is steamed and dried. The main obiective of the present invention is to provide an alternate process for preparation of rice noodles from whole rice/broken rice and to reduce the number of unit operations involved to save on time and energy and to get a product with high swelltng power and elasticity upon cooking. The present process has got the following advantages in comparison to the earlier process. 1. After soaking the rice in 0.3% Na2S205 ( or any S02 source) it is directly ground without drying thereby saving one unit operation. 2. By wet grinding the soaked rice, the unit operation and the principle involved are changed. This confers improved quality to the final product in terms of elasticity of the cooked noodles. 3. Addition of moisture and salt and then the sieving unit operation is avoided. 4. Unit operation step of addition of the flour to the boiling water is avoided. 5. The kneading of the dough in a kneader confers improved properties to the final product. 6. Steaming of the extrudate for only 10 min atm. pressure reduces the unit operation time thus saving on time and energy. 7. Solid loss upon cooking is reduced by about 1% or so. .8. Texture of the cooked product (firmness and elasticity are better when compared to the products obtained by earlier process. Accordingly'the present invention thus provides an improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli, which comprises: a) soaking polished (milled) rice broken in excess water containing an oxidizing agent, b) washing the soaked rice and grinding with water to a fine thick paste (slurry) having around (40%) moisture, c) adding salt to taste, d) steaming the above said slurry for a period ranging from 5 to 30 minutes to get a dough, e) then' kneading the steamed dough, f) extruding by conventional methods such as herein described the noodle/vermicelli strands, g) again steaming and drying at a temperature 60-80°C for a period 1 to 3 hour to obtain rice noodles/vermicelli, characterized in the said oxidizing agent is selected from sodium/potassiun metabisulphite having 0.05 to 0.3% sulphur dioxide. In one of the embodiments of the process the oxidizing agent capable of producing SO2 used may be such as alkali metabisulphite, sulphurous acid, S02. In another embodiment the steaming in step (d) may be effected for 10-20 min at atmospheric pressure and steaming in step (g) may be effected for 5-15 min at atmospheric pressure. Rice used may be such as that having amylose content of more than 25%. Commercially available broken rice (cleaned) or milled rice about 3 months after harvest may be obtained from rice mills/market. The salient steps of the process are described in detail as below : Cleaned miH@d rice or broken rice (preferably three months after harvest) of a high-amylose-equivatent cultivar (apparent amylose content >26%) is soaked in excess water (amount of water may vary from 130% to 150% by weight containing an oxidizing agent, typically sodium or potassium metabisulphite, equivalent to a concentration of about 0.05 - 0.03% sulphur dioxide at temperatures preferably of 2 5o - 55oC for a peripe preferably of 8 to 2 0 hour. This is contemplated to help the separation of starch granules from the protein matrix in silte which helps in proper binding of the cooked material promoting starch-starch interaction such that it renders stability of the cooked product, during reconstitution and also helps in reducing the loss of solids during cooking. The excess water is drained off, and the rice is washed with fresh water and drained again. The drained rice is ground with fresh water in a suitable wet grinder to a fine, thick paste ( >70% particles having a size of 105 microns or less ) , with common table salt (preferable amount being 1 - 2%) added and mixed thoroughly. The paste is cooked such as by steaming for a period prefra bly for 5 to 3 0 min at atmospheric pressure preferably by spreading on a cloth in a tray. This initial steaming gelattif-izes the starch to a desirable extent for helping in better cohesion and stability of the noodle strands. The cooked slurry mat is then kneaded thoroughly in a suitable kneader unit which converts it in to a dough free of lumps. The dough is divided in to appropriate sized balls and extruded throgh noodle/vermicelli press using a die of proper aperture site (such as 1.0 mm - 1.5 mm dia holes) . The extruded strands could be collected either as long strands or in rounds or in any other manner, depending on the preference. The frecthly extruded noodles are again cooked such as by steaming at atmospheric pressure or at very mild ( The invention is further illustrated with the following examples which should not however be construed to limit the scope of the invention. Example 1 Two kg. well polished ( ca 8% polish ) of a high-amylose commercial variety procured from market containing about 30% brokens was soaked in water containing metabisulphite equivalent to 0.2% sulphur dioxide for 16 hrs, at 50°C, rinsed with water t t twice, and ground in a suitable wet grinder to a fine, thick paste ( >70% particles having a size of 105 microns or less) with additional water (25 - 40% w/v). The ground slurry was spread over a cloth, kept in a tray and steamed for 15 min in an autoclave, removed and then kneaded well in a mechanical kneader to a no-lump stage. The kneaded material was made in to balls of appropriate size (about 8 balls) and extruded through a noodle press (having a capacity to take one ball at a time) using 1.2 mm dia hole apertured die. The extruded strands were collected in stainless steel wire mesh tray and steamed for 15 min at atmospheric pressure in an autoclave. The steamed noodles were then dried in a truck drier at 801 for 1 hr cooled at room temperature and packed in polythene bags. Solid loss of the product was tested under standard test conditions (IS 1485, II, 1976). For this, 5 gm noodles (about 5 mm long pieces) were cooked in 50 ml boiling water for 10 min while maintaining the water level constant. The excess water was strained carefully through a fine stainless steel wire-mesh strainer into a beaker, transferred quantitatively into a tared petri dish and evaporated to dryness - first over a water bath and then in an oven maintained at 1051C for 2 hrs. The dry matter was expressed as percentage in terms of original material taken. Noodles were also cooked to their optimal sensory level. It was sufficient to cook noodles in excess boiling water for 2 min and then keeping aside for 3 min and draining the excess water. In another procedure of cooking, the dry noodles were added to excess boiling water and left aside for 5 min. The excess water was drained out. Textural properties (firmness and elasticity) of the noodles were determined by using Viscoelastograph (Chopin INRA , France) after keeping them at room temperature in humid covered condition for about 1 hour. Water absorption and water solubility indices were determined in the flour from the dry noodles as per standard methods (Anderson,R.A., Conway, M.F., Pfeifer, V.V. and Griffin, E.L., Cereal Sci. Today 14 (1) 4-7, 11, 12, 1969) . Table l gives the details of the quality characteristics of the noodles. The firmness and elastic recovery values reported here and in Table 2 are for noodles after cooking them for 2 min and leaving aside for 3 min at room temperature. Table 1 Quality characteristics of the rice noodles (Table Removed) Example 2: Five hundred gram of well polished milled rice containing 50% brokens of a high amylose rice cultivar (IR 20) was soaked in water containing metabisulphite equivalent to 0.2% sulphur dioxide for 16 hrs. at 50°C, rinsed with water twice and ground in a suitable wet grinder to a fine, thick paste ( >70% flour particles having a size of 105 microns or less) with additional water (25- 40% w/v) and 2% salt. The ground slurry was spread over a cloth, kept in a tray and steamed for 15 min in an autoclave,removed, and then kneaded well in a mechanical kneader to a no-lump stage. The kneaded material was made into 2 balls and extruded through a noodle press (having a capacity to take one ball at a time) using a die having l.2mm dia aperture holes. The extruded strands were collected in a stainless steel wire mesh tray and steamed for 20 rains, at 0.25 to 0.3 kg/cm2 pressure, in an autoclave. The steamed noodles were then dried in a truck drier at 60°C for 2 hr, cooled at room temperature and t i packed in polythene bags. The quality parameters of the noodles produced are listed in Table 2. Table 2 Quality characteristics of rice noodles (Table Removed) Although the invention is described in detail with reference to the above examples and embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the variation which are functionally equivalent are with in the scope of this invention. Indeed, various modifications of the invention in addition to those shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. Advantages of the invention 1. The noodles/vermicelli can be prepared from milled white rice or brokens and the product has improved cooking and textural properties. 2. The process helps in improving the texture profile as the product is more firm and elastic and can withstand handling / processing after cooking. The solid loss upon excess water cooking is less as compared to that of the products from the earlier. 3. It is a simple process. 4. It is possible to incorporate, if desired, suitable adjuncts to improve the nutritional, processing or functional properties of the product. 5. The process helps in increasing use of rice brokens for food purpose by converting to a value added product, having good textural and organoleptic properties and devoid of sulphur dioxide. 6. The noodles prepared can be cooked to make different end products for domestic market as well as for export. They can be deep-fat-fried as a crispy, or cooked in water and seasoned to a soft snack dish or boiled in milk with sugar to make a sweet dish. We claim . 1. An improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli which comprises : a) soaking polished (milled) rice broken in excess water containing an oxidizing agent, b) washing the soaked rice and grinding with water to a fine thick paste (slurry) having around (40%) moisture, c) adding salt to taste, d) steaming the above said slurry for a period ranging from 5 to 30 minutes to get a dough, e) then kneading the steamed dough, f) extruding by conventional methods such as herein described the noodle/vermicelli strands, g) again steaming and drying at a temperature 60-80°C for a period 1 to 3 hour to obtain rice noodles/vermicelli, characterized in the said oxidizing agent is selected from sodium/potassium metabisulphite having 0.05 to 0.3% sulphur dioxide. 2. An improved process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the kneaded dough is extruded and the second steaming at atmospheric or very mild ( 3. An improved process for the preparation of rice noodles/vermicelli substantially as herein described with reference to the examples.

Documents:

2161-del-1998-abstract.pdf

2161-del-1998-claims cancelled.pdf

2161-del-1998-claims.pdf

2161-del-1998-complete specification (granted).pdf

2161-del-1998-correspondence-others.pdf

2161-del-1998-correspondence-po.pdf

2161-del-1998-description (complete).pdf

2161-del-1998-form-1.pdf

2161-del-1998-form-2.pdf

2161-del-1998-form-3.pdf

2161-del-1998-form-4.pdf

2161-del-1998-form-9.pdf