Rheology of Cooking of Broken Rice Flour Paste for Vadam Preparation

The rheological characteristics of broken rice flour paste, viz., pasting properties and texture profile analysis were evaluated to optimize the cooking parameters for preparation of vadam, a traditional snack food. To one gram of broken rice flour (c.v. IR 20), water was added at the rate of 10, 12 and 14 ml and cooked for one, two and three minutes duration at 80, 90 and 100°C temperatures. The texture profile analysis (TPA) of the paste, viz., hardness, springiness and cohesiveness were determined using TA-XT2i Texture Analyzer (Texture Expert Exceed). The pasting properties of vadam paste viz., peak viscosity, holding strength, final viscosity and pasting temperature, determined using the starch cell attached to a Rheometer (MCR 52, Anton Paar) ranged from 109.1 to 437.1 cP, 93.02 to 258 cP, 106.4 to 274.5 cP and 79.6°C to 93.3°C, respectively with increase in temperature from 80 to 100°C at 3 minutes exposure time for flour-moisture level of 1: 12. The increase in cooking temperature and time reduced the moisture content and hence the hardness increased. Hardness of 0.010–0.034 N, springiness of 0.11–0.235 and cohesiveness of 0.085–0.206 were obtained for the broken rice flour cooked in the above conditions. Broken rice flour cooked at flour-moisture ratio of 1: 10 at 100°C for 3 minutes was found optimum.