Nurungji (Scorched Rice)
Published July 30, 2025
- Total Time
- 5 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Fresh or day-old cooked short- or medium-grain or sticky white rice
Preparation
- Step 1
Add enough fresh or day-old cooked white rice to fill a dry nonstick skillet, packing it down into a layer about ½-inch tall. Drizzle 1 tablespoon water evenly over the rice. Cook over medium-low, undisturbed, until the bottom of the rice is nicely browned and releases on its own, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Step 2
When you shake the pan, the rice “pancake” should slide around as one entity, smelling toasty and fragrant. Then, either with a big spatula or a confident toss of the pan, flip the pancake to lightly crisp the other side, about 5 minutes. The longer you toast the rice, the drier the inside will get and the crunchier the crust will be.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe reminded me of the fantastic "Sizzling Rice Soup" I used to order every time at "Hong Fat's" Chinese restaurant in Manhattan many decades ago. As far as I could tell (there was a slight language barrier :-), it was this fantastic broth, served just this side of boiling, with the broken up and slightly burnt scrapings from yesterday's rice pot thrown in just before serving, Yum!
This treatment of rice is known in Chinese cooking as “guo ba” (锅巴) and, as in Iran, is scraped from the bottom of the cooking pot and given to kids as a treat… and not so incidentally to bribe them out of the way of meal prep.
I do this with leftover risotto. It comes out delicious and crunchy.
Yes Made with pretty dried out brown jasmine rice. Used olive oil, added the tablespoon of water, and sprinkled with salt. It browned beautifully in far less than 15 minutes, more like 3-5 minutes. I flipped it over easily. Unfortunately, I cooked it too long on the other side. It browned beautifully but no soft rice in the middle. It was more like a rice cracker so I sprinkled it with more salt and ate it by hand. It was delicious! I might use it as a canapé cracker for the future.
Has anybody tried this with brown rice? Does it work?
@Koko The Talking Ape Yes, I made this with brown jasmine rice and it works great.
I loved reading this thing for overcooked crunchy rice! I am a 70+ half Chinese woman, and I discovered when I was about eight that when the pot of rice was left on the stove too long, the bottom got a bit crunchy. I absolutely loved rice that underwent this accident, having no idea it was a "thing" in many cultures. I would often sneak into the kitchen and turn up the burner on the simmering rice while my mother's back was turned. What a treat!