Today's recipe: A new technique for cooking brown rice, yielding moist and flavorful grains of rice. No more gummy brown rice!
Who's noticed? If you follow the directions on a bag or box of brown rice, it turns out tough and gummy and unappetizing. It's no wonder that people turn to rice cookers for help -- or worse, douse brown rice with butter; or worse still, stick with the far less healthful white rice whose nutrients have been stripped away.
For winter, there's the oh-so-popular Oven-Baked Brown Rice that's just oh-so-perfect, yielding almost-nutty bites of moist, flavorful rice. Frankly, it's my favorite way to cook brown rice. But here it is, summer, and turning on the oven for an hour while the air conditioning runs seems to defeat the purpose. So I was intrigued to see Saveuer's new technique for cooking rice on the stovetop. It's dead simple and takes only an hour to get to the table, 15 minutes faster than the Oven-Baked Brown Rice.
Another good thing about this technique for cooking brown rice? It stays moist! So I don't hesitate to make a batch in the morning, then reheat for supper.
Three tricks for cooking brown rice:
Rinsing the rice, removing a dusty layer of starch. Lots of water, keeping the rice grains fat and moist. Finishing off heat, removing excess moisture. PERFECT STOVETOP BROWN RICE
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes (see ALANNA's TIPS)
Makes 3 cups cooked rice
Time to table: 45 minutes (see ALANNA's TIPS)
Makes 3 cups cooked rice
12 cups water
1 cup brown rice, rinsed under cold water for 30 seconds
Kosher salt to taste
Bring the water to boil in a large covered pot (see TIPS). Add the rice, stir once to distribute, then cook uncovered for 30 minutes, adjusting the heat to maintain a fast simmer. Pour the rice through a strainer, then return to the hot pot and add salt to taste. Off heat, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve and savor!
ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
It seems to take forever to bring a pot of water to boil on my stove. It helps to cover the pot. But often I put the pot on the stove with say, 4 cups of water and set it on HIGH. Then I add the remaining 8 cups of water from one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, an electric kettle. This same trick works for pasta water, too. This recipe works for plain brown rice, any one you'll find. I'm a particular fan of the rice from Lundberg which I find at Whole Foods. The rice that's pictured is a blend of sweet brown rice, short grain brown rice, long grain brown rice, whole grain Wehani rice, whole grain Japonica rice. If you like the idea of blends, check out Oven-Baked Brown Rice where I substitute wild rice (and since then, other rices and grains) for some of the brown rice. I love the color variation.
MORE RICE RECIPES
~ Tomato & Rice Salad ~
~ Eight-Ball Stuffed Zucchini ~
~ Julia Child's Yellow Squash Soup ~
(thickened with cooked rice)
~ more recipes with rice ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ Tomato & Rice Salad ~
~ Eight-Ball Stuffed Zucchini ~
~ Julia Child's Yellow Squash Soup ~
(thickened with cooked rice)
~ more recipes with rice ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
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Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2009
© Copyright 2009
) to drizzle over the tomatoes just before serving but I went a step simpler still by purchasing an olive-feta mix from the olive bar at the grocery store (where it's quick to pick up just a few olives for a salad or whatever), already moistened with a little olive oil and it was quite delicious already. 
