Adding More Brown Rice to our Diet

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When I think of all the starches I can add to our diet (bread, potatoes, pasta, brown rice), brown rice seems like such a great nutritional choice. Good quality homemade bread is also a good choice, but we eat a lot of bread at other meals as well and I wanted more variety. I am currently on a quest to come up with more ways to serve brown rice, either as a side dish or casserole type main dishes.

I have a few really yummy recipes to share but for today I want to share the first basic.. how to cook a pot of brown rice..

Cooking Brown Rice

I’ve read, tried and posted on many ways to cook brown rice. I seem to always settle in on a way that is simplified. If making brown rice turns into a big ordeal then I will always end up opting for something simpler like potatoes or pasta for the meal.

I have, for awhile now, soaked my rice before cooking. I did this first for nutritional reasons (the breaking down of phytic acid, but after reading a recent article I’ve been rethinking phytic acid I am not as convinced anymore that the soaking of grains is needed for nutritional reasons – this is something I plan to blog and share about soon). All that to say, I don’t usually soak my brown rice anymore. So here is my current method of cooking brown rice…


Take a large stock pot (6qt) and heat it up on medium high. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil and let this get hot..



Add 2 cups long grain brown rice..


Stir it around and let it get hot. The rice will start to brown…


When the rice is nice and brown add 4 1/3 cups of water…





And 1 ½ teaspoons of salt..


Bring to a boil. Stir a few times…


Once it has come to a boil, reduce the heat slowly over the next 5 minutes. If you do this, the pot will not overflow when you put the lid on it. You can stir a few times during this 5 minutes..



When the time is up, put the lid on and cook the rice on low heat for 1 hour and 10 minutes...






When cooking time is up, remove from heat and remove lid. Fluff with a fork…



Now the rice can be used in various recipes. It can also be frozen at this point and used in the future.

I will be posting a few recipes on using the cooked brown rice.

Comments

  1. MonicaJune 16, 2011 at 2:51 PM

    thanks Crystal. This is a tremendous help. I always have to remember that brown rice takes a long time to cook and that I should start in long before I need it to be ready.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rocky Mountain HomemakerJune 16, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    We eat a lot of brown rice at our house. I have found that for me the simplest way to cook it is to use an electric rice cooker. That way, I can put rice and water in the cooker, turn it on, and not have to think about it while I do some other chores.
    I like to add it, along with refried beans, to Mexican food to stretch it and make it more nutritious. Brown rice pudding with raisins is a treat for us. Sometimes just brown rice with cinnamon and honey is a good filling breakfast.
    Have a blessed day...........Denise

    ReplyDelete
  3. billiJune 16, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    thanx. I've tried to incorporate brown rice, but my traditional southern husband doesn't like it. I try to make it and when it turns out right I freeze some for later. Maybe now it will turn out more often.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    Hi Crystal, I bought a rice cooker that has a setting for brown rice, I thought I read about it on your website, might be mistaken. It's so easy and fuss free. About $30.00 at Costco!

    ReplyDelete
  5. CrystalJune 16, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    Monica, your welcome! If I am planning on cooking a rice dish for dinner I try and make my rice in the morning while doing my other chores.. makes the process of putting together dinner go much faster..

    Melissa, yes it was on my site that I talked about using a rice cooker. I have used my rice cooker many, many times over the years. I actually prefer to cook it now in the way shown in this blog post.. it seems to turn out less sticky and works better in other dishes.

    Denise, Thanks for all the yummy sounding rice ideas!!

    Billi, I have found that by browning it and then adding a little more water than what is typically called for and cooking it longer than typical, makes the brown rice softer and tastes better .. good luck! :)

    Crystal :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. RaychelJune 23, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    I agree with the extra water. With out it my bottom layer is always scorched.
    I just wanted to share something my mom used to do that was always fun and easy. She is gluten intolerant so we ate lots of rice growing up. She would make "pizza rice". We had it for lunch a lot. You chop up whatever you like on pizza (we would use pepperoni, olives, banana peppers, etc...) some shredded mozzerella cheese (how ever much you like) and Italian dressing to taste. Mix it up while the rice is warm so that the cheese melts and that's it. My kids like in on pitas that have been spread with a little pizza sauce. Just an idea:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. TriciaJuly 2, 2011 at 6:59 PM

    I will have to try it your way and see how it turns out. That is similar to the way it is made in Spanish Rice recipe that we love.
    http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/best-spanish-rice/detail.aspx

    This is the way we've most recently been making our rice, and we prefer it this way to how we were cooking it before, as it's not as sticky.

    http://pinchmysalt.com/2009/04/06/how-to-cook-perfect-brown-rice/

    I've been enjoying your blog this evening. Thanks for sharing it with us!

    ReplyDelete

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