It appears that brown rice is better nutritionally all around than white rice. So I want to try it.
The rice that I do eat is cooked in a rice cooker, and is eaten sticky with chopsticks. My question is, will I be able to buy a bag of brown rice from my local asian grocery store and cook it in the rice cooker just like I do with my current white rice? (Sorry, away from home and I don’t recall the details on what kind of rice it is I’ve been eating–but it’s just, you know, generic white rice from the asian grocery that cooks up in a rice cooker just like you’d get in Japan…)
The rice cooker knows when to stop cooking by when the water has been all absorbed into the rice and the thermostat senses the corresponding rise in temperature as the rice just barely begins to brown on the bottom. So it doesn’t matter how long it takes to cook the grains; the cooker senses when to stop correctly, provided you have the right amount of liquid.
We put twice as much water in our rice cooker for brown rice. It takes longer for the rice to cook, because as was said the rice cooker “dings” when all the water is absorbed or boiled off. So if you like your brown rice al dente you only need a little bit more water. We prefer it softer, so we add a lot more water. If you added a lot more water to white rice, it would cook a lot longer and the rice would be mush by the time the rice cooker dings.
I have a rice cooker and brown rice is pretty much the only rice I cook for nutritional reasons.
[ol]
[li]Be sure to rinse the rice first.[/li]
[li]Increase the water to rice ratio as brown rice takes a little longer to cook. (The amount of water essentially determines the cooking time in a rice cooker.)[/li]
[li]Before cooking, allow the rice to soak for 20 minutes or so.(My rice cooker has a brown rice setting that accomplishes this).[/li][/ol]
If you’re lazy, a rice cooker is what you want. Put in scoops of rice. Pour in water up to the line. Maybe rinse the rice. Push down the button. Walk away. When it dings, rice is ready. No paying attention or work required. And it’s ten times cheaper and doesn’t have any mystery ingredients.
That is incredibly lazy. Put per 1 unit rice about 0.25 units more of liquid, and let that motherfucker cook. Hell if I know – if it ain’t watery, it’s undercooked. But do not let that bitch burn on the bottom. I think the standard 2-1 ratio works best, and godhepusemall if you open that mofo upinfer it’s done.
Any defender’s of the “science” of nutrition as to why brown rice is more healthful? More fiber, but people who eat rice I wager aren’t in need of any more fiber. My good man and second favorite athlete ahead of Ichiro Suzuki is Ray Jardine – he’s into all that woo about whole grains. Me too, for the record – just seems better. But for those who get complete foods via hook or by crook, what’s the real dif besides a tinytiny bit more fiber for whole rice?
Back to point. It’s so hard to tell by smell or by time when whole-grain rice with the germ is done. But when it’s done right it’s a good rice.
But, I submit – it’s not the kind of thing you’d serve a guest, and it’s not the kind of thing you’d exclusively as your whole carbs every day. I think I want some opinions here. And don’t ban me, I ain’t asking for it – I like whole-grain rice, but I eat white rice also 3/5 of the time as my whole staple. Yeah, I’m kind of fat I guess – but hey, small price to pay for eating a polished pearl every day.
Brown rice is more nutritious not only for the increased fiber but also the things like B vitamins in the brown part.
Here’s how I cook it in the microwave:
3 cups water in a casarole dish. Nuke for 10 minutes. Add 1.5 cups of brown rice to now heated water. Nuke for 32 minutes at 60% power.
Brown rice does take longer to cook than white rice when starting from raw. You can purchases quick-cook brown rice in packets in most places these days.
Most brown rice I see is long-grain, which tends not to be become sticky. I can sometimes find medium-grain brown rice, which is a bit stickier. Either way, I can manage with chopsticks although it’s not quite as easy as the white rice that sticks together.
More fiber thanks to the bran but also more vitamins and minerals thanks to the germ. White rice (or any whole grain) has had the husk, bran, and germ removed.
Yeah. And? Fiber is, for a normal cat who eats more than his or her share of the RDA of dietary is of no importance. Minerals and vitamins for one who consumes through suppelements or through regular use of vegetable matter.
What, exactly? I feel just fine eating one meal qd with vitamin supplements and likely more fiber than any person outside of Cameroon eats.Including Haitian soil supplements.
So what exactly am I missing by choosing to eat white rice, as billions of people around this wide round globe qd, every day, except filling the3 pockets of white americans who champion brown rice EVERY DAY? A German sherpherd by my side? I’ll see you on my little groovy hippie shack.
I wholeheartedly agree. I don’t know why anyone would choose the bleached, enriched stuff over brown rice. It is so much more enjoyable; and filling. I seem to be hungry 45 minutes or so every time after I eat something made with white rice; it’s like nothing.