“Lower in calories, higher in fiber. Make it a your go to main carb” I was told by my trainer. So I bought a bag of brown rice from Walmart, dumped it some water, boiled it and made several cups and … well jeez this stuff is not that great. Kind of a weird granular/crunchy yet mushy texture. Interestingly it took almost twice as long as white rice to cook. I can choke it down but I’m not looking forward to it as part of meals.
I know this is just the same as white rice except it’s dehulled and parboiled. I’m not picky but I vastly prefer Uncle Ben’s wild rice even if it’s much more expensive. Any good healthy alternatives to brown rice?
White rice uses equal volumes of rice and water, brought to boil and then simmered for 20 minutes. Brown rice takes more water and takes longer to cook. You did cook it longer, but try it again and make sure you put in enough water.
Melt a tablespoon or so of butter (it can be light butter) in a saucepan. Saute 3 or so cloves of minced garlic in butter. Pour in a cup of brown rice and stir until coated. Then pour in 1 1/2 cups of water. Add some salt and fresh black pepper if you wish. Bring to a boil, then cover, lower heat, and simmer until water is absorbed. Stir in some chopped parsley.
If you’re watching your fat intake, you can cook brown rice in the same volume of broth as water. (I’ve used chicken and beef broth, but you can use whatever kind you like.) The broth adds a LOT of flavor. I’ve also seasoned it depending on whatever dish I’m making; it’s nice with a little garlic powder, for instance.
You can also try whole-wheat couscous or quinoa, as well.
Are you cooking it by itself? If it’s going to be part of any kind of “rice with things” dish, add the other things while it’s cooking. The timing will depend on the bits: for example in a paella-type dish the meats or fishes can be added much from the start whereas cut veggies should be added at the end (the veggies should cook for exactly as much time as if long-grain was used).
Basmati is a kind of brown rice that is generally considered a gourmet style of brown rice.
It is a little more expensive than ordinary brown rice but it’s still very inexpensive overall.
All brown rice is generally considered superior to white rice for many reasons. IMO, the most important reasons are nutritional.
Of course, I hope you realize that very few people eat brown rice “as is”. It is almost always prepared with something added such as “vegetable fried rice” or served alongside another flavorful dish (or two). Are you vegetarian? I’m thinking many people can probably recommend some recepies to you. Just please specify your goals. Are they weight loss? Or maybe increasing your body’s stamina? Or muscle mass? Also please specify any specific styles you like - such as vegetarian or maybe Macrobiotic. Maybe your goal is to save money? By eating rice maybe you want to lower the amount you spend on food? Rice is so versatile. Your biggest problem should be deciding what you want to do.
I’m guessing there must be a food forum or a section of an existing forum that carries recepies and/or reccos for rice.
There are a bazillion (an exaggeration) food sites on the net that have recepies for rice. Some of my favorite are related to things like “Rice and Tofu” or “Rice and Miso”. My most favorite book is one called “The Book of Miso”. It has a bazillion recepies for dishes that include miso. I’m sure it has a section for rice and miso.
The only problem you should have is deciding what you want to achieve by eating rice. There are a bazillion people who would be happy to help you. Just try to bring something to the table yourself so that you can help them in exchange with something you know.
There must be something you know or some talent you have. Something you could share with others? It’s always nice to aim for Quid Pro Quo when asking for help over the Net. But it’s not required. You can get all the help you want. You can get so much help it will be coming out of your ears.
Start by Googling “Food sites” and “Recepie sites”. You may get what you need here. If no one offers to tell you a forum on this site, maybe you could send a PM to a mod and ask them.
I suggested Basmati rice to you because it is very simple to cook and still very inexpensive. It cooks in about half the time as plain brown rice and is available in most any Natural Foods store as well as many other stores.
There must be a forum somewhere on this site that has lots of food info awa lots of food recipies. I don’t think this forum “Cafe Society” is the best place to post about food and recipies. The best forum here to ask about food and recipies is probably “General Questions”.
Yes, but like apples it has a lot of different varieties. The nutritional qualities, organoleptic qualities and cooking times will vary between them. If you want to start a war anywhere near Valencia, ask whether paella should have green peas; if you want to get murdered, suggest using long grain instead of round grain.
The only Basmati rice I have ever encountered was always brown.
I almost always buy it at Nat Food stores. But I have also bought it at the local supermarket.
Always brown. But I’m not certain that there is no such thing as white Basmati rice.
I have no reason to doubt levdrakon.
To the best of my knowledge, the diff between any brown rice and white is milling. White rice has several things milled out of it and the reason so many people prefer brown is that white usually has the nutrients milled out.
The most important factor to me is that brown rice is so inexpensive that it has never really mattered to me whether I buy regular or Basmati.
I suspect time was the problem. Brown right isn’t “almost” twice as long to cook, it’s “at least” twice as long to cook.
You might prefer 1/2 brown 1/2 white rice. Start with sufficient water for the final amount of rice and the brown rice, and halfway through cooking add the white rice. This should result in both types reaching doneness at the same time.
And, as noted, rice usually isn’t eaten plain anyway.
Basmati is not a type of brown rice. It’s a type of rice that originated in India, and it can be either white or brown. It’s actually far more common as a white rice - that’s the way I’ve seen it sold in Indian stores and served in Indian restaurants. I understand that brown basmati rice takes less time to cook than “regular” brown rice does.
Brown rice is not significantly lower in calories than white rice is. Here are the product pages, including nutrition facts, for Bob’s Red Mill long grain white rice and long grain brown rice. The white rice is actually about 5.5% lower in calories. With short-grain rice, the brown rice is about 3% lower in calories. Note that they’re comparing similar volumes, not weights. When you adjust their figures to compare similar weights, the difference in calories almost disappears.
The main advantage of brown rice is fiber: it has some, while white rice has none. In the U.S. there is little difference in vitamin and mineral content because the FDA requires white rice to be enriched with iron and vitamins B1 and B3 (to make up for what’s lost when the bran is removed).
If you can’t get used to brown rice you could try other whole grains, such as buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth or wheat berries.
Also, brown rice in the pressure cooker is wonderful. Gives it a whole different texture. If you do it in a rice cooker, follow the directions that came with the device specifically for brown rice. You will need a lot more water and it will take longer than white. Don’t give up yet.
Echoing the suggestions to try some recipes with brown rice, not just plain brown rice. In time, when you’ve retrained your mouth to accept the different texture of brown rice, you may be able to enjoy it as you do white rice on its own, but that’s Level 2.
You can also cook brown rice, cook white rice and mix them in your bowl half and half. Then over time, replace more of the white rice with brown rice until you’re on all brown.
But I have to be honest; I still don’t like brown rice unless it’s part of a pilaf or a dish with lots of distracting textures and flavors. So I don’t bother. When I want rice, I eat white rice, and I just get my fiber from other sources, like vegetables. I’d rather limit my rice intake than to eat brown rice.
