Rethinking Your Rice

When it comes to eating rice, many of us are only familiar with one or two kinds overall, namely brown and white. But in truth there are literally dozens of different types, boasting a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. Grains play an essential role for supporting so many vital bodily functions, which span across helping the stabilization of healthy blood sugar, supporting healthy inflammatory responses, assisting with detoxification, and even supporting the growth and repair of the body's many functional tissues. And because there are so many different varieties of grains to work with, there are just as many combinations, blends and flavors to enjoy, many of which offer varying ranges of specific nutritional benefits.

Did You Know...

Eating Whole Grains has been associated with lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially when consumed and working in tandem with fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats...

When cooking your grain of choice, it's worth noting that, not all will respond to the same liquid to grain ratio. As a rule of thumb, white (processed) rice, is usually a 2 to 1 ratio, while a brown rice, red rice, and rice blends are usually more of a 3 to 1. Again, this is a rule of thumb and should not be treated as an exact science. The advent of rice cookers and pressure cookers has helped to make this process a little easier to manage, but unless you have this type of specialized equipment just laying around, you'll likely want to know how to do it the "old-fashioned" way.

So, here are a few simple tips on how to keep your rice flavorful, while enjoying tender grains. First off, it’s important to know, simmering the grains instead of boiling them, allows them to absorb the liquid slower, allowing them to cook all the way through. Boiling the rice can cause the exterior to cook too fast and leaving the interior portion undercooked and, in some cases, a little firm/crunchy. For other grains that are smaller (such as quinoa) or that have been processed, such as white rice, the opposite is true. Simmering these can cause them to take on too much liquid in which case they can burst and release their starches, becoming gummy, pasty, or even slimy, so boiling these quickly and with less liquid is usually a safe bet to wager. As a rule of thumb, the darker the grains are, the more simmering time they’ll require, which also means the more liquid it will take to cook them.

Salting, Seasoning & Flavor... 

Unlike pasta, when it comes to cooking rice there’s no need to salt the water at the beginning of the cooking process. The reason is that pre-salting the water can cause the rice not to absorb enough liquid which means that the grains will be more firm than tender. When this happens, it can throw off the textures of the rest of the dish especially when the rice is being used in a Perloo, or as an underlying component for say, chicken and rice, or jambalaya, etc.

Adding a few aromatics is another great way to get some flavors into your rice which can also be done during the cooking process. Items such as onions, carrots, garlic, and other ingredients that will hold up well to the heat, can infuse robust flavors into broth, and by extension the rice, as it cooks. If you decide to season the rice once it’s finished cooking, think of using fresh herbs, salsas, pesto, toasted nuts, and other ingredients that don’t necessarily need to be "infused" as the broth simmers.

Another great way to get flavor into rice without altering the texture is to use broth or even tea, instead of water when cooking it. This allows the flavor of the be absorbed into the grain as it simmers and the underlying seasonings to give the rice a little more flare.

Trouble Shooting Common Mistakes

For simplicity's sake, if you’re NOT using a rice cooker, and you find your rice short on water, you can always add a little more to your rice as it simmers. Just remember if you do, do NOT add COLD water, as it could slow down the cooking process and create textural issues in the finish of your rice. Alternatively, if you’re cooking your rice and find that it gets finished before all of the liquid is absorbed, you can simply remove it from the heat, drain the excess liquid, cap the rice for about a minute, fluff it with a fork, and enjoy!

Pro Tips

Instead of salting at the beginning, try adding the salt at the end of the cooking process to accent the flavor of the grain, and that flavor, will in turn, also enrich other flavors in the food once everything comes together.

Another great tip for ensuring your grains don’t clump together is to add just a touch of oil to it towards the end of the simmering process. This will help confine the starches, which will keep your rice from becoming gummy or pasty as mentioned earlier. And, if you're looking for ways to enjoy your grains, why not consider adding additional flavors by creating a salad in a jar, or rice bowl combinations, or by incorporating additional aromatics to create your own pilaf style side dish, or you could simply incorporate the ingredients for personalizing your own take on stuffed peppers.

Again, while the cooking times of whole grains and rice blends, will inevitably vary, knowing how to make adjustments to the liquid ratio can mark the defining difference in the finishing texture once you’re ready to serve it. And understanding how to infuse flavors into the grains during the cooking process, will help you to have a successful dish that is not only nutritious and healthy, but delicious as well.