healthy way of seasoning/cooking brown rice

[yum]

i love brown rice and was wondering if anyone has a great recipe for a more flavorful and tasty but still really healthy way of cooking/steaming brown rice? thanks for your help!

[diablita FL]

Cook it in vegetable broth. I love to make leek stock, then cook my rice in it. And my favorite version of this is to take some of the sliced leeks I used to make the stock, saute them in a bit of butter, then add them into the cooked rice. I'll throw in some garlicky mushrooms and sauteed tofu and it's a wonderful meal.

[Hungry Celeste]

Related to veggie broth, but a little different: try tossing in one packet of instant dashi while waiting for the water to boil. You can find instant dashi at asian markets; it adds a nice flavor boost, and it comes in several diff types (just kombu, kombu & bonito, etc). The individual long, narrow tubes of granules are packaged in a larger bag. It adds a wonderful savory boost to the rice, almost good enough to eat alone.

[Jwsel]

I sometimes add sushi vinegar, which adds a touch of sweetness and moisture. I"m going to try the leek trick, though the butter kind of undermines the healthiness. I've also experimented with adding curry powder and other seasonings, but ultimately concluded that I don't mind the taste of plain brown rice that much.

[diablita FL]

Just a note that you can get away with VERY little butter when sauteeing leeks, both because of their texture and special flavor.

[Kitchen Queen]

I made organic brown jasmine rice for dinner tonight. I cooked it reguarly with H20. When slightly undercooked, I added a little butter, tiny yellow mung beans (that I buy at the Korean market), and chopped cranberries. Then poured a little chicken broth into the sauce pan and finished cooking. The mung beans took 7 minutes. I kept going....I browned sweet curry powder w/ a little butter in a saute pan and added the cooked rice. After stirring well the curry into the rice, I let the rice just brown for a while. The bottom crusts and crisps. It was really good. I served it w/ Fresh catfish that I threw on the barby. Next time I'll use raisins instead of cranberries and add chopped raw cashews, then saute.

[amandine]

The best recipe for fluffy, not-sticky brown rice (thanks to the San Jose Merc):

1.5 c. brown rice
2 c. boiling water
sea salt

Put DRY rice in a DRY pot and cook at high heat, stirring frequently until you hear some popping and the rice gives off a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low, toss a few pinches of salt according to your taste into the pot and carefully pour the boiling water into the pot. Stir once and cover immediately. Simmer the rice until all the water is absorbed, about 40 min.

It's FABULOUS.

And here's a recipe I've been dying to try (from Everyday Food)

Brown Rice and Edamame
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 cup long-grain brown rice
1 1/4 cups frozen shelled edamame
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups lightly salted water to a boil. Add rice, reduce to a simmer; cover and cook, 30 minutes.

2. Stir in edamame; cover and cook until rice is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together lime juice, vinegar, oil, and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

3. With a fork, stir lime juice mixture and scallions into rice; season with salt and pepper.

Per serving: 214 calories; 4.6 grams fat; 8 grams protein; 34.6 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber

[carswell]

About the only brown rice I use these days is brown basmati. California's Lundberg Family Farms is the only brand I've seen. Takes less time to cook (about 30 minutes), retains its fluffy texture (never a gloopy mass) and has a more delecate, if still nutty, taste. No need to sauté beforehand, as the grains keep their individual character.

One tasty variation is to add to the salted cooking water, for each cup of rice, the juice from half a lemon, a good pinch of saffron threads and a handful of currants. Excellent with simply grilled meats and vegetables, not to mention tandoori-style anything.

[Pei]

Has anyone tried making a brown rice risotto? I had this as a restaurant last night and loved the smoothness of risotto contrasted with that slight pop brown rice gives when you bite into it. Of course, cheese-laden risotto isn't the healthiest preparation, but cooking it with chicken and mushroom stock and adding just a little cheese at the end would be pretty healthy. (Pei formerly known as nooodles).

[BeeZee]

I like to toast sesame seeds or finely chopped nuts and mix into the brown rice when ready to serve (to keep them crunchy). Also I have used a mixture of half orange juice, half water along with a shot each of soy and sesame oil when cooking to give a subtle flavor.

[stonesoup]

With brown rice, I like cooking it in the oven. Cook's Illustrated recently did a smart rice and grain cooking guide. They suggest 1 cup of b rice to 1.5 cups of boiling water, with some salt, if you like.

Put everything into a shallow bake dish and cover, very tightly, with two layers of foil. One hour in the oven at 250-275 degrees. Let it sit for a while when it comes out the of the oven.

Fantastic results, separate grains, nutty flavour, chewy, light and delicious.

[krissywats]

Yes, this is how I do it too - when they originally posted this method in Cook's Illustrated, they suggested a few alternatives:

adding sauteed garlic and shallots to the rice and boiling water (you can also use fat free chicken broth) and then after it comes out of the oven, add parmesan and lemon zest. Great taste.

I've also made it in the oven with basil and lowfat coconut milk.

I believe the oven method is the best way to make consistently great brown rice.

[Dommy]

We also season with non sweetened rice vinegar.... but I also find I perfer the Nishiki Brown Rice to anything I've ever tasted... They are sold at Japanese and Chinese Markets... Great stuff!

http://www.asiamex.com/proddetail.cfm...

--Dommy!

[theSauce]

I like to cook my brown rice with chicken stock and then a dash of vinegar and top it off with chopped green onions.

[foodiegrl]

If you're going to the trouble of making a batch by the oven method or any other way that takes a lot of time, make a giant batch and freeze in portions. Masaharu Morimoto once touted this trick, and it works quite well. The brown rice especially holds up very well to freezing and re-heating in the microwave. I figure if it's good enough for Iron Chef Japanese, it's good enough for me...

[cord]

Ok, I am literally sitting here eating brown rice after trying the dry pre-cook method, and I am amazed. The first time I have managed to cook brown rice properly. Thank you so much for the post!!