Brown Rice Variations

[RockAndFire]

I eat really healthily (at least during the week, then I slack off on sunday). I eat a lot of brown rice, and I prepare it with water and a dash of salt. I'm looking for suggestions about spices or herbs (or anything tastey and healthy) that I can add for variety. I won't use butter or any oils. Thanks for any help.

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Well, a mixture of lime juice with garlic and basil usually works nice. But, Im not sure on your taste. Chili powder with curry and cinammon with lemon juice is pretty good too (even better with chopped tomatos). A mix of Italian herbs found in the store is good with white rice... but I havent tried it with brown.
Melon with honey and lime juice and rosemary AND cilantro is fantastic.

[htc]

I do my own quick red (or flavored) rice using brown rice by taking any kind of tomato or simmering sauce you have, add it to your rice and put in your rice cooker. Other stuff that I have added: olives, ms. dash, trader joe's simmering sauce.

[Darkstream]

I have recently had to change from Tilda plain basmati rice to Tilda brown basmati rice.

Now this has a nice nutty flavour, BUT it has to be BOILED hard for 25 minutes to cook it.

I have tried twice to make pulao rice with it by the absorption method, once for 45 minutes and another time for more than an hour. It totally refused to absorb any flavour and hardly cooked at all.

So I would guess that you are limited to pouring some kind of sauce over it or adding herbs, vegetables. Spices will only be a surface coating, and anything in the water will be thrown away on draining.

I think your best bet is to go for main dishes that that have a flovoursome sauce to wet the rice, like a traditional curry. Just use the rice as a filler to mop up.

[subfuscpersona]

I have recently had to change from Tilda plain basmati rice to Tilda brown basmati rice.
Now this has a nice nutty flavour, BUT it has to be BOILED hard for 25 minutes to cook it.

I'm unfamiliar with this particular brand of brown basmati, but I do use brown basmati (different brands and some purchases of unknown brand). So...

In general
1] clean grain (may be unncessary depending on brand) by dumping in large container, add cold water, swish around and drain. Repeat until water runs clear
2] presoak cleaned grain by dumping in container and covering with "warm" water for about 10 minutes ("warm" is not precise, but think in terms of warming a bottle for a baby). Don't presoak too long.
3] drain in strainer or fine mesh seive and let air dry in strainer/seive for 15-20 minutes before cooking (you can save the soaking water for cooking if you wish).
4] cook the presoaked basmati your usual way. A note of warning - the actual amount of water needed when cooking can vary so you might be better off starting with a smaller amount and then adding additional water in small amounts (2-3 TBS) as needed.

Basically, you're hydrating the rice and letting the water penetrate before actually cooking it (basmati rice is very slender).

Cooking time for presoaked brown basmati is about 45 min but varies from 30-50 min. Too many variables to figure out what works for you.

Bit of a drag, but works for me.

[Darkstream]

Tilda brand products are probably not available in the USA, not even on Manhattan.

Basically, I have tried all you have suggested so far.

I think next time I can be bothered I will soak it for 20-30 mins in hot water, and then cook it for 50 mins on the bottom of the oven.

But it is a real pain when you can make perfect pillau rice in 15 mins with the white stuff.

If it works, I will post the recipe.

[subfuscpersona]

Originally Posted by Darkstream

Tilda brand products are probably not available in the USA, not even on Manhattan.

Basically, I have tried all you have suggested so far.

I think next time I can be bothered I will soak it for 20-30 mins in hot water, and then cook it for 50 mins on the bottom of the oven.

But it is a real pain when you can make perfect pillau rice in 15 mins with the white stuff.

If it works, I will post the recipe.

my aplogies! I reread my post and soak for 10 minutes should have been soak for 30 min - a fact you've already figured out for yourself.

[middie]

look in the vegetables section. i posted a recipe there for creamy tomato soup that has brown rice in it.

[buckytom]

one of my fav nyc restaurants, jimmy armstrong's saloon (now defunct), used to make a savory rice that i loved. after a few attempts, i've been able to reproduce it at home. they used spanish rice, but like you, i'm trying to switch to whole grains so i've subbed brown rice which works pretty well. here's my recipe.

1 tbsp lawry's seasoned salt
4 bay leaves
3 cloves
5 black peppercorns, crushed
1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cups of water
1/2 cup freshly steamed peas

in a wide saucepan that has a good covering lid, add the water and the bay leaves, cloves, and black peppercorns. bring to a boil, then turn the heat off and let it cool. add the brown rice, and let it soak for at least an hour, then add the rice and seasoned salt. bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover tightly. let cook until all of the water is absorbed. plate and top with the freshly steamed peas.

a few variations on this are to add minced browned garlic or garlic powder, a few crushed berries of allspice, and a 1/3 cup of browned onions.

[Darkstream]

I wrote to Tilda about it, and their home economist is looking into the matter.

I will let you all know if and when they come up with something constructive.

And for me, whole grain is not a choice. But APPARENTLY, white BASMATTI rice is the best choice and BETTER than some brown rices (for glycemic index) , and I can eat it after all. But I think I will still have a reasonable amount of brown rice, for safety's sake.