Yes… this neighbor is somewhat alone, here. She lost her husband about 20 years ago and they never had kids. She has one brother, but he lives on the other side of the country.
I’ve just been struggling with this “low sodium” aspect of my cooking.
As a side note, she also likes sweets, so when I make a desert for my girlfriend (cake or cobbler or whatever) I send down a piece for the neighbor, so she can have a treat, as well.
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Great tossed in a little olive oil.
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As a child we often had leftover rice as a cereal with milk and brown sugar. She might like a bowl!
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One more reason not to infuse rice, so leftovers can be made into rice pudding.
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I’ve never made rice pudding, but now I want to give that a go.
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I would probably grate two big cloves of garlic and maybe a 1"/1 1/2" piece of ginger. Or if it’s powdered ginger 1 1/2 teaspoons.
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There’s a seemingly endless variety of pastes available now in squeeze tubes. Not all are salt-free, but many have very little. I like ancho pasilla, lemongrass and pesto. I also like a spoonful of sambal mixed into rice.
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Sweet and tangy sauced chicken recipes can be low sodium and still really tasty (and great over rice).
Bourbon Chicken is delicious.
And here is a low sodium take on the sauce of my Fav Sweet and Pungent Shrimp (which you can make with the same fried chicken used above):
5 tablespoons sugar (75g)
5 tablespoons Heinz “No Salt Added” ketchup (85g)
1⁄4 cup vinegar (58g)
Light squeeze fresh lemon juice
Combine well the sugar, lemon, vinegar and ketchup; set aside.
1 tablespoon sherry wine
1⁄2 teaspoon cornstarch
Mix the sherry and cornstarch; set aside.
1 teaspoon EVOO
3 garlic cloves, minced
1⁄2+ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
5 tablespoons green onions, chopped
1.5+ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon orange zest
Heat oil in saucepan, then add garlic, ginger, zests, green onion and red pepper.
Cook 30 seconds; stir in ketchup mix.
Immediately add sherry mixture and cook 'till slightly thickened.
Add fried chicken and stir to coat evenly; serve over white rice.
This amount of sauce is good for one pound of chicken (3 to 4 servings).
BTW, if you want stickier, crispier chicken than above, add raw chicken pieces to bowl with one beaten egg white. Mix well, add 1.5 Tblsp cornstarch. Mix well, add 1.5 Tblsp oil. Mix well and refrigerate for one to two hours. Then lightly coat with cornstarch and shallow fry.
I’m pretty confident either of these recipes (especially mine) will put a pretty big smile on both you and your GF’s faces, as well as your neighbor’s. Kudos to what you’re doing!
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So many great ideas! I don’t have any of my own, but was intrigued by these rice seasonings from “Whole Spice”.
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Some good ideas there, thanks for the link.
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Mujaddara is a great idea (I have a very fine recipe if you’d like it). Persian baghali polo (rice with a boatload of dill and either fava or lima beans). Uzbek plov. Jollof rice, or red rice if you want to make the southern-US version of that. Jambalaya. All of these would be pretty fine with a very low amount of salt.
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Think about cooking the rice in homemade (unsalted) chicken stock to start vs. just water.
Other add-ins:
lemon zest
curry powder
saffron (as previously mentioned)
ground ginger
cinnamon
five spice powder
dry herbs such as thyme, tarragon, marjoram or rosemary (the lemon zest and rosemary or thyme would go well with a grilled chicken)
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The only addition I can think of that hasn’t already been mentioned is za’atar.
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Thanks, Linda…
All good ideas. And I have some of those spices in stock.
The cinnamon is probably the one I’d go lightest with, or mix with other spices, such as ground ginger and/or cardamom, etc.
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There are low sodium broths and such available. Add garlic, saffron, you could fry some onion and add to the broth before cooking. I also make a pepper sauce that I’ll add to the broth before cooking. Flavored rices are some of my favorite things to make.
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I just wanted to thank all of you for all the great suggestions.
It is very much appreciated.
I’m going to send down samples of these suggestions. Again, I have most of the spices mentioned in stock. I’ll see which ones my neighbor likes.
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This, so much this.
If one wants to flavor rice, then the key is really to start with the liquid used to cook the rice.
Broth or stock (salted or unsalted) is a good starting point, other good options include:
- Corn juice (the liquid you reserve from cooking down the corn cob, just the cob without the niblets)
- Diluted V8 (2:1 ratio of V8 to water)
- Tea (diluted 2:1 ratio)
- Coffee (diluted 2:1 ratio)
And really if you wanted the ultimate in flavored rice, then go all in and make fried rice. 
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I just thought garlic, not only for flavor, but I do believe garlic has some magical healing to it. Might be just poppycock…or fiddle faddle.
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