Made red rice with green peas, cauliflower and shrimp today. Probably part of my top 3 fav rices.
I call that bad. I usually put it in the freezer for a week or so and then keep it refrigerated. All of it.
And that is the best congee instruction I’ve read so far. Thank you, kobuta!
Wow- another excellent recipe. I guess I’ve been away from this thread for too long. Thank you, jon914!
Yes, someone taught me that. So now, I try to put my rice immediate into freezer for a few days before transfer to my rice container. I also have much better seal rice containers now.
Our all purpose go to rice is Calrose. We also always have Uncle Ben’s Converted rice on hand for Greek style pilafs, and other things, where we want the rice grains to be separate. I’ve finally convinced H to eat brown rice, which he now enjoys, both for the chew, and nuttiness of it. We have a fairly large bag of it - Lundgrens, maybe 15 lbs, bought for Covid QT. Typically, we have a quality unbroken Thai Jasmine rice on hand as well. Basmati, both white and brown, are beloved by us, but we buy that in much smaller quantities, as we’ve found it seems to dry out faster than some others. I’ve got some black forbidden rice in the pantry, and need to order some Carolina Gold rice soon. Love to have wild rice on hand too, but it’s a grass, and not a true rice as you all probably know. Think we like rice a lot, and use in all sorts of things, as well as interesting side dishes.
That is a great score @shrinkrap & do keep working on the brown rice. I didn’t think it would ever happen. Truly…
Tonight I’m cooking a combination- 2 cups sushi rice, one cup sweet, and one cup forbidden black rice. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with it. I just decided that was the rice I wanted to eat. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it.
I bought the above awhile ago, but don’t eat much rice, and husband is fine with “Ben’s Classic Recipe” . My sister made the white version during a recent visit, and we were both pleasantly surprised, but the directions call for several steps!
What am I rinsing off?
Lots of folks rinse rice to remove excess starch. I usually don’t find it necessary unless I am at the bottom of the bag.
Also recommended to remove trace arsenic from the grains!
Unfortunately, rinsing rice alone can’t remove the arsenic. The rice absorbs arsenic while it’s growing (ie it leaches into the rice grains). Best thing to do is soak overnight and then cook it in a pot with more water than needed (I bring it to a vigorous boil), dump off the excess, and then add fresh water to finish cooking.
I do know that, but last I read, it was what to do. I don’t even take that step. So, do you find that after soaking overnight, and then bringing to a boil, pouring off and proceeding - does it affect the taste or texture at all?
To me, no negative effects on taste or texture. I often skip the overnight soak. My rice mix consists of grains that benefits from a bit more cooking time than just straight-up rice (random combo of Korean whole beans and grains + farro or barley + Himalayan red rice + forbidden rice, sometimes some sushi rice). Spring Onion wishes I would sometimes make “normal” rice.
Thanks for this info. My H loves white rices, but has finally developed a taste for brown rice - yay! Much better for both of us. We especially like brown basmati. Your mix sounds interesting, and is no doubt quite healthy. Important to keep the blood glucose from spiking. Eating used to be more fun though. Sigh.
I have learned a lot from reading through this discussion. Thanks!
The only type of rice we use is Lundberg organic short grain brown rice from Costco. Cooked in a Zojirushi rice cooker. We usually have rice only once a month or so.
The older we get, the more difficult it is to control blood sugar spikes, so the carbs are gradually disappearing from the menu.
I found it tiresome to figure out which rices, from where, produced how, did not have arsenic, talc, or other unhealthy additions. Also, I was never sure about the accuracy of the information. The Lundberg company grows the rice in California, and I suspect continues to have US federal subsidies, and uses much water to grow rice in a dry environment. I vaguely wish I could find a better choice, but don’t want to do a neurotic amount of research to just buy rice.
The data can be overwhelming. I use this FDA report.
If you’re interested, you can skip down to/focus on pp 47-49, Tables 4.2 and 4.3.
Growing up in a rice-centric Korean household, mom never knew about arsenic in rice (I wonder if levels have gotten worse through the years or about the same throughout time?) but now that I have a 7-year old Spring Onion who loves rice, I need to be careful.
Yes, I also love the Lundberg brown rice you mention, but didn’t know the background on it. Interesting.
One way we’ve found to reduce the impact of rice is to mix with cauliflower rice, especially in things like fried rice. Works really well, plus we load up with other veggies too. I do sometimes long for the old days of eating while young!
Digga - what a great resource the FDA report is. Thank you. I am retired and so the developmental problems of arsenic do not affect me. But for children, that’s different.