Cooking Brown Rice

Until recently I have always boiled my brown rice* the same was as you would white rice.  Unfortunately I always seemed to end up with mushy or sticky brown rice.  Then I came across another way of cooking brown rice.  I found a couple different people on the internet say they boil their brown rice the same as they do pasta.  Really?

So I gave it a try and dang if they weren’t right.  Y’all have to give this a try.  Now that I am converting almost all my recipes to brown rice (y’all can still use white) because of my diet change I make a big batch of this up (doubled or more) on the weekend and can use it all week long in any recipe that might need brown rice.  It keeps about 2 weeks sealed in refrigerator.  Give it a try and let me know what ya’ll think.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 8-12 cups water

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil in large pan with tight fitting lid.
2. Rinse rice in cold water to remove some of the starch.
3. Add rice to boiling water and boil 30 minutes uncovered.  Stir once or twice.
4. Drain rice in colander, rinse with cold water.
5. Add back to hot pan and cover with lid.  Let sit 5 minutes.
6. Remove lid, stir to fluff.
7. Use or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks in sealed container.

*White rice has about the same amount of total carbohydrates as brown rice, but there’s a significant difference in fiber content. One cup of cooked brown rice contains 44.77 grams of total carbohydrates, which is 34 percent of the minimum recommended daily allowance of 130 grams. Brown rice has six times more fiber than white rice. You’ll get 3.5 grams of fiber in 1 cup of cooked brown rice, compared to only 0.6 grams in the same portion of white rice. A 1-cup serving of brown rice provides 9 percent of men’s and 14 percent of women’s daily intake of fiber. The fiber makes a significant difference because it moderates the rate at which carbs are absorbed, contributing to more stable blood sugar levels. (courtesy http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/)