I've been trying to eat more whole grain in my diet, and so far it hasn't been much trouble with regards to stuff like breads, chips, and tortillas. However with rice, I always ran into trouble when I tried to cook brown rice. Even when I followed the package directions verbatim, I always wound up with really sticky rice, that was borderline like a thick oatmeal. I recently bought some new "gourmet" non-gmo brown rice blends and was determined to learn how to cook them properly. Thankfully, I came across a technique at Saveur which solves the issues almost entirely. The key difference is to simply boil the rice in a lot of water, like you are cooking pasta. Most rice recipes call for you to use a specific amount of liquid per the amount of rice, then cook it off in a pan with a lid until all the excess moisture is gone. The problem with this method and brown rice, is a lot of glutens and other stuff are released by the rice during the cooking process with nowhere to go, so you wind up with rice that is all glued together. This method requires a couple more steps but it makes a tremendous difference (and it's a little faster). - Bring a large pot of water to a boil, about 10 cups of water per cup of rice. - When the water starts boiling, rinse off your rice under cold water for about 30 seconds, then dump it into the boiling water. - Cook for 30 minutes, then dump the rice into a mesh strainer and let it drain for at least 10 seconds. - Dump the rice back into the warm pot and put a tight fitting lid on it. The pot should be off the burner. Let it rest for 10 minutes, so the rice can finish cooking in it's own residual heat and moisture. I also like to place a sheet of paper towel over the pot before adding the lid, so it catches any condensation on the lid so it doesn't drip back into the rice. - After 10 minutes, fluff the rice and serve! This method rinses out all the sticky gluten from the rice as it cooks (you will see it form a foam/scum at the top as it cooks) leaving you with very fluffy, non-sticky rice. Keep in mind though that brown rices are still naturally a little chewy compared to white rice though.
Thank you for sharing! I have recently started eating brown rice after finally deciding to test it out. I have heard a lot about its health benefits compared to white rice, such as more magnesium and fiber per serving. In addition, the B vitamins in brown rice is in its natural state, unlike white rice which has B vitamins added to it to make it enriched. However, the difference in texture was noticeable with brown rice along with the longer time to cook. I will definitely be trying this tip when cooking my brown rice now, thanks.
