Demystifying Home Made Rice

If you're a slave to packaged "Minute-Rice" or find yourself at the mercy of your rice cooker, its time to break free from the not so delicious shackles of convenience. You'll soon discover that making your own rice from scratch is simpler then you may think. Not to mention infinitely tastier than the packaged stuff.

I specifically want to talk about brown rice, as it should be the rice of choice for a healthy eater. With less calories per serving, almost 6 times the fibre and higher levers of protein, fats and most vitamins and minerals, brown rice is a no-brainer. Don't forget the fact that replacing white rice with brown rice has been shown to reduce your risk of diabetes by a fairly substantial amount, which is good, because no one wants diabetes.

What I want to show you is a simple recipe for a light, fluffy baked brown rice. Its so good in fact, you'll probably never buy a package of "Minute-rice" again.

What you'll need is:

1-1/2 cups of brown rice
2-1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of butter or olive  oil

To start, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a sauce pot, bring the stock, soy sauce and butter to a boil. Pour the rice and hot stock into an 8" x 8" casserole dish. Cover with a tight fitting lid and bake for 1 hour.

That's it. It really is that easy to make a batch of delicious brown rice. No need to fuss with steamers, boiling, simmering, etc. Just heat your liquids and throw it all in the oven. You can substitute the stock and soy sauce for other ingredients depending on what you'll be using the rice for. Tomato sauce or juice, curie pastes and powders, herbs, wines, etc could all work. Use your imagination.

If you're always on the go and have little time to cook, try making a large batch on the weekends to use throughout the week. Baked brown rice keeps well in the refrigerator and re-heats just fine in the microwave.

You can also try frying your left over brown rice in a few tablespoons of olive or canola oil along with some fresh vegetables and or lean meats to create a quick, tasty side dish or a hearty rice bowl.