Perfect Brown Rice

Brown rice is the way to go if you want to eat rice - more nutritious and tastier than plain white rice. The problem, though, is that cooked brown rice often seems a little too chewy - sometimes even gritty. Until now.

I recently found the secret to cooking perfect brown rice - whether short grain, long grain or basmati. It all comes out just fine when cooked this way and this method is a lot easier too.

What to do: (Plan ahead! You'll need a minimum of 45 - 50 minutes from start to finish)

1. Place the amount of dry rice you want - no need to measure exactly - I usually figure on about 1/3 of a cup for 2 senior citizens - in a sieve and rinse well under running water, rubbing the rice against the side of the sieve. If I think of it in time, sometimes I let the rice soak in water for a couple hours.
2. Place the rice in a good-sized pot (bigger than you might use if cooking the traditional way)
3. Pour in lots of cold water - I use filtered water - right up to near the top. This method only works with LOTS of water.
4. Bring it all to a boil - this might take a while, so leave yourself lots of time.
5. Once boiling, turn heat down just enough to maintain a vigorous boil. Leave the pot UNCOVERED.
6. Boil vigorously for 30 minutes, then drain the rice, using the sieve. (Do not rinse) Place the hot rice back into the empty pot, cover and let the hot rice steam, away from the heat, for 10 minutes.
7. At this point you might like to add a little salt, if you usually salt your rice. My rule of thumb is ½ tsp. salt (or a little less) per cup of dry rice. 1 cup of dry rice makes about 4 cups of cooked rice.
8. Serve and enjoy.

By the way, plain rice is ok, but boring. Much more interesting when sautéed vegetables are mixed in. And some of the water can be replaced by broth or wine or juice. My favourite rice is brown basmati, which cooks with a tantalizing aroma of popcorn.