So as you may have noticed, this month we’re really focusing on rice and beans. A new shipment of Massa Organics whole grain brown rice has been a big part of the inspiration. It’s so nutty and delicious, white rice seems bland and anemic in comparison. The rice has been superb on the stovetop and when made in my clay donabe but my electric rice cooker isn’t cutting it. The rice seems underdone and dry and the opposite of indulgent.
After some experimenting, I’ve come to these conclusions:
- It’s best to pre-soak the rice for about 3 hours
- The best ratio is 2 parts rice to 3 parts water
- A small amount of Rancho Gordo Mixteca Salt helps soften the rice
And with that, you should have fairly perfect brown rice!
Probably depends on the machine. I’ve been cooking brown basmati in a zojirushi neural fuzzy for years without problems. I find it is better in the mid range of the amount allowed-a full batch tends to get over cooked. Also I use a bit less water than it wants.
+1 on the Zojirushi rice cookers. We have two a nuero-fuzzy logic model ZAC-10 which I have used constantly for almost 15 years. Recently got the NS-YAC-10 which is basically the same machine but with a “Umami” setting for white rice and a GABA setting for brown rice. Both settings pre-soak the rice. The GABA setting is supposed to activate the rice making the nutrients more easily available during digestion. The only drawback (especially for brown rice) is that it takes a long time to cook the rice but if you set it up ahead of time using the timer the rice will be done exactly at the time you set. Highly recommended, probably the best rice cookers on the market.
I just received my brown rice and plan to cook it this wkend-but FIRST I wanted to finish up my RG Wild Rice and I found/made an excellent dish that I have to tell you about, you can find it on David Lebovitz’s blog by searching Wild Rice Salad( with roasted root vegetables and a very tasty Tahini-Lemon dressing) Your rice really shines! I used Butternut squash, carrots and gold beets with some purple Okinawan Sweet potatoes–so it was beautiful too. You won’t be disappointed!!!
Have you tried the karmin professional rice cooker? Is fenomenal!
I’d recommend Karmin professional rice cooker:-)