Making brown rice used to give me the fits! It was either too watery or sticky and mushy. When I backed off on the amount of water, it was a crusty brown mess at the bottom of the pot! Yikes! Was I destined to buy frozen brown rice to get the perfect rice? I just couldn’t fathom the idea of being hooked on frozen, store bought rice! Then I came across this fool proof way to make brown, even white rice, perfectly every time thanks to Saveur!
I am such a happy girl! It is so cool because the technique is very similar to making pasta. You boil the rice in a lot of water so you don’t have to worry about getting the amount just right. Ya know, “the Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, ahhh…this rice is just right” amount of water! Then you drain it like pasta, throw it back in the pot and the steaming effect allows the grains to retain their integrity and it comes out light and fluffy. Ta Da!
Now I add all kinds of goodies to my basic rice recipe and transform it into cuisines from around the world….at least in my mind.
Fool Proof Brown Rice
Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds. Bring 12 cups water to a boil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over high heat.
Add the rice, stir it once, and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Pour the rice into a strainer over the sink. Let the rice drain for 10 seconds.
Return it to the pot, off the heat. Cover the pot and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes. Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt.
Freeze It for Later
Next time you make brown rice, double or triple the batch and freeze the rest for those nights when you need to throw together a fast meal. It is a life saver and as easy as One, Two, Three!
Cool – Once the brown rice has steamed, lay it out on a baking sheet to cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This will keep the rice grains separate and freeze better. If you don’t have room in the refrigerator for a long baking sheet, you can cool partially and then place in a large covered bowl and chill over night. Don’t leave rice out to cool completely without refrigeration or you can risk food poisoning!
Divide and Freeze – I like to divide the rice into portions we will use for each meal. In a quart size freezer bag, place 3/4 to 1 cup of rice for each person in the family. If you have a larger family, then use the gallon size freezer bag.
Date the bags so you know it is still good. Rice can be frozen for about 4 months and be insured of stellar quality. It will stay frozen forever but think in terms of quality. Who wants food that tastes like freezer burn!
Flatten the rice out in the bag and seal so that all the air is out of the bag. This makes it so easy to stack and store multiple bags in the freezer in minimal amounts of space!
Reheat – To reheat the rice, I take a bag or two out of the freezer, crunch it up a bit and pour into a glass or microwave safe bowl, cover with lid or plastic wrap to help keep the moisture in and microwave for several minutes, stirring once until heated through.
Dress it Up!
Pistachio Chive Brown Rice
Make the amount of rice you need according to the basic brown rice recipe. Right before you are ready to serve, add roasted pistachio nuts and chopped chives to the rice. For 2 cups of rice, I use 1/3 cup of roasted pistachio nuts and 2-3 tablespoons of chives. So easy, so good!
- 1 cup short, medium, or long-grain brown rice
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds.
- Bring 12 cups water to a boil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over high heat.
- Add the rice, stir it once, and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Pour the rice into a strainer over the sink.
- Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat.
- Cover the pot and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes.
- Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt. Makes 2 Cups.
- Make the amount of rice you need according to the basic brown rice recipe. Right before you are ready to serve, add roasted pistachio nuts and chopped chives to the rice. For 2 cups of rice, I use 1/3 cup of roasted pistachio nuts and 2-3 tablespoons of chives. So easy, so good!
Thanks for the hot tip, I have had so many brown rice nightmares! And freezing it makes perfect sense, I hadn’t thought of that.
Donna – I hear ya on the rice nightmares! I used to have them too but no more 🙂 The rice freezes very well, just not quite like Trader Joe’s but it does the trick and is so much more cost effective! What a time saver too!