Ok, I’ll admit it – before I went to nutrition school, I had never cooked brown rice before. I’d only used the instant brown rice packets! Now that I make brown rice the regular way, I can’t even imagine eating that instant stuff again! Brown rice cooked properly tastes so much better and is so much more nutritious, it’s crazy.
When I started coaching, I quickly found out that I wasn’t the only one who was intimidated about cooking brown rice the real way. Luckily for all of us, it’s super easy. Yes, it takes a bit longer than the instant kind, but it’s so worth it! If I’m going to make a dish that includes brown rice, I just start the brown rice first, and once I’m done preparing everything else, the rice is done! Easy.
Brown rice is a staple health food for so many reasons. It can aid digestion and help alleviate depression. Because it’s a whole grain, it gives you a long lasting, slow burning energy. It makes a regular appearance on my dinner table and I love it!!
Here’s the inside info on how to cook basic brown rice:
About 4 servings:
1 cup brown rice (I like short grain the best)
1 ½ cups water
Rinse rice before cooking. Bring water and rice to a boil and simmer on low for about 45 minutes.
That’s it! See? Not scary.
Here’s a little trick – use coconut water instead of regular water to make coconut rice! I learned that from a chef at an Indonesian restaurant a few years ago. Makes the rice sweet and coco-nutty!
What’s your favorite way to eat brown rice?
tory says
I have a rice cooker and we just recently switched to brown rice. My problem is that it never seems like it’s done cooking when the rice cooker switches to warm. Any thoughts?
jenny sansouci says
hey tory — i’ve actually never used a rice cooker before, but sometimes brown rice requires a little more water – maybe try adding more? let me know how it works out!