I’ve always loved rice - probably because my perfect dessert experience was my grandmother’s luscious rice pudding. It was a great, comforting dish and soothed my stomach as well as my heart. And, I’ll bet many of you 50+ women have a similar food memory!
These days, however, my passion for rice stems from its culinary versatility and proliferation of varieties that have become available. Nutrient-rich rice is the perfect partner for healthy foods like fish, vegetables and beans. Full of complex carbohydrates and fiber, rice is great as a main dish meal, a savory side dish, or turned into a delicious dessert.
Rice is one of the oldest and most versatile of grains. There are thousands of strains available worldwide, but most rice will fall into three basic categories:
- Long grain - slender and four to five times as long as wide, long-grain rice cooks into fluffy, separate grains and is often used in entrees, soups, pilafs, or as a side dish
- Medium grain - wider and shorter than long-grain rice and two to three times longer than wide, it has a moister and stickier consistency than the long-grain and is suitable for risotto, desserts and puddings.
- Short-grain - with an almost round appearance is starchy and sticky (though not as sticky as a glutinous rice). It’s a good choice for making sushi or rice pudding, but also works in a risotto or paella.
Many specialty rices and rice blends are readily available in supermarkets, health food stores, gourmet markets and on line at http://www.indianharvest.com. Here are some of my favorite varieties:
Arborio and Carnaroli: These are plump, medium-grain white rices that develop a creamy texture around a chewy center and have an exceptional capacity to absorb flavors and lots of liquid . Perfect for making risotto, the best varieties come from Italy. Never rinse risotto rice - you'll wash off the starch that gives it such a creamy consistency.
Basmati: Grown in India, Pakistan and America, this slender long-grain rice is famous for its delicate, nutty aroma. It’s available both as a white and brown rice. I love to use this rice in pilafs and curries! Just recently, I cooked Kalijira, a miniature basmati from Bangladesh that cooks in just 10 minutes. I served a steaming mound of it under my Quick Thai Green Curry with Fish. Yummy!!
Quick Thai Green Curry with Fish
- 1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
- 2 teaspoons purchased Thai Green Curry paste
- 1 teaspoon minced lemongrass
- 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 2 cans light coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 2 pounds firm white fish fillets, cut in 1-inch chunks
- Fresh lime juice to taste
- 1 tablespoon minced cilantro leaves
- Cilantro sprigs for garnish
Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add the curry paste, lemongrass and ginger and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the coconut milk, fish sauce and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Add the fish chunks and simmer until fish is just cooked, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice and minced cilantro. Serve with steamed jasmine or basmati rice garnished with cilantro sprigs.
Serves 4 to 6
Black Japonica: Developed by the Lundberg Family Farms, this blended rice is a combination of a black short-grain rice and a mahogany medium-grain rice grown together in the same field. This rice has a chewy texture and nutty aroma. It combines well with other rices and works well in side dishes, salads and stuffings.
Jasmine: A native of Thailand, this long-grain rice has a subtle floral aroma. It’s ideal for Thai curries and stir-fries, but is also excellent on its own as a side dish. Jasmine can be substituted for basmati rice in recipes, and it's also sold as both a brown and white rice.
Wild Rice: Though not a true rice, but the seed of an aquatic grass native to the Great Lakes region of North America, wild rice has a fantastic smoky, nutty flavor and chewy texture. Hand-harvested lake- or river-grown wild rice is the best choice and far superior to the cultivated rice mostly sold today. Wild rice adds a gourmet touch to a meal and is outstanding in salads, stuffings and side dishes.
You name it, sweet or savory, I love rice and it still soothes my tummy and nourishes my soul - maybe because of its sentimental and comfort value - as it always reminds me of my grandmother’s rice pudding. I regret I didn’t get her recipe, but I’ll keep testing recipes until I get it right! Meanwhile, I might even try Rice to Riches, a restaurant in New York City that has 24 flavors of rice pudding! What a concept!! Their website, http://www.ricetoriches.com, says they ship overnight to anywhere in the United States!
