Rice As An Ideal Side Dish And Basic Ingredient For Main Dishes

Rice can not only be combined in many ways, it is also healthy, low in fat and filling. Get to know rice, rice products and how to prepare them!

Asians eat a lot of rice as a staple food. Is that the reason why they are usually so slim? Rice is a virtually fat-free cooking ingredient that is filling, cheap and rich in minerals such as potassium. You should leave the potatoes lying around more often for the small white grains!

Rice: the white grain

Rice is the staple food in Asia, but it is also grown in Europe, for example in the Po Valley in Italy. There are basically two different types of rice:

• Long grain rice and
• Short grain rice.

Short grain rice is used, for example, in rice pudding or risotto. Strictly speaking, the dark rice we sell as “wild rice” is not wild rice at all, just a variety with a brown outer skin and a particularly nutty taste.

Whole grain rice is independent of the type of rice to which the silver membrane surrounding the grains still adheres. As a result , whole grain rice contains a lot of fiber, vitamins and minerals and is the healthiest way to eat rice.

White rice contains hardly any fiber and has also lost most of the healthy ingredients through peeling and polishing.

Before it is sold, parboiled rice is treated with steam in such a way that some of its valuable ingredients are pushed into the interior of the grain by the steam  and thus up to 80% of the vitamins and minerals are still contained.

However, if it is peeled (i.e. white) rice, the fiber content is almost zero.

Rice milk

Rice milk is a bit elaborate to produce. First, whole grain rice is ground and then cooked, then mashed and fermented.

The resulting liquid is well filtered and emulsified with vegetable oil. The resulting drink is pure rice milk, which is often offered in stores sweetened, salted or flavored with vanilla, chocolate or coconut.

In contrast to cow’s milk or soy milk, rice milk only contains traces of protein: 0.1g per 100l. Because this grain contains no fat and fat is artificially added to rice milk by means of vegetable oil, the fat content varies depending on the manufacturer, but is usually well below that of cow’s milk.

The biggest difference is in the carbohydrates. Since rice milk is made from a grain, it contains around 10g of carbohydrates per 100ml – even if it is not sugar-free. If you compare this with the calorie content of low-fat or skimmed cow’s milk, rice milk has significantly more calories – because of the carbohydrates.

In contrast to cow’s milk or soy milk, rice milk has practically no protein. But since protein is important, you have to switch to other sources of protein if you only consume rice milk.

Rice milk also does not contain calcium. Therefore it is often added. If not, you have to look for alternatives here too.

How do you cook rice as a side dish or main course?

It has recently become fashionable to prepare the small white grains in plastic bags, so-called ” boiling bags “.

No need. On the contrary: the few vitamins and minerals that are still contained in the granules are released into the water during the cooking process and poured into the drain. Too bad!

It’s so simple: you just need about twice the amount of water and a little salt. So one cup of grains and two cups of water.

You boil the water, pour in the grains, boil the whole thing up briefly and stir. Then put the lid on and turn off the stove. After about 20 minutes, the water is completely gone and the rice is ready. So you keep all the ingredients.

Instead of salt, you can also use vegetable broth or add other ingredients such as paprika powder, tomato paste or spices to the boiling water for a varied side dish. Try it!

Recipe ideas

Rice pudding or white rice is boring? Then you’re doing something wrong! The white grains are so variable and there are so many different varieties that you should try !

Have you tried fragrant rice yet? Or the red rice from the Camargue? Some varieties taste so delicious that you don’t really need a side dish other than a piece of butter!

If you want to use rice as the main ingredient of your dish, think about whether you like one or the other recipe idea:

• For rice pudding, replace part of the milk with coconut milk and serve with desiccated coconut.
• Fry the onions and garlic and only then add the cooking water for cooking.
• Cook chopped vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes, or courgettes.
• Refine the cooking water with spices, such as cardamom and cloves.
• Color it in an intense yellow by adding turmeric or curry.
• Serve rice as a main course  mixed with cooked peas or lentils.
• Sprinkle it with extra fresh herbs before serving .

As you can see, the white grains that initially appear boring can become the star of the meal, you just have to want them!