How wild do you like your rice?

For some added variety in grains, why not add some wild rice to your next pot of brown rice? Besides being high in vitamins and minerals, wild rice adds a delightfully nutty taste and texture to brown rice. Wild rice is also thought to positively affect the kidneys (in oriental medicine foods with a dark colour are particularly tonifying to the kidneys and reproductive energy pof the body).

For even more texture why not add some barley to the mix? You can use unpearled (this is unrefined and has had only the outer inedible husk removed, similar to the status of brown rice), or you can use pearl barley which is partially refined but still has great flavour. It cooks up a litte softer and takes less chewing than the unpearled but has lost some of its nutrition in the refining process. In some parts of the world you can find hull-less barley or hull-less black barley which i once discovered when i was studying in the US. Wow!
Barley of all descriptions has a slightly cooling energy and has a particular affinity for helping the liver, an organ that needs as much help as it can get these days!

This combination can be boiled (preferably in a heavy pot) or pressure cooked as well.
Use any type of (preferably organic) brown rice that you like - short, medium, long, brown basmati or sweet brown.
Try to obtain wild rice that is sustainably grown or wild harvested.
Barley does contain some gluten though much less than wheat or rye. If you need to avoid gluten, you can leave out the barley or try another grain/seed like millet, quinoa or amaranth.

It is a good idea to soak the grains before use to inactivate enzyme inhibitors and anti-nutrients that interfer with absorption of minerals like zinc and calcium. It is a good idea to soak them overnight, though some evidence suggests that most of these phytochemicals are reduced in the first hour of soaking so if you run out of time an hour is a good compromise. Similar benefits can be achieved by dry toasting the grains before cooking. This adds a completely differnt flavour and texture and is a variation wirth trying. It tends to produce a more yang and slightly warming quality.

• 1 - 11/2 cups brown rice
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup unpearled barley
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup wild rice

vary the proportions depending on desired result. More brown rice will give a miler end result while more of the other ingredients will produce a chewier and nuttier dish. Aim for a total of 2 cups of grain in total

Bring to the boil in 3 1/2 - 4 cups of spring water with a pinch of unrefined sea salt per cup of grain. If you are pressure cooking then bring to pressure and simmer for 50 minutes with a flame deflector. If boiling, cover tightly with a lid and simmer for 50 minutes. Let stand at the end of cooking time with the lid still in place to allow the steam to lift any grains stuck to the bottom fromt he surface of the pot, if boiling. If pressure cooking, allow the pressure to come down naturally. Then mix with a wooden spoon to distribute the garin mix.

You can try other grain combinations with the brown rice as a base.
How about

• whole dried corn or fresh corn off the cob and oats with long grain brown rice
• or substitute whole wheat, spelt, kamut or rye berries instrad of the wild rice or barley?
• you can also try some soaked or even pre-ccoked legumes in the mix - adzukis or black beans are great.
• you can add some seeds to the mixture before cooking
• or add toasted seeds or nuts after cooking to retain their crunchy texture - try toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds or a mixture of both. Or some lightly toasted walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds.

You can serve it with steamed greens or broccoli (see the Greens cooking tutorial at my blog), a legume, tofu, dried tofu  or tempeh stew and bright, crispy salad. The nuttiness of the grains also go well with a pumpkin or winter squash dish, such as baked pumpkin or adzuki beans with pumpkin or baked whole onions or beetroot.

These grain combinations are nice to serve with a sprinkle of gomashio (sesame salt condiment), tekka (miso condiment), natto miso, or ume shiso leaf sprinkle. You can also top with some fresh or dried herbs like parley or tarragon.

A drizzle of fresh flax seed oil really brings out the nutty flavour. You could also drizzle it with toasted sesame oil.

If you have any leftovers, you can use them to make fried rice the next day or a mix of the grains and finely sliced sweet vegetable such as plain winter squash or a combination of any of the following - onions, carrots, winter squash, shredded cababge.

you can also reheat the leftovers in a heavy frying pan (do not use teflon or any chemically coated non stick pan) until the grains are crucnhy. I find that the Scanpan is great for this (I use mine daily and find them indispensible for this purpose or cooking moist greens without water. I am in no way affiliated financially with Scanpan - my only connection is the collection I am so fond of in my own kitchen).

You can add some tamari or shoyu when regeating them this way and before serving add soem flax oil when the mixture is out of the pan.

I would have taken a picture of the pot I cooked for dinner tonight, but there is none left!

here is an excellent, inspiring and unequalled celebration of the ways in which you can prepare brown rice

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3464/reprints/wsn2.html

Happy cooking