Brown rice - Preferred Brands?

In an attempt to drop some weight before my trip home in June, I have decided to cut out white rice. Can anyone recommend their preferred brand of brown rice that I can get at Dominicks?

The next 4 months is going to suck...

CrazyC,

Keep in mind that you will at least be doubling the time it takes to prepare rice.

If you're stuck on Dominick's, Riceland brown rice is ok. I've also purchased a brown basmati rice at Trader Joe's that I like.

Best,
Michael

Thanks eatchicago!

I am just hoping that my rice cooker takes brown rice... I will try riceland then... I prefer chewier brown rice over the looser variety. Hopefully this will work... =)

If you cook white rice in an excess of water and drain the water after it is cooked (as one would pasta), you will significantly cut down the amount of starch you are consuming. At a point when we were monitoring my Dad's blood sugar levels on a daily basis, we noticed a significant spike when he had had rice from the cooker the previous day (and nothing else in his diet had changed). He eats (white) rice every day and we went back to our 'normal' procedure of making rice – simmering and draining - his blood glucose levels stayed normal.

Note: this method will not work for shorter grain white rice such as Nishiki for sushi rice

I like Basmati Brown. And your rice cooker will take brown rice, you just have to up the water. Approx 1 rice to 2 waters. It is not double the time (pshaw!) and it's definitely worth it.

We bought a bag of basmati brown rice from Costco which has been pretty good which we mix with a bag of mixed grains brown/red/oats rice from one of the local Korean markets. It's cheaper than the brown rice mixed grains bags sold in Chinatown by far.

Try one of the basmati varieties from Lundberg's. More praise and cooking help in this thread. I buy mine at The Home Economist

Jay K wrote:We bought a bag of basmati brown rice from Costco which has been pretty good which we mix with a bag of mixed grains brown/red/oats rice from one of the local Korean markets. It's cheaper than the brown rice mixed grains bags sold in Chinatown by far.

How do you cook this?

Regards,

We buy the Brown Basmati from Trader Joes. Like all things there, very reasonably priced and it comes in a 1.5 lb bag with a ziploc top.

We cook it in our rice cooker 2:1 - water to rice with a squeeze of lime. This yields a tender puffy grain. My white rice loving husband enjoys it and it's tender enough for my two year old.

My memory is that the brown rice a TJs is par-boiled so it doesn't end up taking 45 minutes, like it would for raw rice.

I can't imagine this matters too much for most people, but note that par-boiled brown rice and raw brown rice will behave rather differently.

I ended up getting the Nishiki brown rice. Standing in the rice aisle, I realized that those brown rice are the non-sticky type, which I cannot stand! So hopped over to the "Ethnic" aisle, and there it was...

Had my first experience cooking it last night. I used my rice cooker, and it took a while... I think around 30-40 minutes... The rice cooker was still going when I checked it, but the rice seemed done, so I switched it off. 2 things I noticed though: the bubbling seemed to be much more with brown rice, and it was harder to wash it off the lid; and there are more sticking at the bottom of the pan.

It tasted pretty good though. I made chicken curry (not the Indian style) with cauliflower, and the gravy was great with brown rice.

TJ's does have a converted brown rice. The brown basmati I am referring to is not. The "minute rice" is significantly more expensive.

The nature of basmati is that it is a thinner grain and faster cooking. It takes 30 - 40 minutes in our rice cooker.

Lundbergs also has both short and long grain brown rice. I love the short grain, and use it for risotto. It does take longer than arborio, 45 min- 1 hour, but it is much more forgiving. Since the starch doesnt rub off to make a creamy sauce, I just add some extra romano cheese. I also dont bother with the slow adding of the liquid, just put in stock 2.5x the amount of rice used, cover and let it cook for 45 minutes, add the cheese and let sit for around 10 minutes. Makes excellent risotto cakes the next day.
-Will

The only way I have been able to avoid the sticking problem with brown rice (without overcooking) has been to cook in the oven rather than the stovetop.

Not sure about the rice cooker.

Hi,

I visited someone for lunch today who was making brown rice in a simple rice cooker as I arrived. She said added more water when cooking brown rice in the rice cooker than if she was preparing white rice. You don't need to buy a fuzzy logic rice cooker to make brown rice.

Regards,

I love the flavors of the various Lundberg rices but find, sadly, that I am totally unable to digest such high-fiber grains, even with liberal application of Beano. Showing my age, but as I remember from the macrobiotic era, for anyone, switching from white to brown rice is often something best done gradually.

Another caveat for those switching to brown rices. Buy smallish quantities and keep them in your fridge or freezer, as they go rancid.