Rice

Rice.

Now I'm not a terribly big fan of rice.

But the family likes it so I'm always trying to get it just right.

Last night for dinner I made orange chicken and I wanted to serve it with rice. My daughter had jasmine rice in a restaurant recently and she loved it, so I decided to give it a try.

I bought brown jasmine rice. Since the brown rice does not go through the milling process of white rice the husk is left in tact and so the rice is not stripped of it's fiber, essential oils and minerals.

As a matter of fact brown rice has 3.5 times more fiber than it's white counter part. And it has 88 percent of the recommended daily amount of manganese which helps to helps produce energy from protein and carbohydrates, aids in the body's synthesis of fatty acids, promotes central nervous system health and aids in the production of good cholesterol. It also has selenium which helps to ward of colon cancer, boosts the immune system, and plays a key role in thyroid hormone metabolism.

So you see, you get lots of bang for your buck when you eat brown jasmine rice.

But how to cook it?

Well I searched around on the internet and this is what I came up with.

1. Soak 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of cold water for 1 hour.
2. Drain the rice and put into a medium saucepan and place over a medium temperature burner until the rice dries out.
3. Meanwhile boil a little over 2 cups of water.
4. After the rice is "dry", pour the boiling water over it and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Bring the rice back to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
6. Don't stir it while it's cooking.
7. At the end of 40 minutes remove from heat and let sit, with lid on, for another 10 minutes.

This was really good! It was kind of sticky, which I liked and it had a nice nutty taste to it. I will definitely make it again.