Over the next few days Let’s run down some of the most popular varieties of rice you’ll find in the grocery store. But remember, there are so many, many more---some of which are known only locally, where they are grown. So start by trying these varieties and continue to branch out, finding all your favorite rices. You’ll have new family menus for months and years to come.
Basmati---long, slim grain, available in brown or white, cooks up in separate fluffy grains with a fantastic aroma. Great for savory dishes, like curries and pilafs, where separate grains are essential! But Basmati is great for Indian sweet dishes, like Kheer, a creamy, sweet rice pudding. This recipe requires some attention, but you can still do other things in the kitchen while you watch this dish cook.
Kheer
1/4 c. Basmati rice
1 T. butter (or Ghee---clarified butter, used in many Indian dishes; has a higher smoking point and toasted flavor)
4 c. milk (or soy or rice or almond milk)
sugar to taste, from 3 T to 1/2 c.
pinch of saffron
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 c. chopped nuts (almonds, pistachios, etc.)
1/4 c. raisons
In a saucepan, heat ghee or butter. Add chopped nuts and raisins. Set aside when raisins get plump and nuts turn reddish brown. In same pan, toast the rice for 3 min. on low heat. Add milk; increase heat to med-high and let it come to a boil, stirring occasionally, being careful not to burn milk. Add sugar and stir; reduce heat to med and cook until milk is reduced in half. Stir often! It is done when milk has been reduced to half and rice is soft, but not mushy, about 25 min. Add the saffron, cardamom, some of the nuts, and raisins, reserving some for garnish. Serve hot or cold. Pudding thickens with time; add a little warm milk to thin.

Asparagus & Bacon Wild Rice

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups wild rice, cooked
6 slices bacon
1 bunch asparagus ends trimmed, blanched, and cut 1 inch diagonal
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

PREPARATION:
Cut bacon into one inch pieces, sauté on medium heat until crisp and brown, then set aside on paper to remove grease. Blanch asparagus in boiling water for one minute. Cut into one inch lengths on the diagonal. In a large bowl, mix together wild rice, asparagus, olive oil, half of the bacon, and toss. Top with remaining bacon, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Lucky me! Out of the blue, Wild Nicole, from Goose Valley Wild Rice, sent me a few packages of their 100%, Grade A, certified organic wild rice. I bet a lot of people aren’t even aware that wild rice can be grown in America, let alone high in the Cascade Mountains of Northern California. Literally in the shadow of Mt. Shasta, rice seeds are sprouted in the pure mountain water from spring snow melt, and then planted in Goose Valley’s red volcanic soil that gives Goose Valley Wild Rice its great nutty flavor. The flavor is intense! Maybe my heart is always in the mountains or anything from the mountains, but I love this rice! The rich black wild rice cooked up the plumpest I’ve ever had. There are 5 different varieties, and if you order $25 worth, shipping is free. Check out their website: http://www.goosevalley.com/index.htm

Cook some rice up tonight and see for your self how great it tastes. There are sooooo many kinds of rice to try; have some fun and a little adventure. And I'll keep sending ideas your way. Enjoy your life. Enjoy RICE!

I really, really love grains. It is my comfort food. This month, September 2010, I’ll post all my favorite things, ideas, and recipes about RICE. Its a great feeling when you take a savoring fork-ful of rich, black wild rice or brown rice, where each kernel kind of goes “thwrong” when you bite it, as you pop through the outer layer to the burst of fluffy inside!

Sometimes I like rice racy-spicy---like flavored hot Thai or Mexican, somethings I prefer tangy, like rice mixed with cilantro, green onion, corn, and Tex-Mex dressing, or Italiano, with lots of perfectly sauteed baby vegetables.

But mostly I like rice just cooked in good broth, served with a little butter, maybe some fresh parsley. That and just toast are ultimate comfort foods for me. Simple. Yet I feel like the richest person in the world when I enjoy something so basic yet so amazing, especially when you consider how each grain came to be and traveled to be in to one’s possession. There would certainly be a lot less waste in the world if we all could just pause and appreciate every little thing we have, even a kernel of grain.

You really come to appreciate something more when you realize how much has to come together to bring you what you take for granted.

Whole grains seem like such a simple commodity and yet the overall process is a great orchestrated production, which includes Heavens’ cooperation.

My niece just returned from an 18 month mission to Thailand. She ate lots and lots of rice, especially for breakfast, and totally fell in love with it--even after finding gnats in it! One of her many wonderful experiences was ‘getting’ to harvesting rice---an incredibly labor intensive process.

First, the rice stalks have to be cut, and at just the right time, too. If the plants are too old, they are droopy and much harder to cut. According to my niece, it was ‘a million degrees’, but all the harvesters were made to wear coats and hats so they wouldn’t get burned or cut by the rather rough stalks. Or killed by the others swinging sickles, maybe.

The next step is to separate the rice from the rest of the stalk, the most strenuous work she’s ever done (and she’s done a lot of hard things, like 50 mile backpacking in 135 degree heat...a story for another day). She took bundles of rice stalks and whacked them feverishly against a wooden grate, to make the rice fall out. For each stalk, she had to hit it 7 or more times. After several hours, in "million degree heat", so hot, so tired, there was only a small pile of rice!

My niece observed, “Wow. So much work for so little rice. And I think about how much rice this country eats; I love rice and eat it twice a day, everyday. I will never ever throw away a single piece of rice ever again.”