Brown Rice

Decades ago, my friend Wendy gave me her recipe for white rice, which was given to her by a native Hawaiian who worked in her parents' home. I've adapted that recipe for brown rice and use it all the time.

• In case you wanted to know, for white rice, the instructions are the same except you need less water; reduce the water to rice ratio to 2:1.
• This recipe may take some experimentation. For brown rice, I suggest you start with a ratio of 2.5:1 but you may need to go to a 3:1 ratio depending on your altitude and rice texture preference.
• This brown rice recipe also works for other rices such as forbidden rice and Bhutanese red rice, as well as mixtures of those rices. You can even throw in some lentils or barley or split peas and the recipe will work. The secret is the water to grain ratio.
• Explore different rices on Cook's Thesaurus.
• One of the best things about this recipe is that you do not need a measuring cup! As long as you maintain the rice-to-water ratio, any quantity will work. Of course, as the volume increases, so will the cooking time for the first step. For the purpose of teaching the recipe, I will give an example of cooking one cup of brown rice . . .

.
1 cup brown rice
2½ cups water
salt (optional -- I do not use any)
.

• Put all the ingredients into a saucepan. On HIGH heat, bring to a boil. Do NOT stir. Boil until the water level is even with the top of the rice.
• When the water level is even with the top of the rice, turn the heat down to LOW. Cover the pot.
• Cook 20 minutes and then check to see if the rice is tender. If it is, it's all done. If not, check to be sure there is still some water in the bottom of the pot; if there is none, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water; replace the cover and cook an additional 5-10 minutes.
• Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.