How to cook black rice?

Black rice is a novelty of domestic stores, which has already become a favorite of fans of healthy eating.In fact, it is a distant relative of white cereal and grows in North America and Asia. You should not confuse wild rice with black cereal - the latter has a softer and more pleasant taste, and it is this that is most often used in cooking.

The peculiarity of this culture in a specific smell and sweet taste with a subtle admixture of nutty notes. Unfortunately, only a few Russian consumers have managed to appreciate the taste properties of black rice, the secret of which lies in the correctness of cooking cereal. To make the dish tasty and healthy, you need to correctly select ingredients that will harmonize well with the extravagant taste of the cereal. For example, black cereal can be an excellent side dish for seafood, and lemon juice with greens is well suited as a dressing.

No worse than black rice combined with steamed vegetables and salads. Today, a fairly wide range of manufacturers of this new product is presented, such as TM “Zhmenka”, “Mistral”, and “South Night”.

Black rice is incredibly healthy. Its grains contain a rather high percentage of such useful substances as:

• protein;
• cellulose;
• amino acids;
• phosphorus;
• vitamins of groups E and B.

In China, black cereal has long been called “rice of longevity” and for good reason, because it has a healing effect for the whole body. This product is useful for people suffering from arthritis and various vascular diseases. It is considered an effective cancer prevention.

Before you start cooking dishes from black rice, you should be familiar with the primary processing of cereals. To begin with, rice is sorted out, removing cracked, cracked or damaged grains. After that, the cereal is placed in a deep container and proceed to wash. To do this, pour the contents of the container with cold water, rinse and soak for a while.

If necessary, the washing procedure is repeated several times. At the same time, the grains that float to the surface are removed. While washing the grits, you need to move your hands well, this will allow you to wash off all the accumulated dust and dirt. In addition, when washing the rice, extra starch is also removed, due to which the grains stick together during cooking, turning the contents of the pan into a sticky porridge. Experienced cooks wash the rice at least three or four times, mixing the grains thoroughly.

The preparation time of black cereal depends on the duration of soaking. Soak can be different.

• Express method. It is suitable if there is a time limit for cooking. Rice must be washed with high quality, filled into a deep container and pour boiling water on the basis of 1 cup of cereal for 2 glasses of liquid. The vessel is tightly closed with a lid and left to steam for 40-50 minutes. During this time, the croup becomes soft, soaking in hot steam and water, thanks to which the subsequent cooking time is significantly reduced. However, this method has its drawbacks: when steaming in the grains, the joints are destroyed: the beneficial and taste properties are partially lost. That is why it is recommended to use the second option.
• The usual method. Rice is thoroughly washed, poured into a deep dish and poured with purified cold water for 8-12 hours. Like all cereals, black cereal in a few hours will absorb some of the liquid, increasing in volume.

As practice shows, it is better to soak rice for the night, so that by the morning the croup is ready for use.

The process of making crumbly black rice is not much different from the familiar white, but there are still some nuances.After soaking the cereal liquid is drained. For cooking, it is best to take a pot with thick walls and a bottom, into which you should pour water in a ratio of 3 cups of liquid to 1 cup of grains.

Water should be brought to a boil, salt and boiling liquid pour the required amount of rice. It takes about 40 minutes for the cereal to be fully cooked. During cooking the pot should be covered with a lid so that the vitamins do not evaporate with the steam.

To prepare crumbly porridge, you must remove the pan from the stove immediately after the rice is ready, cover with a lid and leave it to “warm up” for about 15-20 minutes. To rice reached the desired condition, the pot can be wrapped with a towel - porridge soaked with remnants of moisture and steam, and the texture becomes razvarartoy. To make porridge especially tasty, you can flavor it with gravy, butter or vegetable oil.

If you cook rice in a slow cooker, you can not only get a tasty dish, but also save time in the kitchen. At the same time, the process of preparing the cereal remains unchanged: first, the rice is soaked for a while, then thoroughly washed in several waters, and then thrown back in a colander and left to drain for a quarter of an hour.

For cooking tasty porridge in a slow cooker, you need 2 glasses of liquid and 1 cup of cereals. During cooking, the cereal will increase in volume, and from 1 cup of uncooked rice you will get about 3 cups of porridge - this should be borne in mind when calculating the proportions.

For cooking black rice, a special bowl is perfect, which usually comes with a slow cooker. Cooking time is selected based on the specified automatic cooking mode cereal.

It is recommended to cook black cereal immediately before serving, as it will be most delicious during the first 30 minutes after cooking. Usually, black croup changes its characteristic color even during soaking in water, and the finished dish may even become purple or even maroon depending on the variety selected.

In fact, in preparing delicious black rice, even for beginners, there is nothing difficult and, adhering to simple rules, you can easily cook an extravagant, and most importantly - a healthy dish!

Learn more about how to cook black rice, you will learn from the following video.