The snow is coming down here, almost 5 inches overnight and it is still coming strong!
Snow Fall, it just keeps on coming!
So I thought a little bit about comfort food and thought rice coated in butter sounded wonderful with dinner tonight. Here’s a quick lesson in soaking rice!
By soaking the rice, it helps to eliminate the nasty phytic acid I talked about in my sprouted flour post. It is important to soak our whole grains before consuming them to make the food as nutritious as possible. It removes the risk of the un-fermented whole grains robbing you of important nutrients which can cause long term problems like IBS, issues with bone density, and nutrient deficiencies. (Nourishing Traditions; Fallon; pg. 452).
Simply soaking these grains before consuming helps increase the health benefits ten-fold and reduces the bad attributes of grains. This will leave you with wholesome, nutrient-dense food to nourish your body! Rice isn’t as guilty of a grain as other higher gluten ones, but I still feel that it is important to soak the rice and then cook it in homemade chicken broth.
Easy Rice Soak
organic brown rice (long or short)
warm filtered water
whey (or buttermilk, yogurt, kefir)
chicken stock (or fish/beef stock)
sea salt
butter
1. Place whatever amount of rice you desire in a glass bowl (I did 1 and 1/2 cups of organic long-grain brown basmati rice) and cover with warm filtered water.
Rice Soaking in Warm Filtered Water
2. For every two cups of rice you do, add 4 tablespoons of whey, buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir to the warm filtered water.
Whey for Soaking the Rice
3. Let sit on your counter for at least 7 hours and then cook the rice as the directions say with chicken stock or with the whey water you soaked your rice in (you won’t taste anything, I swear!). Top with lots of butter and season with salt to taste (for my specific basmati rice – I add three cups of chicken stock and salt after draining off the water; I then cook it on medium-low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Fluff with a fork and add lots of butter!).
Rice Soaking in Warm Filtered Water with Whey
Hope this has been informative – other yummy ways to spice up your rice is to add homemade pesto, mix in some roasted butternut squash, or some whites bean with salsa for a Spanish side dish.
Until next time,
Katie
