Long, short, brown or white, rice is an essential staple for a healthy diet. Usually we eat rice as an accompaniment to a curry, stir fry or meat dish.
Long, short, brown or white, rice is an essential staple for a healthy diet. Usually we eat rice as an accompaniment to a curry, stir fry or meat dish. Having rice as the main component on your meal may seem like a boring, tasteless and quite frankly unwanted meal. However, you are missing out!
Not only is rice tasty, but is very versatile too. Also rice is the second most produced grain in the world behind maize and corn, so surely we should be testing out recipes to use this beautiful ingredient.
Kedgeree
My mum makes an amazing one with smoked haddock, lemon, spices, rice and tomatoes! It’s super healthy, amazingly yummy and will keep you full for longer. Whenever I heat one of my mum’s meals up at university, you can guarantee the rest of my flat are very jealous. This is a very common rice dish and sometimes an egg is even added so I suggest researching recipes to find your favourite. Jamie Oliver does a lovely one.
Rice pudding
Now I know some of you may re-call in horror as you are taken back to primary school, where a slop of ride pudding was put onto a plastic tray but come on, there’s nothing nicer than homemade rice pudding. Perfect for the winter month and you could even make some crunchy caramel for the top. Or stick the traditional ways and have a dollop of homemade jam or a sprinkling or brown sugar. Delicious.
Risotto
Okay so you might say that this is a boring one but it’s really not! Again my mum makes a great one but I might just be biased. Experiment with flavours, textures and colours. Go for simple: Chicken, mushroom and pea or something extravagant with salmon and watercress. Whatever floats your boat, risotto is sure to please. However I did see a fennel and orange one once which I think everyone should stay clear of.
Paella
It really annoys me when you say paella and straight away the fish phobic in the corner screams NOOOOO. Wait. Paella is not all the fish. It’s about flavour, colour, texture and yes you can get a chicken one. Unless you’re going to get the freshest ingredients with the zingiest taste then don’t bother making it. Don’t insult paella. Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver both have recipes but you could even look at traditional Spanish recipes online ensuring you get the greatest and most authentic tastes.
Brown Rice burgers found on the BBC’s good food web site
A wholesome, meatless option for a weeknight meal, these convenient, healthy burgers are richly flavourful and made with ingredients from every food groups. Add some spice to give them flavour or even try adding different beans for texture—a wonderful alternative.
And if that’s not tickled your fancy, there are so many more options with rice. Think Indian, Chinese, Mexican… You could make curried burritos, coconut rice and there are also endless rice dishes that could be used as side dishes. The rice world is your oyster.
Is there a dish that is your favourite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image: daBinsi
