Recipe & Cooking Technique for Brown Rice
So, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to share a recipe and technique of how I cook my Brown Rice here in Dubai. Traditionally, in Goa, or in villages where this rice is used, Brown Rice or Red Rice cooked over a Fire top called “Chul” in Konkani or “Chulha” in Hindi. The Fire is set over Bricks and wood in an open space. Usually, I would see my Paternal Grandma(we used to call her Mai)lighting up the Chul early morning and cooking this rice from Morning until Afternoon in a Large clay Pot. This tradition is still followed in Goa and some other Indian villages as well. Yes, it takes really long to cook this particular rice. Back in the day when Pressure Cookers were not so famous and people didn’t really have to worry about the soaring Gas and Electricity Bills, this rice technique was a No-brainer! Since this rice is extremely healthy to consume but takes really long to cook, many people avoid attempting to cook this rice and these days, ofcourse, with our fast paced busy lives, with hardly any time on hand, it’s not really possible to cook it traditionally.When I came to Dubai, my friend Deril D’souza taught me how to cook this rice in the Pressure Cooker…How cool right!!! I was so excited that I could now enjoy eating rice, guilt free and it took me back to all my childhood memories of our Goa Summer Holidays where my Mai would cook this rice for us! Trust me when I say this, if you follow the steps that I’ve mentioned, you will not go wrong.Note: Here I have used Kerala Brown Rice. But you can use Goa Red Rice too.
Ingredients
- 1.5 Cups Rice
- 10 Cups Water
- 1 Tbspn Salt
Instructions
- In a Pressure cooker, Wash the Rice till the water runs clear, Add the Water and Salt and mix it well and Put the Cooker Lid on and place the cooker on Medium heat
- I let it cook until 1 whistle is released and don’t open the lid immediatelyNote: 1 placed it on the gas at 11:45am, the whistle went off at 12:05pm and I opened it at 12:40pm(i.e. 55 minutes)
- Strain the rice into a strainer and Add some room temperature water into the cooker and pour it over the rice into the strainerNote: I do this to avoid it from further cooking with it's own heat and steam
- Transfer the rice back into the cooker
- Turn the Heat on to high and allow it to cook for 1-2minutesNote: I do this to avoid the rice from getting spoilt since I add room temperature water to the rice and also, for the water, if any, to evaporate
- Enjoy you’re your Brown rice nice and grainy with some delicious Fish or Meat curry!