Recipe: Jim's Perfect Brown Rice in Seven Steps

Jim's Perfect Brown Rice in Seven Steps
rec.food.cooking/James Harvey (1997)

IMHO there are two essentials for making good brown rice: (1) toasting the rice first (2) avoiding excess water. Good brown rice IMHO means it tastes slightly nutty, is al dente (not mushy) in texture, and the grains are completely separated. Here's my method. I use a non-stick skillet with a tight-fitting lid.

1. Wash and drain 1 1/2 cups of long-grain brown rice. Measure 2 cups of water and reserve.

2. Heat two tablespoons of peanut oil in the skillet over fairly high heat until almost smoking.

3. Add the rice to the skillet. Stir-fry until all excess water from the washing has evaporated, and the rice grains are just beginning to toast slightly brown, and are exuding a pleasant smell. You must pay attention and keep stirring and turning at this step to avoid burning the rice (this is still over fairly high heat as in (2)). All this stirring also coats all the grains evenly with oil, which will help keep them separate after further cooking.

4. Add the water to the skillet. The first cup will make a lot of noise because the rice is very hot already. You make wish to take precautions to avoid spattering. I don't. Bring to a vigorous boil over high heat.

5. Add a couple of teaspoons of salt, or a generous tablespoon of Vegemite (yeah, well, that's what I like to use). Stir until dissolved.

6. Reduce heat to a simmer. Put on the lid and seal tightly (I use a small 6 inch cast iron skillet upside down over the lid handle and a heavy 10 inch cast iron skillet on top of that). I use heat setting #1 on my dinky electric oven if that helps. It's not quite as low as the heat will go but it's close.

7. Simmer 30-40 minutes. You should see an occasional puff of steam escape from the skillet, but it should not sound like it is boiling (in that case that heat is too high; the water will dry off too soon and the rice may burn). Do not peek at the rice during this stage. The idea is to steam the rice at slightly higher than atmospheric pressure. At 40 minutes, if the heat was right, you will get a slightly crunchy bottom crust that I absolutely love.

A variation I like is to toss in some chopped pecans or almonds to toast with the rice grains at step (3). If you use olive oil instead of peanut oil, watch (i.e., lower) the heat in step (3).