What to mix with rice for better taste?!
What to mix with rice for better taste?
i want to know some good ideas for what to put in my brown rice that i eat at lunch everyday to make it easier to eat. I'm on a muscle building diet, so i already get enough protein, fat and other nutrients throughout the day so i don't want to load up on anything else ( like throwing in a bunch of chicken or pork for example). Basically, i just want to know if someone has any ideas for spices, sauces, or whatever else that you may like to use to help me choke down my 2 servings of brown rice everyday....
Answers:
Add Curry and Turmeric
Green Herbs like mint, chives, fennel or chervil. Fresh is best, but you can get it in packets.
If you are going to use stock as others have said watch the sugar, salt levels.
Soy etc are high in salt so it you use them don't salt your rice. I like some ketjap manis an Indonesian sweet soy as a change.
Basmati and Jasmine rice are both aromatic, particularly Jasmine, so mix them together in your rice jar.
Add soy sauce or cook it with a indian spice seed mix.
use chicken stock instead of water to cook it. also add green onions,soy sauce, and chili sauce.
Mrs. Dash is coming out with all new flavors. They have no salt just flavor. That way it won't interfere with any diet restrictions. Add it to the water when you are cooking your rice and let it blend... then add more later.
Instead of cooking the rice in water cook it in vegetable broth..
Add taco seasoning to the rice while it's cooking or
Cook it in broth, add a little tomato sauce and dried onion or add salsa in it while it's cooking
Onion soup mix will probably fix it up, but it's better to use the canned soup, less sodium.
cook it in chicken or beef or seafood or veggie stock
add some saffron or tumeric and herbs or spices to the cooking water
make it into a rice salad by adding dried cranberries or cherries, nuts(pine, slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans), italian parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice.
add some of the protein you eat with bell pepper, red onion, and celery.
make a brown fried rice with the same ingredients as regular fried rice (carrots and peas, scrambled egg, green onion, soy sauce, and whatever meat you choose)
Any kind of boullion cube, that has been melted in the hot water. They add booming flavor to rice...it's amazing. You should try it and it's really easy. If you don't have the bouillion cubes, just try chicken/beef stock or chicken broth.
Believe it or not, salad dressing. Just stir in a dab of your favorite dressing in hot or cold rice..
I always use Organic low sodium chicken or vegetable stock to cook my rice in. That way you don't have to spend all the time trying to make it flavorful and you don't get all of the extra empty calories you would from soy sauce and other flavorings. I also use garlic and onion powder from time to time depending on what I am eating the rice with.
broccoli,or peas and carrots
I always cook my rice with a boullion cube added to the water. Lots of flavors, and they make brown rice edible.
Chicken broth, garlic, ginger, and curry powder. It's good!
Oh well I boil the rice and throw in a few tablespoons of Knorr Chicken Soup Powder (I prefer that to chicken stock in a can...I don't like that) and then I add a few tablespoons of Virgin Olive Oil...try it you'll love it.
Or you can buy some chinese rice seasoning, those powder pouches, stir fry the (boiled) rice and throw in a couple of scrambled eggs and soya sauce and at the end a few dashes of SESAME SEED OIL...yum.
You can always use the old standby can of Mushroom Soup and serve it over chicken. You can buy some good pre-cooked chicken slices at Costco etc. that you keep in your freezer, just take out a few pieces and reheat it all at work. Make freezer packs of any of the above and nuke at work.
Other good spices for rice are sage, curry, rice peas are good too, and always soya sauce.
Good luck.
Try chicken/beef/vegetable broth instead of water. That's always good. Also, I like to chop cilantro, garlic and tomatoes, and a squirt of lime juice and mix that in my rice. It won't give you many extra calories or sodium that way, either. You could also experimenting with spices and herbs and vinegars with a little olive oil, like salt, basil and a little white wine vinegar. Soy sauce, Worcesteshire sauce and liquid smoke would certainly give your rice a kick. Mix in some corn and grilled veggies (carrots, onion, zucchini).
Also, the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray has zero calories and you can spray some of that in for a buttery flavor. Alternatively, mix in some butter extract with the water.
If you want a sweet rice, mix in some cinnamon and Splenda.
Hope this helps!
If your going for just plain rice, butter and salt make it taste better, but if you want something different, mix in some small pieces of chicken and terryaki or soy sauce.
Use orange juice instead of water.