Health Benefits of Brown Rice

Brown rice is often considered the unattractive, less delicious sibling of its preening, pluming sister - white rice. People complain that it is too heavy, too chewy, it doesn't taste good with dal, it takes too much time to cook, it does not have that delectable rice aroma, and so on.

A veritable litany of complaints has been built up against it and it has been relegated to that back-burner of the kitchen - the health section. People substitute brown rice for white rice and then grumble heartily and virtuously about the sacrifice they are making for the sake of their burgeoning waistlines.

It cannot be denied that brown rice is vastly healthier than white rice. The very cause of all our gastronomic woes, its fibrous husk that makes it tougher to cook and eat, is the very thing that makes it healthy. Brown rice goes through fewer processes of production than white, processes that strip the bran and quite a lot of the germ layer, which takes with it all the fiber and vitamins in the grain. Whereas the way brown rice is produced is far easier; only the inedible outermost hull is stripped. So brown rice becomes an excellent colon cleanser and is better for people suffering from diabetes too, as it has a low glycemic index when compared to white rice.

Still, when something is slotted as 'healthy', it is doomed to be thrust into the 'tasteless' pile, which is a shame, because brown rice has a really lovely, nutty richness to it. Perhaps the way to look at brown rice is not as an alternative to something better, but as a delicious ingredient on its own. But whichever way you look at it, there's certainly something about brown rice. Nowadays, you are spoilt for choice, you get brown rice noodles, brown rice pasta and brown rice atta as well.

Brown rice can be cooked both by pot and by pressure. By that I mean the pressure cooker of course and your regular cooking pan. Whichever way you choose, you will have to soak the grains before - I try and get in a good overnight soak, but you can soak them for just a few hours or even just an hour (but in boiling hot water).