Recipe Search: Rice

I have to tell you, I have been a meat and potatoes kind of guy for many years. I have been working towards incorporating new foodstuffs and new recipes in my diet. I am here on Permies looking for suggestions on how ya'll enjoy eating different things.

Today's ask is - How do you enjoy rice?

What kinds do you normally consume? Do you have any fun recipes? How does a person jazz up rice to make it a frequent contributor to your diet?

To be even clearer, I have just learned how to decently cook long grain white rice by itself.

Outside of that, I'm severely lacking in rice cookery knowledge.

The easiest trick is to swap out some or all of the water you cook it with for a broth of some sort.
You can add a little shake of your favorite vinegar to the water, that'll add flavors and sometimes make the rice a little less sticky.
Sometimes I'll add a scoop of salsa or relish sort of thing to the water and cook them with the rice.
If you have a spice mix you like that's not too salty, a bunch of that in the water can come out good.

I mostly eat parboiled, brown, and wild rices, but I'm diabetic and sensitive to the glycemic index of things. Most of the not-white rices you want to keep an eye on the expiration dates, they're whole grains and can turn rancid over time.

I like to make a bigger batch, fridge what's left, and use it a day or two later to make leftovers fried rice. Random bits of veggies and meats, throw in a couple eggs, and you have a whole new meal!

If you've got a soup or stew that needs more carbs, a scoop of rice in the bottom of the bowl does the job!

It's good mixed with cooked whole beans or refritos. I like a rice/refritos ratio of 2:1, but try whatever you've got!

Rice features regularly in our meals.

My husband's late mother was Maltese, and a superb cook. Maltese food has Arabic, Italian and British influences and once of the regular meals that Michael cooks is baked rice which has 50/50 pork and beef mince cooked in a tomato sauce, the washed rice added to the sauce with beaten eggs, topped with parmesan and oven baked.

It is delicious served room temperature the next day or reheated.

He also uses rice in stuffed peppers, marrow and/or aubergines either as a solo ingredient or with pork/beef.

Kedgeree is an Anglo/Indian dish eaten at breakfast or brunch with smoked fish.

Paella, pilaf and risottos also make a regular appearance on on dinner table although pilaf is more often as it is simpler and doesn't require as much work to cook not requiring standing over the stove ladling in stock and constant stirring.

My contribution is much simpler, fried rice and occasionally, sushi.

if you're diabetic (or concerned about glycemic load) consider that like pasta, rice that has been cooled becomes a resistant starch.

i learned to eat in Asia, so I hold plain short-grain white rice (and brown rice, and jasmine rice) dear. If I`m sick, the comfort food I want is okayu/guk/congee rice porridge (salty, preferably, with lots of ginger and some chicken broth powder and cilantro). Or leftover plain rice with some green tea and whatever salty business i have on top (ochazuke).
To the disappointment of my husband, I don`t like fried rice much (only every once in a great while), but I do find that different varieties are easier to tolerate (thai, for example. My leftover rice (of which there is almost never any) goes toward rice balls/onigiri. I'm much more likely to make them with plain rice and later wrap and dip in something than to get fancy with flavoring the rice or adding fillings, but that comes from years and years of eating plain ones. Maybe I`ll put a pickled plum in, that's about it. Or maybe I'll grill them.

Also, try different rices! Jasmine rice is a miracle in a tiny grain. Mochi/glutinous rice is a whole different animal (a dessert I`m abusing this summer is thai sticky rice with mango. mm mm good....). I also usually have red and black rice, as well as long-grain white and brown. And basmati.
Which brings me to the last suggestion- mix it with beans or lentils. I make Turkish rice with chickpeas or mujadara (lentils and rice) at least once a week. Red beans with rice, rice and peas.... there are a lot of good things out there.

Most of the rice I eat is in gumbo.

I like dirty Rice though I dont make it because I usually don't have giblets which is the ingredient that makes the rice dirty....

I just use the rice that the grocery store calls rice.

I know brown rice is healthier though it takes too long to cook.

I like to cook my rice in what ever kind of broth I have from making bone broth ...

Oh Tereza, my comfort food is left over rice congee with kimchee and/or a fried egg with oyster sauce on top.

Plain rice with fermented bean curd and/or pickled sushi vinegar is another favourite but these may be an acquired taste for anyone not growing up having eaten rice daily!

Timothy, I hope that once you incorporate more rice dishes into your menus your taste buds will be able to differentiate between the the texture and taste of the different grains.

I tend to alternate varieties - long grain and short grain white, jasmine;  risotto, and basmati and use according to the style of dish.  Long grain gets used most, as a plain side, or the main ingredient of a fried rice.  Short grain white is added to meat balls or meat stuffings simmered in stock or made into that 'Monday's washing day slow cook while I'm busy" rice pudding.  The others self explanatory I hope.
Just to freak you out, I cook plain rice in the microwave.  No time saving, but it saves me from inadvertently boiling it dry.  I get distracted, what can I say

I usually put some oil in the bottom of our cast iron number 10 with the propane on medium high. Once it begins to shimmer I put in all of the rice and lightly ‘toast’ The rice in the hot oil. It will change color a bit and then in goes 50% water/50% chicken stock. Whatever the amount of rice you use - double the total amount of liquid.  Simmer for a bit and then it is done :D