Brown Rice Diet

For years, I am not able to incorporate brown rice as part of my diet to combat constipation . The reason is, no matter what method I use in cooking brown rice, the fiber is always too hard for my stomach and I always end up with stomachache. This is a shame as I like the nutty texture which goes very well with vegetables.

So I have been thinking: how to cook brown rice for my fussy stomach? Don't tell me to increase the water ratio, didn't work. Don't tell me to cook it for 45 minutes, didn't work. Don't tell me to soak the poor brown rice for at least 8 hours before chucking it into the rice cooker, didn't work. By the way, if soaking exceeds 20 hours, you will get brown rice sprouts and very soft texture. I even tried brown rice congee or porridge...somehow my stomach refuses to be comfortable. At this point, I am pulling my hair and at the end of my scanty wits.

Then an ancient dame whispered this solution to me: " Add lemon juice". Ah...not only lemon juice, I use pressure cooker! 20 minutes of cooking time and another 25 minutes to wait for the pressure to subside, I get my perfect, steamed brown rice. "Steamed" is not a typing mistake, I am a fussy rice eater who prefer steamed rice to cooked rice. You can cook yours if you like, but I want to steam mine. When I run out of lemon, I use lime instead- the result is equally tolerable to my stomach albeit less fragrant.

I shed two drops of tears of joy. After years of being indoctrinated by the brown rice vs white rice propaganda, I can now enjoy the benefits of brown rice nutrition.

*Note- 100 grams of polished white rice contains negligible amount of water soluble fiber and 0.5 grams insoluble fiber whereas the same amount of brown rice gives you 0.7 grams water soluble fiber and 2.3 insoluble fiber. That's why the dietary fiber in one bowl of brown rice equals that of six bowls of white rice.

How a lousy cook like me make perfect brown rice, by adding lemon juice. You can also cook it the usual way.

Use a small rack to steam the rice

If I don't have lemon, I'd just steam it this way with a pressure cooker for at least 20 minutes. If I use both lemon and pressure cooker, I can make brown rice risotto later :-)

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