Q: My husband Joe has attempted a low-fat, low-cal paella recipe from Rocco Dispirito's new book, Eat This Now. The flavors are awesome. But we keep running into one huge obstacle. We can't get the brown rice to cook!
We have increased the simmer time to nearly two hours, added more liquid, turned up the heat. Still we get rice that is chewy in some spots, crunchy in others. We don't want to swap white rice into the recipe. Suggestions? Tips? Please help us save our paella!
Sent by Amanda
Editor: Amanda, I took a look through the recipe (readers, you can see it at the link below) and honestly I just think this isn't a very well-written recipe. Long-grain brown rice is famously finicky and long-cooking, and while there seems to be enough liquid in the recipe, it really doesn't seem to cook long enough.
• Shrimp and Chorizo Paella from Eat This Now
Here's my suggestion. You don't have to swap out the brown rice for white, but think about swapping out the long-grain brown rice for short-grain or medium-grain. It won't have the distinctly separate grains of a traditional paella; both sorts will be softer and clump together more. But at least you'll be able to eat your dinner without breaking a tooth. Both sorts of rice absorb moisture better, and they are a little more forgiving in a recipe like this. Try medium-grain, and see if you get the results you want.
Readers, take a look at this recipe — any suggestions or ideas?
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You can let the rice cook longer, just wait to add the shrimp. I would even hold off on the tomatoes. I would do all of step 1, but let it cook for about 45 mins. Then step 2. Before you move to step 3 though, taste the rice to see how done it is. The shrimp don't take long to cook so I would make sure the rice is pretty much cooked before adding it. Also, don't forget to stir it well. This may be why some of your rice is done and some isn't. Good luck!
you can try mark bittman's suggestion of swapping out brown for white rice: parboil it first.
just take the brown rice, put it in lots of water, and simmer it for 25 minutes.
then drain it like pasta, and add it to the recipe.
I've had some success with this method. (you may need to see how long you need to parboil it, though)
I wonder if this would work better with a high quality short grain brown rice.
I made the most delicious brown rice paella last week!
First quick suggestion - you may need a bit more broth. The recipe I used called for 2 cups rice/4 cups chicken stock. So in your case an extra 1/4 cup chicken stock.
Second suggestion - you may want to first perfect your rice and then add in the protein. I cooked the rice first (with veggies and saffron). When the rice was done I cooked the meats separately in another pan. The meats only took about 5-10 min to cook. Because I had marinated the meats in paprika, salt & pepper for a few hours before, when I added them in the end the paella was still VERY flavorful! And healthy:)
Hope this helps!
Try pre-soaking just the brown rice for about 1-2hrs before starting the recipe. And if just soaking alone doesn't work, then I guess you can try the par-boil method mentioned above.
Even with rice cookers (the non-fuzzy logic kind) I will soak brown rice before using the machine. Gets more even results.
Soak the brown rice for a few hours first and then drain & cook.
Ditto the parboiling. I'd also suggest experimenting with the variety of rice. Brown basmati is a softer, quicker-cooking type, for instance. However, it has a particular smell/taste (which I love), so it's a definite choice for a recipe.
for cookbooks, I recommend everything/anything by mark bittman. his recipes come out beautifully.
I agree with soaking. I soak most rice and have really good results!
Rice that isn't done can definitely ruin things! I am a from scratch kind of girl, but was completely shocked to find that instant brown rice was edible, and I could not tell the difference. If not, I would soak the rice as others have recommended - I use hot water for this.
I noticed the recipe calls for cooking this in a Dutch oven, but paella is traditionally made in a broad pan that allows the ingredients to spread out. If you're using a very deep, narrower pot, it's likely that is causing the rice to cook unevenly since it's not spread well over the heat or all properly submerged. Try using your widest pan that's large enough for the ingredients. I know I find rice in general cooks better in a deep, broad frying pan with a lid than in a smaller, deep saucepan.
i always soak my brown rice overnight. it cook so much faster this way
I would use Haiga Brown Rice for the recipe.
It cooks in about the same amount of time as white rice and the same amount of water.......Great stuff!........
I don't have access to the recipe at the link provided so I cannot say for sure, but your problem may be due to the acidity of the dish, and the tomatoes may be the culprit. Starchy things like rice and potato cannot cook properly if they are in something too acid. The following article I found somewhere may explain this better than I can:
http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/29270609.html
Paella is in my DNA, so this recipe is sacrilegious to me. How often do you eat paella that it has to be low fat?
cook the rice almost done before making the paella.
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