Rice & Grains

Whether you like them piping hot or chilled in the fridge overnight, there’s no denying that Irish steel-cut oats make a killer breakfast. They have a nutty flavor and coarse texture that make them comforting and satisfying. Wholesome steel-cut oats are versatile, which gives them a place in your life beyond the breakfast table. Here are five delicious ideas that prove it. Once ground, steel-cut oats are even more versatile and great for baking.

Eating a plain bag of popcorn by itself is a great way to snack. It’s also incredibly easy to dress up popcorn with spices, salt, and the fat of your choosing (coconut oil, yum). But if you want to push the boundaries of what those small, yet mighty kernels are capable of, step right up. Have you tried popcorn in oatmeal? In cookies? On soup? Trust us — it may sound crazy, but popcorn goes way beyond the snack bowl, as these 10 fabulous ideas from food blogs can attest.

Fried rice is the ultimate easy one-pot meal: starch, veggies, and proteins all thrown together and cooked in a matter of mere minutes. It’s economical and I love to watch the transformation of a handful of seemingly random leftovers or ingredients into something very satisfying. Making fried rice isn’t an exact science: you can throw in a lot of veggies or keep it to mostly rice instead. The most important thing that you need to keep in mind when making fried rice though?

Q: I have been experimenting with brown rice congee in my rice cooker. While there is a porridge setting, it does not work well for brown rice. Does anyone know how I can get delicious brown rice congee from a rice cooker meant to cook white rice? Sent by Emma Editor: Readers, what do you think? Does anyone have any experience making congee in the rice cooker?

Q: My rice cooker bowl is in the fridge with leftovers in it. Can I take it directly from there and start heating it immediately in the cooker, or do I have to set it out until bowl reaches room temp? Sent by Judee Editor: Readers, any advice?

We love quinoa salads — we brought you a real beauty in this green goddess salad today! — but this easy-cooking nutritious grain can go far beyond just salads. What else can do you with this pantry staple? Here are five alternative ways that you can eat quinoa throughout the day, from breakfast all the way to dessert. Quinoa is much more versatile than the salads it usually ends up in.

Over the past few months as I’ve traveled to talk about my cookbook and teach cooking classes, I’ve paid close attention to the questions I get most frequently. Many students have mentioned how confusing they find shopping for whole grain products. Food labels don’t necessarily mention what percentage of a bread or prepared food is whole grain, and many use the blanket term “multigrain.

Many recipes for cooking quinoa call for two parts water to one part quinoa, a ratio that was determined by importers when quinoa first started becoming popular in this country. But America’s Test Kitchen has an interesting explanation for why that ratio may no longer work, and why using far less water makes much better quinoa.

Making morning oatmeal often feels like a tradeoff between texture and time. Rolled oats cook up in a couple minutes, but can quickly turn gluey and mushy. And while steel-cut oats are chewier and more satisfying, their 20- to 30-minute cooking time isn’t always convenient in the morning. Here’s a quick tip for making a bowl of oatmeal with a texture that’s just right, in about 10 minutes. It’s simple — just cook a mixture of half rolled oats, half steel-cut oats.

I’ve been traveling for the past few weeks to promote my cookbook, Whole-Grain Mornings, and I have been really interested in the questions that have been coming up from audience members and students in my cooking classes. Some are about the book, others focus on what I really eat for breakfast, but more and more I’m getting questions about heritage grains and what they are, exactly. Are they really healthier and should we all be seeking them out?

I’m a member of a Facebook group where people share what they’re making in the kitchen: the trials, the tribulations, the recipes. It’s a fun group, and most of the cooks are southern like me. Recently, a member posted this, “I made really good rice!!!!!!! yeah 2014.” I responded to the post, asking what brand she used, prepared to hear about her amazing rice cooker. Her answer surprised me, though it shouldn’t have.

I try out a lot of recipes in the kitchen — some good, some bad, some worth filing into a digital locker of some sort. Like wine, I rarely try the same thing twice: there simply are too many new tastes to explore. Sometimes, though, a recipe speaks to you on an emotional level. And sometimes, making it costs you $500. How did this recipe cost me $500, you ask? The cost of the ingredients totaled no more than about $10.

“It’s the most powerful food in the landscape of American culinary experience,” according to Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills, producer of handmade milled goods from organic heirloom grains. Glenn is a purist. His favorite way to enjoy the delicious milled corn dish is plain, eaten alone and with reverence. I can’t say that most of us southerners are so calm around our grits, but we do love them.

My first experience with polenta involved the pre-made slice and serve variety. Needless to say, it wasn’t until I tasted the creamy, bubbling, freshly-made version that I discovered my love for the simple cornmeal dish. And, oh, what things you can do with it! Read on for six creative recipes.1. Poached Egg over Polenta with Olive-Herb Pesto from Danielle of The Trail of Crumbs: Just one look at the photo from this recipe (above) will have you drooling over this savory breakfast dish.2.

If you like to whip up a pot of quinoa, millet, or brown rice for weeknight suppers, then we have just the infographic for you. Print this out — put it on your fridge, and you’ll have the right ratios of grain to water right in front of you. This great little chart is from the folks at Good Eggs (we mentioned them last week).

Rice vinegar is one of our all-time essential vinegars. For Asian-style pickles, stir fries, salads, and dipping sauces, no other vinegar can compare. Less harsh than most Western vinegars, rice vinegar can also provide a mellow sweetness to salad dressings, vegetables, and other dishes. Learn more about the different kinds of rice vinegar and get some recipes after the jump.

Nutty, nourishing brown rice is a great addition to rice bowls and the perfect accompaniment to stir-fries, but its long cooking time makes it a tough sell for busy weeknight dinners. Packaged, precooked brown rice from the frozen section of the supermarket makes preparation quick and foolproof enough for last-minute meals — but why pay extra when it is so simple to freeze your own portioned brown rice at home? Freezing cooked brown rice flat in freezer bags makes it easy to store.

Making big batches of grains and refrigerating or freezing the leftovers1. Add them to soups. Chewy whole grains add a new textural dimension and extra nutrition to any type of soup or stew. Beyond chicken and rice, try barley in split pea soup or farro in a hearty minestrone.2. Toss them in salads. You can either use cooked grains as the basis for a hearty grain salad, or add grains to a vegetable- or bean-based salad, like this chickpea, barley and zucchini ribbon salad.3. Bulk up frittatas.

In the warmer months, yogurt and granola are my go-to breakfast. As fall approaches, I start making more and more oatmeal and each year I aim to perfect this relatively simple breakfast. With these three main tips, we’re pretty close to perfection.People like their oatmeal in very different ways. Not just the toppings, but the preparation itself. Some like it uber-creamy and soft while others prefer oats that are more chewy and toothsome.

I don’t bother with carefully measuring water or fiddling around with getting just the right flame when I cook whole grains on the stove. Instead, I cook pretty much every type of grain using the same no-fuss method — with great results every time.Basically, I use the same method for cooking whole grains that I use for cooking pasta: I simmer the grains in a good amount of salted water until they are the right texture, and then drain them.

Ugali [oo-gahl-ee] noun: In Kenya, ugali is the name for the most common mealtime starch: a thick, stiff porridge made from white cornmeal or red millet.In Kenya, ugali is one of the most common dishes you can find. Served with meat or mashed vegetables, it’s practically the national dish. It’s found throughout Africa, in fact; in South Africa it may be called pap, and in Zimbabwe you can find it by the name of sadza.

The rice bowl is perhaps the perfect Cooking for One dish. Besides the fact that it is assembled in individual portions, it offers variety and versatility and a fantastic opportunity to clean out the refrigerator. Read on for a roundup of rice bowl recipes.Rice bowls are different than fried rice in that the flavor components are arranged on a bed of rice rather than mixed or stir-fried in.

I eat Greek yogurt and granola for breakfast most days of the week. I started perfecting granola at home when I got tired of buying dry, tasteless, over-priced granola at the store. Now I make it weekly, and have some tips and tricks so you, too, can avoid disappointing granola.

One of my favorite things about making a batch of risotto is anticipating the crispy risotto cakes I’ll make with the leftovers. They are, if possible, even better than the risotto itself. Especially if one happens to sneak a slice of cheese in the middle.As it cools, risotto gradually loses its creamy sauce-like consistency and firms up. We can take scoops of this leftover risotto and actually shape it into patties that hold their shape when pan-fried.

Perhaps the trickiest thing about risotto is knowing when it’s done. Like pasta, you want to cook the rice to al dente — it should be cooked through but still have just the slightest bite to it. How do you know when risotto is cooked to that stage?

Q: I adore overnight oatmeal but due to repairs I will be left without a fridge next week.I was wondering, do you think the oats can be left at room temperature? Will they still soak up the liquid?Sent by SerenaEditor: Serena, do you mean uncooked muesli-style oatmeal? Or overnight steel-cut oats? I do prep oatmeal with steel-cut cuts (with water, not milk) and leave it at room temperature overnight, but I wouldn’t make more than a single day’s batch at a time.

Cooking rice on the stove often results in a stubborn layer of cooked grains stuck to the bottom of the pot. But there is an easy trick to loosening that layer that works every time, with every type of grain. When the cooking time is up, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes. That’s it. During that time, the bottom layer of grains will loosen from the bottom of the pan and can be easily scooped out with the rest.

Japanese rice balls, called onigiri or omusubi, are compact triangles of cooked rice stuffed with a tasty filling and often wrapped in a sheet of toasted nori. Cute, portable and healthy, they’re one of our favorite ways to eat lunch on the go. In Japan, onigiri can be purchased at any convenience store or supermarket, but they’re also often a homemade treat tucked into lunch boxes.

Q: I love incorporating Asian rice noodles into my stir fries, but they always tend to stick together like mad! After soaking in hot water to cook, I’ve tried quenching in cold water or coating with some sesame oil before tossing into the stir fry, but neither method has worked for me.I’d rather not have to drench them in oil. Any ideas to keep my rice noodles separated?Sent by AshleyEditor: Ashley, our biggest tip for you is: Make sure you’re not overcooking the noodles.

I am a major steel-cut oatmeal fan. A bowl of it keeps me happy all morning long, with its chewy texture, creamy consistency, and nutty flavor. You might think that it can’t get much better than a splash of milk and spoonful of brown sugar over top, but here’s something else you have to try: toasted steel-cut oats. Toasted oats aren’t some fancy new product for your shopping list — it’s something that you can do yourself!

Every food guru on the planet tell us that re-rerolling our scraps of dough, be it cookies, pie crusts or biscuits, won’t make for the prettiest goods. Although we all know it’s true, we usually try to weasel out a few more usable pieces. Instead of ending up with those few odd shaped outcasts, try this easy tip that will further another meal down the road…It’s a simple fact that cutting circles from square pieces of dough leaves left over bits and pieces.

Do you use a molcajeteWe picked up an inexpensive molcajete at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market last year, but it’s left bits of rock in our food every time we tried to use it. Not tasty. We were ready to replace it when we learned it has to be properly seasoned – with rice!Molcajete’s are traditionally made of volcanic rock, but inexpensive versions are often made of concrete and other soft stones, making them softer and more sandy.