Tag Archives: Brown Rice

Eat Right London!

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Chicken Rice Bowl from Itsu

I have heard all of the sterotypes about London: bland food, gloomy weather,  and extremely expensive. But being a born and bred New Yorker I know there is much more to a place than its stereotypes. So far I am most impressed with the amount of healthy lunch options in London compared to NYC. There is a Pret on just about every corner, somehow I missed the fact that Pret started out in London. For those of you that don’t know: Pret makes ” proper sandwiches avoiding the obscure chemicals, additives and preservatives common to so much of the ‘prepared’ and ‘fast’ food on the market today.” They also have salads, soup, and other yummy options and list calories on all of their food. While I am not a fan of calorie counting I do think it is useful and important for people to have a sense of how many calories they are consuming. Other than Pret,which most of us New Yorkers are familair with, I stumbled upon Itsu which seemed similar to the Pret Model but serves Thai food, salads, and sushi. The Itsu Motto is Health and Happiness and you can find where they source their ingredients from directly on their website. Like Pret, they also list calories for all items served. Both options are reasonably priced and pretty darn tasty. I wasn’t too surprised to find out that the ladies behind Pret are also behind Itsu. Well ladies, I think it is about time that you bring this delicious chain to the U.S of A. I would surely eat there quite often. So while the brits get a bad name for their bland food, I am pleasantly surprised that there are some tasty and healthy options to choose from.

Best Rice Cooker Ever – “Kamado San”

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I make rice quite often and  I have wanted a rice cooker for a while now to make cooking it easier. when I make it on the stove top in a regular pan it always seems to come out burnt, not cooked enough, or super dry. There are so many rice cookers out there it is hard to know what to buy.  My parents bought a rice cooker when they were in Japan some years back: the “Kamado-San”. Doesn’t the name alone sound bad-ass?

I have tasted rice out of this traditional Donabe cooking pot several times at my parents house and it always seems to come out just right. This is no ordinary rice cooker; these ceramic pieces of art are crafted in Japan, using clay from the Iga region and they take about two weeks to make.  For a while I thought it was mamas cooking skillz that made the rice taste so delicious, but I soon realized it was the Kamado-San.  No Offense Mom. You still got skillz! The last thing i want to do is piss off my most loyal reader.

Well, after about a year of trying to track down the Kamado-San I received one from my parents for my birthday this past June and it is all I was hoping it would be and more. It is so easy to make rice and it is nearly impossible to screw it up. I know there are many rice cooker options out there and most are a lot cheaper than this one, but it is well worth the extra money.  You can buy it on a website called Toiro Kitchen for $155.

Spanish Rice Recipe

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I know it is important to note how good you have it  once in a while, so today I am going to reveal a fabulous recipe for Spanish Rice from my mother-in-law and also thank my husband for making it for me for dinner last night. There is nothing like coming home at 9pm to a healthy and home cooked meal. I got home from my weekly basketball game  last night and was more ravenous than usual. Having late games always throws off your meal schedule; I hate eating too much before the games, because I spend the entire game burping or having a stomach ache, but if you don’t eat enough before the games then you are STARVING after, as I was last night. Thank god for Jed who had made Grilled Chicken with mushrooms and spinach and Spanish rice. He was a little nervous about the rice, because it was his first time cooking his mother’s recipe and he was going to use Brown Rice ( good job!) instead of white rice. He was definitely nervous for no reason, because I think it was the best thing he has ever cooked for me – and he cooks a lot! Everyone, needs to give this recipe a try; it is insanely good and also extremely healthy. You can also add shrimp or other mussels to this and I think it would be a really easy version of paella.

Spanish Rice

Recipe:

1/2 Cup of Dry, Uncooked brown Rice
1.5 Cups of water
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1.5 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1/2 of a meduim size onion
4 large cloves of garlic
1 Red Bell Pepper
Salt and Pepper
  1. Combine rice and water in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil
  2. Once water boils, stir rice, cover with lid and reduce flame to a simmer for about 30 minutes to allow the water to be absorbed into the rice.  Be sure to keep your eye on the rice to make sure there is enough water.  If needed, add more but not too much other wise the rice will become too mushy.
  3. Dice the onion and finely chop the garlic using a garlic press
  4. Combine the onion, garlic, and oil together in a small saute pan over a low heat to allow the garlic and onion to sweat out and soften.
  5. Salt and pepper to taste.  Once the onion and garlic has softened, and the onion has become translucent in color, remove from flame.
  6. After the 30 minutes has passed, add the tomato sauce to the rice and stir.  Allow to continue cooking, uncovered at a simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. After 10 minutes, add the oil, onion, and garlic to the mixture and stir again.  Continue to cook uncovered for another 10 minutes or until the mixture has reduced down and there is minimal absorbed liquid in the rice.  Remember to occasionally stir to prevent burning.
  8. Dice the Red Pepper.
  9. Once the Rice is done cooking, it should be moist but not mushy, add the Red pepper to the mixture and reason with salt and pepper to taste and stir to mix it in well.  Remove from flame and let sit for 5 minutes before serving

Shrimp Fried Rice

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Chinese food used to be one of my favorite cuisines to eat; I used to order in Chinese food at least once a week. Over the past few years my stomach has become increasingly sensitive to Chinese food. I feel pretty sick and lethargic for a couple of days after I eat it. Shrimp fried rice is one of my favorites to order off of a Chinese food Menu, so I decided to learn to make it at home. One of the best parts of cooking at home is that you have so much more control than you do at a restaurant: you control the quality of your ingredients, the size of the portion, and the overall healthiness of the food. As much as I love eating out, learning how to cook the things you love at home is such an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

Home made fried rice is delicious, easy to make, and won’t leave you with the 2 day food coma:

Cut up half of an onion and sauté it in a pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil for a few minutes. Add one egg to the pan and mix it up with the onion until cooked. Then add any vegetables of your choice to the mixture and shrimp; I like Broccoli and peas. Then add about a cup of cooked brown rice.  Add 2 tablespoons Tamari sauce or soy sauce and sriracha sauce to taste if you like it spicy.  Let it all cook together for 3 – 4 minutes and then garnish it with scallions. This serves about one.

Brown Rice: Why brown rice instead of white rice? Brown rice is a whole grain and whole grains are excellent sources of nutrition. Brown Rice has all of it’s bran layers intact so it contains all of its natural nutrients. It has B vitamins, Iron, Vitamin E, amino acids, and linoleic acid. It is extremely high in fiber and extremely low in sodium. The body absorbs whole grains slowly which provide sustained and high-quality energy throughout the day. To produce white rice  the bran layer and the germ are removed which strip away much of the vitamins and dietary minerals that are found in brown rice.