Find out how to Prepare dinner Wild Rice Recipe

Discover ways to cook dinner wild rice on the stovetop! With its chewy texture and nutty taste, this complete grain is scrumptious in salads, facet dishes, and extra.

Wild rice is one in every of my favourite complete grains to cook dinner within the fall. Its chewy texture and nutty taste make it an ideal accomplice for seasonal produce like candy roasted squash and earthy root veggies. As a result of I’ve discovered myself getting ready it so much currently, I believed I’d take right this moment’s publish to offer you some background on it. I’m additionally sharing a foolproof stovetop cooking methodology and a few of my favourite wild rice recipes.

What’s wild rice?

You may suppose, given its title, that this complete grain is a relative of the white or brown rice you’d discover alongside it on the grocery retailer. The truth is, wild rice isn’t rice in any respect, however a sort of aquatic grass. It’s indigenous to the Nice Lakes area of North America, the place it grows naturally in freshwater lakes and waterways. Immediately, it is usually cultivated commercially in america and Canada.

Wild rice, known as manoomin in Ojibwe, has important cultural significance to the Indigenous peoples of the Nice Lakes. It’s a part of the Anishinaabe creation story, and traditionally, it offered important sustenance all through the higher Midwest’s chilly winters. Indigenous folks proceed to hand-harvest naturally occurring wild rice across the Nice Lakes right this moment, knocking the grass with wood sticks in order that it releases the grains of rice into their canoes. If you wish to be taught extra in regards to the rice’s historical past and cultural significance, I like to recommend studying this text or this one. You should buy hand-harvested rice from Native Harvest in Minnesota right here.

Find out how to Prepare dinner Wild Rice

Hand-harvested wild rice will be gentle or darkish in coloration, whereas the cultivated sort is all the time darkish brown or black. This cooking methodology will work with both kind, however observe that hand-harvested rice tends to cook dinner extra rapidly. Relying on the variability, it may be prepared in as little as 20 minutes, whereas the cultivated wild rice you’d discover on the grocery retailer will doubtless want 50 or extra.

• Begin by bringing a medium pot or saucepan of water to a boil. No want to fret a couple of particular rice-to-water ratio for this recipe. We’re going to make use of what I name “The Pasta Technique,” which simply implies that we’ll cook dinner the rice in a pot of boiling water. Whereas the water involves a boil, place the rice in a superb mesh strainer and rinse it properly.
• Then, add the rinsed rice to the boiling water. Cut back the warmth in order that the water maintains a mild boil. Simmer till the rice is tender however nonetheless has a slight chunk, usually 35 to 55 minutes, although the cooking time could possibly be roughly relying in your rice. Among the grains will begin to break up open barely.
• Lastly, let the rice steam. Drain off the liquid, return the rice to the pot, and canopy it with a clear dishtowel. Place the lid on the pot, and permit the rice to take a seat for 10 minutes, changing into totally tender and fluffy.

Fluff with a fork, and revel in!

Favourite Wild Rice Recipes

With its nutty taste and chewy texture, the cooked rice is a scrumptious facet dish by itself. Once I serve it actually merely, I gown it with olive oil, pinches of salt, and freshly floor black pepper and toss it with some chopped recent parsley.

It’s an incredible addition to bigger salads, soups, and facet dishes as properly. Attempt utilizing it in any of those recipes:

It might even be a stunning gluten-free various to the wheat berries on this autumn wheat berry salad recipe.

Extra Entire Grains to Attempt

For those who love this wild rice recipe, strive one in every of these complete grains subsequent:

Find out how to Prepare dinner Wild Rice

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Prepare dinner Time: 55 minutes

Complete Time: 1 hr

Serves 4

This methodology for find out how to cook dinner wild rice will work for each hand-harvested and commercially cultivated rice, although the cooking time can differ broadly. I discover that it usually takes 35 to 55 minutes for each varieties, although hand-harvested rice might have much less time (begin checking at 20 minutes if in case you have light-colored rice) and cultivated rice might have extra, as a lot as 70 minutes.

• 1 cup wild rice, rinsed
• Pot of water

• Deliver a medium pot of water to a boil over excessive warmth. Add the rice, cut back the warmth to a mild boil, and cook dinner till the rice is tender however nonetheless has a slight chunk, usually 35 to 55 minutes. The grains will begin to break up open barely.

• Drain and return the rice to the pot. Cowl with a clear dish towel after which place the lid on the pot. Let steam for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Yield: About 3 cups cooked wild rice