We don’t eat a lot of rice around here and it used to be that we always had Jasmine or Basmati rice but have recently switched to brown rice. Admittedly I used to be one of the worst rice cookers in the world; it was either burned onto the bottom of the pot…the cure for which is to pop popcorn in said pot and it miraculously comes clean…or it was undercooked and swimming in icky water. And yes, I had read the instructions on the packages of purchased rice but it refused to cook up nicely for me!
Then one day I just decided that I simply HAD to learn how to cook the stuff. I did a search on cooking rice, read cookbooks and then headed to the kitchen armed with my newfound knowledge. Determined to cook a perfect pot of rice, I measured the rice, measured the water and dumped out a 1/4cup, put the pot on high heat, brought it a boil, added a teaspoon or so of butter, some salt and pepper, put a lid on it…slightly ajar, reduced heat to a simmer, waited for the boil to settle to a simmer, put lid on tightly and walked away for 17 minutes. Voila, a perfect pot of rice!
What has this got to do with Baked Brown Rice? Well, once I started cooking brown rice I ran into all my old problems! Bah! Brown Rice! Why does it have to be better for you than white rice? Sigh. One weekend I had all the grandsons and two extra dogs underfoot and I needed to put a meal together that would cook itself, so to speak. Absolutely no time to babysit a cantankerous pot of rice! I happened to be making baked chicken and then it struck me, my grandmother used to bake rice all the time! I googled baking brown rice which lead me to How to Make Perfect Baked Brown Rice at In the Kitchen with KP; easy to follow directions and an hour later I was serving up Perfect Oven Baked Brown Rice!
(Picture to follow…I was so busy with grandsons and dogs that I didn’t have the time or inclination to take any photos!)
1 1/2 cups Short Grain Brown Rice
2 1/2 cups Water
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1 Mc Cormick’s Vegetable Stock Cube
Lightly butter an 8 inch Square baking dish or the equivalent ( 1.4 – 1.9l )
Preheat oven to 375F. – if baking dish is pyrex, lower temperature to 350F.
Boil water in kettle, measure into large measuring cup; add vegetable stock cube and extra virgin olive oil, stirring well to dissolved vegetable stock cube.
Add salt and garlic powder; stir.
Pour seasoned water into prepared baking dish.
Add rice, stir to combine.
Cover tightly with foil.
Bake on the middle rack of oven for 60 minutes.
Remove from oven, uncover and fluff rice with fork; serve immediately.
Serves: 4 – 6
