Chicken wild rice soup has a slightly different taste because of the wild rice flavor. This is not often the first rice chosen for chicken soup but once someone uses it, it will become a quick favorite. Wild rice is also known as Indian rice. People have used it for years in many dishes and it is popular on it’s own as a side dish. This type of rice is high in protein and fiber and low in fat. For people are trying to stay gluten free, knowing how to make this rice dish this is an excellent option. The taste is amazing and it can be cooked with meat or vegetable broth to pick up extra flavor.

Any good soup starts with a base. Chicken soups are easy and often considered inexpensive. Start with a fresh chicken in a pot of cool water. Add a few carrots, celery and onions to the bottom of the pan and then bring entire pot to a boil. Once the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to a low simmer. It will take about two hours to thoroughly cook the chicken. Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool. Strain the broth and set aside. Take as much meat off of the chicken as possible and save half of it for soup and use the rest for another dish.

There are several ways to make chicken wild rice soup but one of the favorites with most families is very easy to do. Several of the steps can be done in advance and so when it is time to put it together, it is easy enough for one of the kids to do. It is not only filling but good for you.

Assemble the following:

• one cup of wild rice
• one cup chopped onion
• two garlic cloves
• three cups chicken broth
• two chopped carrots
• two cups of cooked cube chicken meat
• some favorite spices

Salt and pepper and parsley are favorites and work well with this dish.

Heat the broth is a large pan and add two cups of water and the rest of the ingredients. Set on low for two hours with a cover. This can be cooked longer, but the rice will often get soggy so it is important to make sure that it is cook the correct amount of time. Wild rice does take longer to cook then other types of rice though and will absorb some of the liquid in the dish. The next time someone is in the mood for a yummy bowl of soup chicken wild rice soup might be the perfect answer. Have a bowl now and freeze the rest for later. It will only get better and better with time!

Wild rice is not only used as side dishes but it can be made into some nutritious and enjoyable meal. The wild rice complements well with other tastes of some foods, which include fish, chicken, duck, mushrooms; or dried fruits, which can make a difference in soup, salad, casserole or in stuffing. You can create a seemingly endless number of easy wild rice recipes and several delicious meals just by simply experimenting with wild rice. Most of these recipes use wild rice to add color to white rice and at the same time extract the smoky and nutty flavor from it.

The Wild and White Rice Special Pilaf Recipe

One interesting recipe that you can easily try at home is the wild and white rice special pilaf. The name of the recipe may sound difficult to do but it can actually be done in just a few steps. Rice pilaf is a manner of preparing rice dish by cooking it with the use of chicken, pork, or vegetable broth.

Before we get to the procedure on how to cook rice, here is a short list of what you may need for this recipe:

• raw wild rice (3/4 cup)
• raw white rice with long grains (1 1/2 cup)
• olive oil, about 3 teaspoons
• chopped onion
• minced garlic
• chopped carrots
• sliced celery
• 4 cups special vegetable broth (you may also use pork or chicken broth for some variation)

This is perhaps one of the simplest and easiest white and wild rice recipes that is worth trying at home. Here is how the wild and white rice special pilaf can be easily done:

1. You need to heat olive oil before adding in chopped onions, minced garlic, chopped carrots, and sliced celery in a non-stick frying or saucepan.
2. Add in the special broth and uncooked wild rice and bring them to a boil. Cover the pan to cook the rice but keep the heat low for about 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Add the white rice into the mix, cover the pan, and cook in low heat for another 20 minutes or so.

Keep in mind that wild rice cooking time usually requires up to 50 minutes. Depending on the wild rice recipes that you want to cook, there are different devices that can be used in order to cook them. Most recipes can be cooked using skillets, saucepans or microwaves. Indeed, a dish that has wild rice in it can be a perfect dish especially during the hot summer months

The key ingredient with knowing how to cook rice successfully is the type of rice itself. The best variety to use is the long grain rice because it has low amylase content, which makes it stick less with each other compared to short or medium grain rice. For a healthy fried rice recipe, you could use long grain brown rice, which has a chewier and denser consistency and produces a nutty flavor. For an aromatic dish, you may use Basmati or Jasmine rice.

No matter what kind of rice you use though, always cook the rice first and let it sit in your refrigerator from two to three days. This will allow the rice to dry out thoroughly and prevent your fried rice from getting sticky and soggy. If you do not have the time to wait for three days, you can cook the rice and then spread it out on a baking sheet before freezing it for 25 to 30 minutes. This process will reproduce the effect of having older rice. There will be a slight difference in texture but the rice would be drier and would yield better result than freshly cooked rice.

A tip on how to cook fried rice: Make sure that the wok or frying pan is very hot, so that the soy sauce will give flavor to your dish instead of making it soggy. In addition, adding a layer of oil to the pan will make it non-sticky.

Here is how to make fried rice simply and easily. You need to have four cups of rice, one finely chopped green onion, two tablespoon soy or oyster sauce, two eggs and four tablespoon of cooking oil. To taste, use pepper and salt. Beat the eggs with a bit of pepper and salt. Get half of the cooking oil and heat it in the frying pan before adding the eggs. Cook the eggs while stirring constantly to scramble them. When they are almost done, take the eggs from the wok and wipe the pan clean with kitchen towels.

The next step on how to cook fried rice is to put the rest of the oil in the still hot pan and stir fry the rice for several minutes. Separate them by using chopsticks or wooden spoon. Add the soy or oyster sauce before mixing the eggs with the rice. Stir thoroughly and add the green onion. Adjust the taste with seasonings and serve while hot. This is how to cook fried rice simply and deliciously.

To make fried rice easily, put the rice inside the refrigerator overnight. This will help in breaking the rice without difficulty. If you are in a hurry, at least allow the rice to cool down before frying it. There are endless combinations that you could try but one of the best is pork fried rice. It is a very simple recipe but one that has enough ingredients to make it very delicious.

For simple homemade pork fried rice, you will need 400 grams of fillet pork, 4 cups cooked rice, a tablespoon of vinegar, 4 eggs beaten lightly, 1/3 cup cooking oil and finely diced red onion. You will also need a tablespoon of ginger that is diced finely, 2 teaspoons of white sugar, 2-tablespoon soy sauce, 2/3 cup spring onions or scallions that are sliced finely and hoisin sauce.

With the use of a sharp knife, cut the pork fillets into a fourth of an inch slices then cut these into ¼-inch strips. Set aside. Heat a wok and then put half of the cooking oil in it. Wait until it looks like it is shimmering slightly. Pour the lightly beaten eggs, cook it for around ten seconds, and then fold it over itself with a spatula. Scramble lightly for around one minute or until it is almost well cooked. Remove the egg omelet with the spatula and drain it on kitchen paper. Set aside.

Get the remaining cooking oil for your pork fried rice and heat it in the hot wok, then add the ginger and onion, stir frying them for about thirty seconds. Put the sugar in and stir-fry for another thirty seconds before adding the strips of pork and stir-fry for around the same length of time.

Stir in the hoisin sauce, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil into the mixture and cook for around one minute, stirring constantly. Toss the cooked rice and egg omelet in and continue stir-frying for another one minute, using your spatula to break the egg into small pieces. When your pork fried rice is almost done, add the spring onions in, cooking for another thirty seconds more, or until the rice has been fried enough and all the ingredients combined thoroughly. Transfer the pork fried rice into a plate and serve.

It is vital that you use high heat when you are cooking shrimp fried rice. However, it does not mean that you have to cook in a gas stove that turns out very high BTU. All you have to do is to exercise some patience in heating the frying pan to the right temperature when learning how to cook rice. High heat will guarantee that all ingredients that you put in the frying pan will fry quickly and every rice grain you mix in will get hot to its core.

The common mistake people make in cooking fried shrimp and rice is to prod, flip, turn and poke constantly. In commercial kitchens such as those used in restaurants, stoves are so hot that the cooks have to constantly move things. However, in private kitchens, stoves need more time to turn out enough heat, to do their job and to cook the food for us. If you keep on moving the rice constantly, you will break the grains and liberate more starch. This will make your shrimp fried rice goopy. The best course of action is to spread the rice on the entire surface of the frying pan and leave it there. Back away for a minute to let the rice heat up. You should then toss, flip and sort out the rice, spreading it out again and leaving it there again to cook. This will ensure that all the rice is really cooked.

Fry the shrimp fried rice ingredients separately. There are many different ingredients that should be included in the dish, although in many homes, they are whatever vegetables, seafood or meats that can be found inside the refrigerator. However, no matter what kind of ingredients you include in your fried rice, you should make sure that each could be tasted individually. To accomplish this, you need to fry the seafood or meat first, if you are going to mix them with your fried rice. When around eighty percent cooked, remove them from the frying pan and set aside. You will toss them back into the frying pan together with the other ingredients when the fried rice is almost cooked. This will finish cooking the meat and other ingredients you will mix with the rice. If you are going to mix all the ingredients and fry them at the same time, they will compete for the heat in the frying pan and everything in your shrimp fried rice will taste the same.

The fried rice is usually prepared with meat such as shrimp, crab and chicken, as well as onions, tomatoes and egg. Fried garlic, green onions, tomatoes and coriander are then combined with the fried rice, after which, seasonings are added that can include sugar, soy sauce, salt, and the ever-present nam pla or fish sauce. Chili sauce is added if spicy fried rice is the goal. Once the dish is done, it is then put in plates and served along with slices of cucumber, lime, tomatoes, and green onion sprigs.

The Thai fried rice is cooked widely so there are a lot of regional variations. Some of the more popular variants include the “khao phat maphrao” or Coconut Fried Rice and the “khao phat sapparot” or Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. There is a fancier version of the pineapple fried rice called khao op sapparot, which is done with pineapple, nuts and raisins and usually served inside a pineapple cutout. Other popular varieties of Thai rice dishes include the Pork Fried Rice or khao phat mu, Chicken Fried Rice or khao phat kai, Shrimp Fried Rice or khao phat kung, Vegetarian Fried Rice or khao phat che and Crab Fried Rice or khao phat kung.

Fried rice is among the most common dishes you can find in Asia and it is so simple to cook yet so tasty. If you are going to go to Thailand, you will find food stalls in practically every street corner offering their own versions of Thai fried rice. The dish is also served at lunch in the country, the most popular being crab fried rice. However, you do not have to go to Asia to taste this delicious delicacy since you can cook it in your own home. In addition, cooking fried rice is also an excellent way of cleaning leftovers inside your refrigerator, since almost any kind of meat, seafood and vegetables can be used to cook it.

For an easy to prepare Thai fried rice dish, you would need:

• 3 cups of cooked jasmine rice
• 3 bacon strips
• 3 eggs
• 1 ¼ finely diced meat
• 2 finely chopped green onion
• 6 sliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoon salt and a dash of black pepper

Cook your bacon first until it is slightly brown. Beat the eggs slightly and add them to the bacon drippings. Scramble and chop finely. Add the cooked jasmine rice and fry for around five minutes. Stir constantly. Add your other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Cook for ten minutes more then serve while hot. This simple Thai fried rice can also be cooked with your choice of favorite meat.  Now that you know how to cook rice, why don’t you try this dish out for yourself!

If you are intending to use veg fried rice as a main dish, mix in some diced tofu or scramble one or two eggs and toss it in with the rest of the ingredients. That is how easy it is for people learning how to cook rice.

Once you succeed in cooking vegetable fried rice, you can experiment with various veggie combinations. You may use different kinds of vegetables only or combine them with various meat and seafoods. This will allow you to create a unique and delicious flavor that is great for the family and for guests who come around. For a more aromatic dish, use jasmine rice. Cook it two or three days before you cook your stir-fried rice with vegetables to come up with a more appetizing dish. You may use long grain brown, wild or white rice but allow more cooking time for the wild and brown rice varieties.

Vegetable fried rice has many variations because there are plenty of vegetable combinations that you can use but to make a simple dish, you will need the following:

• Wild rice (washed and drained, 6 oz), brown rice or white rice (long grain, 7 oz)
• Peanut oil (3 tablespoon)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• Fresh vegetables (mixed and cut up, 10 oz). some vegetables you may use are yarn beans, snow peas, broccoli, bean sprouts, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, radish and water chestnuts
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)
• Soy sauce (2 tablespoons)
• Dry sherry (2 tablespoons)
• Spring onions (sliced)
• Dried chili (crushed)

To cook the vegetable fried rice, bring the water to a boil using a medium sized saucepan. Put the rice into the boiling water and reduce the heat. Cover the saucepan and let the rice simmer until it is tender and water has been absorbed. If you are using brown rice, allow 35 minutes for cooking; for wild rice, allow 40 minutes; and for white rice, allow 15 minutes. Afterwards, remove the pan from the heat and leave it covered for around 5 minutes.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the eggs and allow it to be cooked for a couple of minutes without stirring or until it sets. Remove the eggs by turning the pan upside down and then cut the egg into strips.

Put a tablespoon of oil into the pan and stir fry the vegetables of your choice until they are crisp and tender. Remove them from the pan. Put the remaining oil and stir fry garlic and dried chili for around thirty seconds. Put in the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetables, egg strips, sherry and soy sauce. Cover and let the mixture cook for two more minutes. Remove from heat and then serve your vegetable fried rice.

Aside from being full of nutrients, brown rice, such as the basmati brown rice, also has a slight nutty flavor and can be paired excellently with many dishes. The magic that will turn an ordinary brown rice into a delicious and pleasing meal is your favorite oil, which should be used in sautéing the rice. Some people use olive oil, but there are other oils that will tolerate high temperature excellently without being burned such as coconut oil and grapeseed oil. If you want to have more aroma, you may use brown jasmine rice.

In learning how to cook brown rice, take note that you should wash it thoroughly before preparing it, especially if you buy in bulk, so remember to rinse the rice no less than three times before draining it completely…an important step many forget when learning how to cook rice.

The first step in learning how to cook brown rice is to soak it in cool water. You will notice that the water will have a light milky color at the start. Just continue rinsing the brown rice until the water turns clear. Once it does, you are ready for the next step on how to make brown rice.

Boil water in a separate wok or saucepan. The ratio of water to rice that you should follow is around two parts water to two parts rice. To hydrate the rice perfectly and achieve great consistency, use four cups water to 2.3 cups brown rice. If you need to cook more rice, try adding six cups water to 3.5 cups rice.

As the water starts to boil, get a saucepan that ideally should have a thicker bottom to distribute the heat evenly. Preferably, it should also have a perfectly fitting lid. Start sautéing the rice in two tablespoon of your preferred oil. You must drain your brown rice thoroughly before sautéing to prevent it from popping in the pan.

Significant high heat is important when learning how to cook brown rice perfectly but remember to stir continuously to prevent the rice from being burned. You will know that you are doing it right if the nutty aroma of the rice starts filling the air. You should then pour the boiling water over your sautéed rice. Do not stir your rice this time. Instead let the water come to a rolling boil. Put the lid on and put your stove to its lowest setting, allowing the rice to cook for 45 minutes. Afterwards, allow 20 minutes before lifting the lid. These are the crucial steps on how to cook brown rice.

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In order to understand the variation, you should first know of some facts about brown and white rice. You must first realize that there are various processes that are done to rice before it can actually enter the kitchen. After the harvesting of rice, its grains are poured into a rice husker and huller machine to remove the outermost husks. As soon as this is done, you have brown rice. That is how simple it is.

White rice is a lot different though as there are plenty of additional steps that need to be completed before it turns into the color that we normally see in the market. The bran or inner husk and the germ are taken off and the grains are polished with the use of glucose or talc to remove the aleurone layer. However, the methods that turn the brown color of rice into white also remove the essential nutrients from the rice, which are needed by our body. In an effort to reintroduce these nutrients back into the rice grains, a synthetic process is used. Thus, you will often see “fortified white rice” being sold in stores. However, this kind of rice would not anymore be natural and healthy. Comparing brown rice vs white rice is the same as brown bread vs white bread, and you do not need to be a rocket scientist to know which one is better for your health.

In brown rice vs white rice, the loss of nutrients is considerable and extensive. Compared to brown rice, white rice has much lesser content of vitamin E, riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin B6, niacin, magnesium, folacin, potassium, iron and more than twelve other essential nutrients. In addition, the fiber that is found in white rice is only a quarter of the content of brown rice.

Thus, in brown rice vs white rice, the brown kind is certainly the healthier choice. Other than this, there is also an environmental benefit to choosing brown over white rice. Basically, it is in the processing. The less food is processed, the less energy is required. Because there are less synthetic nutrients that are reintroduced into the rice, there are less factories and laboratories that will use various chemicals, which are notorious for their harmful effects to the environment.

Therefore, if you are considering the types of rice that are good for you and you are comparing brown rice to white, there is no doubt on which one you should choose. A note of warning though, if you are used to eating white rice, switching to brown rice can cause your taste buds to rebel since enjoying brown rice can be described as an acquired taste for several people. You can have extra sauces to offset the taste of brown rice while your taste buds are adjusting to its wilder flavor. Once you have acquired the taste, you will never do a brown rice vs white rice comparison again.

The process that is used in producing brown rice takes out just the hull or outermost layer of the kernels, which causes less damage to its nutritional content. White rice on the other hand is produced through full milling followed by polishing, which eliminates 67 percent of its vitamin B3 content, 90 percent of vitamin B6, 50 percent of manganese and phosphorous, 80 percent of vitamin B1, 60 percent of iron and its entire essential fatty acids and dietary fiber contents. Essential vitamins and minerals need to be reintroduced into white rice to make it more nutritious. Without “enriching” white rice, it will not be a good addition to a healthy eating program since it would just be refined starch that is mostly devoid of its essential nutrients.

Not all of the nutrients that you will find in brown rice nutrition facts can be replaced though. Only iron and vitamins B1 and B3 are added back and they are different from the vitamins and minerals found in brown rice because they are synthetic. At least eleven of the nutrients that were lost are irreplaceable even with synthetic ones.

The nutritional facts regarding brown rice make it apparent that it differs more from white rice than just color. The food ranking system that we are using at present considers brown rice as an excellent source of selenium, magnesium and manganese. A cup of brown rice is enough to provide around twelve percent of our daily calorie value, ten percent of protein, fourteen percent of dietary fiber and almost fifteen percent of carbohydrates.

Brown rice nutrition facts can also be dictated by the manner in which it is prepared. A large portion of B complex vitamins that include, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine are washed off in recipes that require extensive pre-rinsing. Cooking the rice in too much water and then draining it will also remove its content of essential nutrients. If you want to keep its nutritional value, use brown rice that is clean and well packed, to skip the pre-rinsing process.

Aside from the excellent brown rice nutrition facts, it is also more filling to eat brown rice instead of white. Thus, it would be an excellent carbohydrate to ingest when you are attempting to control appetite and lose weight quickly. After a bowl of brown rice, you can go for hours on end without feeling the need to eat. There are various ways of cooking brown rice and it can be combined with many dishes such as boiled broccoli or carrots, sunflower seeds and beans. Just by looking at brown rice nutritional facts you will find several reasons why brown is superior to white rice, which is something that is not known to many people.