Three Rices and a Kale

Lately I’ve been thinking about rice and other grains, also pasta and beans. If a lot of your life is spent away from home, these are the foods that can make cooking easy and satisfying. Meat, fish and poultry are basic to our meat-oriented cuisine, but they are expensive and perishable. And if you freeze them, you may forget to thaw them in time for a meal.

Beans and grain products, besides being cheaper, are easy to store and simple to cook. And the dishes you make with them usually improve with reheating, unlike meat, fish and poultry, which tend to take on a reheated taste. (Besides, if good nutrition, in addition to thrift, is your goal, remember that the combination of beans and rice provides a complete protein.)

For a recent supper I wanted to make rice the main dish. I remembered a meal in a Burmese restaurant that included black, brown and white rice preparations molded in neat, cup-like shapes, sitting on the plate like three little towers. This simple concept made a dramatic dish. More important, it tasted very good. A side dish of cooked bitter greens added a lively taste to the light, nutty flavor of the rice.

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Here are a couple of additions to rice worth considering. Try adding one cup of whole salted peanuts to three cups of cooked brown rice. This is good with any pork dish. And if you are roasting chicken or game hens, make steamed white rice using equal quantities of rice and dried cranberries. Add them to the water or broth when it begins to boil and cook as usual, about 20 minutes.

BLACK, BROWN AND WHITE RICE WITH BITTER GREENS

Wild Rice

Brown Rice

White Rice

Bitter Greens

Place 1/2 cup of hot Wild Rice into hot cup or small bowl and press in firmly. Quickly and carefully unmold by turning cup over onto warm plate. Repeat for each plate with Brown Rice and White Rice. Serve 1/2 cup of Bitter Greens in small bowl with each plate of rice. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

388 calories; 956 mg sodium; 19 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 64 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 1.71 grams fiber.

Wild Rice

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup wild rice

Salt

3 tablespoons butter, optional

Place broth in 2-quart lidded pot and bring to boil. Slowly add wild rice to boiling water, stirring so that rice floats freely. Put lid on, reduce heat to simmer and let cook until tender but still chewable, 30 to 45 minutes. Begin tasting for texture at 30 minutes.

When done, remove pot from heat. Using slotted spoon, place rice in bowl. Season to taste with salt. Add butter and stir to blend. Cover and keep hot for immediate use, or cool and refrigerate for later use. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

Brown Rice

2 1/2 cups beef broth

1 cup rice

Salt

3 tablespoons butter, optional

Put broth in lidded 2-quart pot and bring to boil. Slowly add brown rice to boiling water, stirring so that rice floats freely. Put lid on, reduce heat to simmer and cook until tender but not mushy, 20 to 45 minutes. Begin tasting for texture at 20 minutes.

When done, remove pot from heat. Season to taste with salt. Stir in butter. Cover and keep hot for immediate use, or cool and refrigerate covered for later use. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

White Rice

2 cups of chicken broth

1 cup long-grain white rice

Salt

3 tablespoons butter

Put chicken broth in lidded 2-quart pot and bring to boil. Slowly add white rice to boiling water, stirring so that rice moves freely. Put lid on and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until tender but slightly firm, 15 to 25 minutes. Start tasting for texture at 15 minutes. All broth should be absorbed at this point.

Remove pot from heat. Season to taste with salt. Stir in butter. Put rice in bowl. Cover and keep hot for immediate use, or cool and refrigerate for later use. Makes 3 cups.

Bitter Greens

2 bunches curly kale, to equal 1 1/2 pounds

Water

Salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Rinse kale well and cut off and discard coarse stems. Chop leaves into bite-size pieces. Fill large pot with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to boil. Plunge kale into boiling water and cook about 2 minutes. Drain kale and put into bowl. After 1 minute in bowl, kale will shed more water. Drain again. Add sour cream and vinegar. Stir well to mix. Keep warm.

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