National Culinary Review

Red rice snapshot

Red rice varieties are often sold as pure product or part of blends. Here’s a closer look at some pure product varieties.

Francisco. She enjoys pairing red rice with crispy-textured items such as almonds, pine nuts, chestnuts and water chestnuts.

Bhutanese red rice has grown for thousands of years at 8,000 feet in the Paro Valley, Bhutan. Russet-colored, this rice has a nutty, earthy flavor and soft texture.

“I like it best in the acidic Asian-flavor
profile direction,” she says. She builds a cold
rice salad with Bhutanese red rice, grilled
chicken, mangos, scallions and a vinaigrette
based on mirin, grapeseed oil, honey and
rice vinegar. “I love letting the flavor of
the rice interact and hold its own with the
additions, rather than just be a vehicle
for them, so I don’t use strong flavors like
sesame oil, beef, cilantro, soy sauce, fish
sauce or tomatoes with it.”
Nussinow prefers cooking red rice in a
pressure cooker. “The different types of
rice require differing amounts of liquid and
cooking times,” she says. “Generally, red rice
cooks more quickly than brown rice.”
Tallant cooks red rice in a stainless steel
saucepan with a lid. “I want more control over
it than a cooker allows,” she says. As soon
as it finishes cooking, she removes the pan
and fluffs the rice before the starch cools
and clumps. “Do not overcook or over-wet-
cook it, because the kernels break open like
popcorn, only it’s gummy. It’s not as attractive
that way, and you lose the wonderful chewy
texture,” she says.

Colusari is named after the city where it grows, Colusa, Calif. It’s a medium-grain rice born from an heirloom seed bank discovered by Indian Harvest, Bemidji, Minn. A deep burgundy/merlot color with a nutty flavor and texture, this rice blends well with other varieties and holds up well on steam tables.

Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, chef and food/ nutrition instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, Calif., first learned about Bhutanese red rice 10 years ago. “Any recipe that uses rice works well with red rice,” she says. “Bhutanese red rice is especially good in salads and side dishes. Thai red rice is best for side dishes, and is most like basmati-type long grain rice. I have cooked red rice with mushrooms, diced vegetables, dried fruit, herbs and spices. It’s a chameleon and adapts well. You can even use it for dessert as a pudding.”

Himalayan red rice is grown in Thailand. This is a long-grain, unmilled rice with a nutty, complex, slightly sweet flavor. It is bright terra-cotta in color.

When Jodi Lee Duryea, MS, senior lecturer/chef-instructor at the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, lived in Indonesia during the 1980s, she ate red rice for the first time. “I really like the

Ulikan, from the Northern Philippine island of Luzon, is Fair Trade rice grown on the island’s famous rice terraces. It is considered a boutique rice with its mild flavor, earthy aroma nd slightly sticky consistency. It is hand-planted, hand-picked and hand-processed. (Proceeds go to help sustain Philippine rice farming.)