Chinese Black Rice is also known as Emperor's Rice or Forbidden Rice. Legend states that at one time this dark rice was reserved for only the Emperor. Some say the stories may only be a marketing ploy - and if that's the case, it worked for me! Purple has always seemed to be a royal color and since this rice cooks up to a deep indigo color - that would make sense. Just like the purple potatoes were supposedly saved for the Inca Kings.
Black rice is considered a "sweet rice" with a "deep nutty flavor" and is typically used in desserts. Hmmmm how about some black rice pudding??? I might try making some with the leftovers (my recipe for quick rice pudding is...leftover rice, milk, cinnamon, raisins, sugar - mix together and pop in the microwave).
The rice package said to rinse the rice before cooking and when I did - I was surprised at how dark purple the water that came off the rice was. I tried taking a picture - can't really see that it's indigo - just looks kind of black.
The rice cooked up nicely and was fairly sticky and chewy, which I really liked. I think it must have been some sort of psychological effect of eating something black and sticky - but I kept thinking I could taste a hint of black licorice!!!
I think this would have looked better mixed in with some white or brown rice so that you could see the actual grains and a nice contrast, rather than just glops of indigo. I'd also like to try cooking some white rice in the rinse water of the black rice to see if the white rice would end up light purple - which would be fun.
The kids really liked the rice - probably because the other starch at the meal was a buckwheat concoction that no one seemed to like (my daughter and I really liked the buckwheat the first time we had it...this time I mixed in some diced onion and garlic and it just didn't taste very nice).
Dd said the rice was "Wonderous". Ds said "Good - but not as good as white rice." And he agreed that there was also a hint of black licorice.
Black rice is considered a "sweet rice" with a "deep nutty flavor" and is typically used in desserts. Hmmmm how about some black rice pudding??? I might try making some with the leftovers (my recipe for quick rice pudding is...leftover rice, milk, cinnamon, raisins, sugar - mix together and pop in the microwave).
The rice package said to rinse the rice before cooking and when I did - I was surprised at how dark purple the water that came off the rice was. I tried taking a picture - can't really see that it's indigo - just looks kind of black.
The rice cooked up nicely and was fairly sticky and chewy, which I really liked. I think it must have been some sort of psychological effect of eating something black and sticky - but I kept thinking I could taste a hint of black licorice!!!
I think this would have looked better mixed in with some white or brown rice so that you could see the actual grains and a nice contrast, rather than just glops of indigo. I'd also like to try cooking some white rice in the rinse water of the black rice to see if the white rice would end up light purple - which would be fun.
The kids really liked the rice - probably because the other starch at the meal was a buckwheat concoction that no one seemed to like (my daughter and I really liked the buckwheat the first time we had it...this time I mixed in some diced onion and garlic and it just didn't taste very nice).
Dd said the rice was "Wonderous". Ds said "Good - but not as good as white rice." And he agreed that there was also a hint of black licorice.
4 comments:
That sounds neat! Let us know how the white rice in purple water experiment pans out.
Hmmm, need to look into this--my kids LOVE rice and LOVE colored things (can't eat regular dyed stuff.)
I LOVE rice, but haven't ever tried black rice. Sounds interesting.
If the water turned black when rinsed you may have purchased rice that has been dyed.
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