Lately I’ve been following Skinnytaste.com.  Skinnytaste recipes have been featured on sites such as Glamour.com, Gourmet Live,The Kitchn, Finecooking.com, Fitness Magazine, More Magazine, Country Living, and was the winner of the SHAPE Magazine Best Healthy Eating Blogs 2011, The Homies: Best Home Cooking Blog for 2011 . The author, Gina, was born and raised in the suburbs of Long Island, NY.

I like Gina’s blog because her recipes are practical and healthy.  She also provides some great cooking tips.  One of those cooking tips, featured in this post, is “How to Make Perfect Brown Rice.”  Interestingly, I thought I knew how to cook rice – um, read the package, right?  Wrong.  So, I ventured on over to Bed Bath & Beyond to get myself a new strainer for my new and evolved method of rice-cooking and for rinsing quinoa (from another post – click here).

Here is how it’s done, people.

Ingredients:

1 cup natural long grain brown rice

6 cups cold water

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions: 

1. Rinse the rice with cold water for 30 seconds. 

2. Bring the water and salt to a boil over high heat in a large heavy pot with a tight fitting lid.

3.  When the water is boiling add the rice, stir and partially cover (don’t cover complete or it will spill over) and cook on medium-high heat for 30 minutes.

4. Drain the rice in strainer, then quickly return to the pot and cover tightly for 20 minutes so the steam finishes cooking the rice.

5. Uncover the rice and fluff with a fork.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups, but different rice varieties may yield different amounts.

I have to admit, this brown rice is perfect.

*Note that Gina adapted her method from a recipe found in Saveur.

   

NOW… ON TO THE MAIN EVENT!

Garlic Basil Chicken With New Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 tsp canola oil

1/3 cup chopped green onions

3 large garlic cloves thinly sliced

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tbs. fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lower sodium soy sauce

2 tsp chile past with garlic (sambal oelek)

1 tsp water

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/8 tsp of kosher salt

1/3 cup shredded basil leaves

1/3 cup peanuts

Directions:

1.  Heat a non-stick wok over medium-high heat

2.  Add oil to pan and swirl to coat

3.   Add garlic to pan and fry for 3o seconds or until fragrant, stir

4.  Add chicken to pan, cook for 13 minutes or until chicken is done

5.  Stir in green onions

6.  In a bowl, whisk together fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, chili paste, water, cornstarch and salt

7.  Add fish sauce mixture to wok and cook for 1 minute or until mixture thickens, stirring to coat chicken

8.  Mix in peanuts

9.  Remove from heat and stir in basil.

10.  Serve with brown rice – yum!