So, What Are The Best Ways to Flavor Rice?
Is rice your favorite food in the whole universe? When people say they like rice they are most likely well-versed in all the possible methods of cooking it. Also, you have probably found out a few easy ways to deliver its natural flavor and picked the best of the best ways to flavor rice.
Why not? Eating plain rice day after day can be a little boring, don’t you think? So, never stop searching to find more ways to enchant your dish and give it a little extra oomph in flavor.
Do You Know the Best Recipes to Flavor Rice?
Amazingly, rice is a perfect garnish for everything! No doubts, plain rice can be a good dish on its own and it is always in place. Keep your grains with stock and do not forget to dress them with a good portion of butter or olive oil. You make it tastier if spice with curries or even berries. It rests with you to decide which can be the best way to flavor rice.
Do You Spice Food Before or After Cooking?
If you would rather garnish your dish before cooking, the easiest method to flavor it is adding vegetables or chicken or beef stock. Also, there is always an option to sprinkle it with chopped fresh or dried herbs.
Drop them into the boiling water, then throw in grains. Sometimes, people do not go far and cook their rice just by mixing up grains, water, and salt, satisfied with a little.
Best Ways to Season Rice Before Cooking
Use stock or broth when preparing risotto for dinner, you can change water to stock or broth. This is the most effective and, really and truly, the easy way to flavor rice quickly.
What is the point? Let us suppose, you do not have much time or the cooking skill to work on your dish. So, just take a portion of a vegetable, beef, or any other broth and forget about water. Try it! Your rice tastes good as it took you much effort to cook it.
It tastes great and, finally, you are rewarded with a bowl of grainy finger-licking rice. It is not a problem if you don’t have a pot of stock right now. You can always buy bouillon cubes to achieve a similar effect.
Of course, the most popular recipe recommends cooking grains in chicken broth and adding some butter near the end. But I prefer olive oil. Just my personal preference.
You may use different stock bases!
Any stock base you pick for your dish will work well. The culinary book says that one of the best ways to flavor rice before cooking is pouring it with chicken bouillon. But you may use a vegetable base or ham base as well. Or any other, for that matter. Believe it or not, the recipe of Onion Rice, cooked with a beef broth looks very inspiring.
Toast, Salt, Veg and More Rice Before Cooking
Do you know the effective method to give your dish a pleasant nutty flavor? Just brown the rice before cooking. How? Put the rice in the pot or pan and fry it like popcorn for a few minutes. Then, add broth or water, as you like. White rice is especially recommended to toast if you like to try new ways of flavoring rice.
Add Some Salt
People say if you add a dash of salt to the pot with rice, you do not need any other ingredient to enchant its natural flavor. So, do not worry if you have nothing to add to your dish. A drop of salt can save the situation.
Moreover, salt can enchant the flavor of each herb or spice you can additionally drop into the pot before or even after cooking. The recommended amount of salt is 2 teaspoons to 2-3 liters of water.
Add Veggies, Dried Herbs to The Rice
As you know, such ingredients as saffron, dried mushrooms, bay leaves can help to dress your dish and bring out flavors. Traditionally, people add herbs and veggies to the ready-to-serve dish.
There is always an option to drop in all the herbs in the process of cooking. Slow cooking on the stove or in the slow cooker will help to uncover the most flavors.
Good Ways to Flavor Rice After Cooking
Add some butter or oil
It is not a secret that food tastes better with adding butter or oil. This is the most common way to flavor rice. If you do not need to treat your guests with a portion of sticky and fatty grains, you need no more than a tablespoon of butter added to the rice after cooking.
Some people like me prefer oil to butter. Oil works on the same principle as butter. You add some fat to make your food taste better. Chinese and Italian dishes prefer oil to butter.
Besides, adding butter or oil or other fat keeps the rice from sticking together while cooking.
Adding some seeds and nuts for cute flavor
Nuts and herbal seeds can also add an interesting flavor to your dish. Again, feel free to chop some dried fruits or even berries for sour scents. It can be an unexpected bite taste with all those crunchy or chewy textures and useful fibers and proteins.
Looking for the best way to garnish your rice, you just blend some chopped fruits, nuts, and sesame seeds. This will be a unique mix of sweet and sour flavors all in one.
Add some eggs for another rice flavor
That is true. Eggs suit every dish. Just shake an egg or two and mix with the rice while it is cooking. There is always an interesting option to add some fried eggs. Just cut them before. Why not? The truth of the matter is you can add eggs of any sort of texture to your rice and they always work well. You can do no wrong.
Throw in Some Veggies for Home-Like Flavor
Different vegetables can add different taste and structure to your dish. Thus, you can achieve a spicy taste by adding jalapenos or crunchier by adding some carrots. It is a popular opinion to add chopped veggies on top at the ends before you serve the dish.
Nevertheless, you can make your dish tastier by adding veggies in the process of cooking. Veggies establish a friendship with any sort of rice, stewed, or baked.
You can easily keep your favorite vegetables in the fridge and take them out every time you need to top off your dish. What vegetable do you especially like to feel in your dish? It can be carrots, peppers, corn and beans, eggplants, anything. Add some spinach for health and a more delicate taste.
You can also mix them all and a portion for future usage. If you do not have time for mixing veggies, just buy a ready-to-use mix of cooked or raw vegetables and store them in your freezer.
Garnish Your Dish with Fresh Herbs
Fresh herbs such as parsley, saffron, cilantro can change the taste of your rice. Try it! Your dish smells different now, don’t you think? Your friends will be amazed at how flavorful your rice is!
There is a rule, if you want to add more aroma and interesting scents to your dish, always add fresh herbs. Whichever herbs you choose to mix up with your dish, one simple bay leaf can change its neutral taste.
And if you slightly fry grains before cooking, add some chopped parsley, mint, or marjoram, you will be impressed by your culinary skill. Do not forget to squeeze some lime or lemon to brighten up the whole dish.
Pour in Some Acid
All the world knows that the best method to balance tastes in your dish is adding acid. It can be anything, including a spoon of vinegar, squeezed lemon, lime, or any other culinary acid.
A note about lemon acid. It is acid until you consume it. Once digested in our bodies, it becomes alkaline. Just a curiosity fact.
Mix Your Rice with Cheese
Does it hear a bit weird to you? You can enhance your dish taste by mixing it with shredded cheese. Even if cheese seems to be the last component you are going to add to your rice, it helps a lot.
You should know that rice, topped off with shredded cheese is usually called cheesy rice, or risotto. Slow-cooking risotto can be the most attractive dish for young and adults on your dinner table.
Make a rule to add your favorite sort of cheese to a regular pot of rice to make it taste interesting. People like adding a drop of sharp cheddar to make your rice a bit Italian.
Whatever cheeses you end up adding to your rice, you will never regret it. Sometimes, a hot spicy cheese with a bright flavor can help to change your rice and make it brighter even with adding no spices and herbs.
Amazing!
Pick Spices for Best Ways to Flavor Rice
What are your feelings about spicy food? You may not love spiced food, but you will always appreciate a plate of hot aromatic rice. Everyone knows that the fastest method to garnish rice is by adding some spices.
They may suit your rice or not, but they can work well together. There are hundreds of interesting combinations you may try. Everything depends on what kind of dish you want to get at the end.
To make pot flavorful Moroccan rice, you should drop in some cinnamon, cloves, and anise. Burning to give the rice an Indian accent, you should add some cumin and turmeric powder.
Do you like curry? Add some! Of course, some spices are especially recommended to add to rice dishes.
A Mix of Cardamom, Cinnamon, and Cumin
These are the bestselling spices you can find in the shop to dress your dish. They are an amazing mix that helps you to spice up your rice and make it Indian. If you want to make your dish sounds even more Indian, take basmati rice.
Do not forget that spices always make friendship with oils. So, you’d better heat some oil, mixed with spices, and add this aromatic substance to your grains.
Saffron
Ask any person you meet; saffron suits rice the most. If you like rice with natural herbal notes and mouth-licking yellow color, drop in some saffron. What is more, you can hardly find any other spice that suits any sort of grains, especially basmati rice.
How to cook a pot of grainy saffron rice for your family? Just drop some spice into the water while you are cooking. You are wrong if you think that saffron is rarely used in European and American cuisine. Nowadays, more and more world popular restaurants add saffron rice to their menu.
Five-Spice Powder
If you do not have much time to find out if one or another spice suits your dish or not, just buy a mix of spices. Five-spice powder is the most often used combination for rice dishes.
People say it fills up your rice with Chinese scents, but you can vary the number of spices and make a new unique dish. Five-spice powder always includes anise and fennel. These are the strongest aromas you can find in culinary.
Be careful. Do not overdo it!
Add Sauces to Rice
Rice is a unique substance that needs some sauce. That is a wonderful idea! Saucing is the tastiest and the fastest way to dress your rice, make it creamy and flavorful. Also, saucing is a good way to moisture your dish if you do not like dry and tasteless food.
You can make plane rice and dress it with different sauces every time you want to eat. You may add different sauces according to your mood and taste. Do you like light creamy Pesto?
It can make any food aromatic. Burning to create a sort of Spanish dish, do not forget to throw in some garlic, nuts, and pepper to your sauce. Keep sauces and rice in the fridge separately.
Salt it Again!
If you do not have time or desire to pick herbs, spices, or veggies, you can just salt your dish! Try to salt it while it is cooking. Then taste and salt it again if it is needed! You should know that salt can be also different. The best variant is to add a drop of salt mixed with light spices.
Below is a video advice from expert about how to flavor rice 3 different ways
Easy Tips on How to Flavor Rice
So, you can make a list of different spices, herbs, and other ingredients that can be easily combined with rice to boost its flavor. This information means nothing if you do not know how to use it. These simple rules or recommendations, no matter which way you look at it, can help to cook rice correctly, spicing it in the proper time and way.
It can be a great idea to season your rice with such popular fresh herbs as cumin, cinnamon, or cardamom. You can make them taste better if stew in hot oil first. This helps to deliver more tastes to your dish.
If you want to extract more tastes and aroma from your dried herbs, drop them all in water before it comes to boil, and cook covered for some time.
If you top off your grains with your favorite herbs or spices after cooking, do not forget to add a spoon of butter and cover the pot of rice to give some time flavors to penetrate.
It is important to add the right amount of water when cooking rice. Do not overdo. Otherwise, you will enjoy a bowl of sticky and waxy rice. What is the normal water measure? You should add 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.
Of course, it would be weird to cook rice without any salt. Of course, it is not enough to make your dish tasty. Just try to add more spices for maximum flavor.
Looking for the best ways to flavor rice, just cook it in broth. You do not even need to spice it anyhow.
People often use a rice cooker to faster the process and lessen efforts. You simply need to mix chosen spices and herbs, pour in some water, and follow the instruction.
I found this on YouTube – I like the variety of seasonings this amateur cook uses to create flavored rice at home.
How to Garnish Different Sorts of Rice
Cooking grains with no spices, you will get nothing but a pot of rice with a neutral taste. On one side, you can easily garnish your rice with other ingredients, dishes, sauces.
On the other side, there is no limit to perfection. Just choose what you want and make a list of spices and herbs which you think suit your dish the most.
Easy Way to Season JASMINE RICE
Sorts of white rice, especially Jasmine rice, do not have any special flavor. And it is one of the most popular sorts of rice people choose for cooking. Well-garnished white rice is the fastest and the easiest meal you can offer for dinner. You can find tones of spices to garnish your dish and tones of recipes to follow.
This is how you can season jasmine rice in the fastest way. The recipe is as easy as shelling peas. You need just three ingredients: white rice, bouillon base, and salt. To cook your dish, you need to make a bouillon with water and a bouillon cube and cook your rice.
Next, add a portion of rice and cook it as you usually do it. Top off white rice by adding some salt, pepper, and a drop of dry parsley for a pleasant aroma.
Best Ways to Season BROWN RICE
People often choose brown rice because it is more flavorful. This is a popular base for many meals. You can do all sorts of fancy things and make delicious recipes with them. You can eat it hot or cold and mix it up with many popular herb combinations.
What spices will work well with brown rice to brighter its natural nutty flavor? Here is a basic brown rice recipe you can cook for lunch or dinner.
The grains are hard and structured. For fast cooking, you’d better leave it in water for several hours. It helps to soften its structure. But if you forget to soak your rice, just add 2 more cups of water while cooking. As a rule, 1 cup of rice takes 3 cups of water. Do not forget to add some salt and dinner is ready!
Do you want to impress your guests with your culinary skill? You need to combine rice with water. Drop-in some brown-rice vinegar, oil, and chopped or dried parsley. This combination always works well. Stir them all together to extract to flavor.
Best Methods to Season WILD RICE
Do you often cook wild rice? This sort of rice usually tastes like rice but takes different spices. What can I add to wild rice for flavor? The whole grain rice has a chewy structure. It has a grassy flavor, and you may not need many herbs to brighten instead, you can drop in some veggies for taste.
How about adding some dried onion or garlic? You can sprinkle basil, oregano. Do not forget to add a spoon of butter near the end. It cannot hurt if you add some cheese or eggs before you serve the dish.
There are tons of interesting recipes on how to cook rice. You can pick any of them and try to follow. Adding the right amount of water, salt, spices is enough to create a perfect dish. Burning to make A FLAVOR BOMB, do not be afraid to mix different tastes and structures.
Feel free to use veggies and nuts. It would be great to season your dish with cheese and eggs. If you want to know how to make rice taste good, never stop experimenting. Hopefully, these ideas will give you some guidance in finding new ways to turn your dinner into a culinary masterpiece.