Multigrain Rice - A Healthier Change

Chew, chew, chew.  That's what you got to do when eating multigrain rice.  For someone who eats very quickly, sometimes wondering if I've even chewed my food, this took time.  It's not actually a bad thing.  When you slow your eating down, your body has time to tell your brain you're full, thus preventing you from overeating.  And it really forced me to take a break and enjoy the meal instead of rushing to start my next task.

I enjoyed the chewiness and texture as well as the slightly nutty flavour.  This rice can hold it's own as a side dish and really be great incorporated into main dishes!  Definitely healthier than white rice but white rice is currently the staple in my family and multigrain the fancy change.  I've had this small bag of multigrain rice for awhile now (similar bags can be found at Asian supermarkets like T and T, Foody Mart, P.A.T., Galleria, and H-Mart to name a few).  I only recently cooked it up after reading the book The Tastemakers (review here), it reminded me that the bag was just sitting at the back of the closet!

Kingo Brand of multigrain rice from California

The mixture includes the following six grains:

Short grain brown rice
Hulless barley
French red rice
Rye berries
Purple barley (or Black barley)
Black China/Japonica rice

The colour looks gorgeous against the white of steamed chicken and the vibrant green of sautéed snow pea sprouts!  Fish would be another great complement visually and taste-wise.  I actually didn't mix it with white rice which is commonly done in Korean restaurants, but only cooked the mixture 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water, in a rice cooker.  If you like your rice mushier, you can try a 1:2 ratio of rice to water.

In most parts of Asia, white rice is the staple and multigrain is just not popular.  In my family, the thinking is the same.  Chinese food is already quite flavourful that the rice is truly the side, soaking up the sauces and acting as a canvas. White rice is also inexpensive and readily available while multigrain can be 4-8 times as expensive; a big decision making factor.

The health benefits of eating multigrain rice are there, but is it enough to motivate people to switch?  For most, it's not.  Eating happily (with the foods you enjoy) can also be good for you're health.  But it would be nice to see more people enjoy multigrain rice occasionally.  This made me think, what would it take to motivate a household into eating a little more multigrain rice?

For many, seeing it at restaurants or on cooking shows would help.  Lowered cost is another.  But health benefits are probably still the strongest factor.  Fibre and the abundance of nutrients to reduce a whole range of disease risks would be up there.  But as a new parent, switching the focus from me to feeding my child healthier foods such as whole grains will probably be mine and many other parents' strongest motivator.  Children will start to get used to eating multigrain rice and thus breeding a new generation of multigrain rice eaters!

I'm looking forward to eating it more often in place of white rice or maybe in a salad since we are in the midst of summer fruits and veggies!