Fucking Rice

So, do you guys know of any spice that isn't fattening that I could use in a rice cooker to enhance the flavor of my plain white rice?

I'm currently dieting and I'm looking to make this whole process a little bit more comfortable.

Also, is eating plain white rice fattening?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Spices can be fattening? I always just add a little black pepper to my rice. It makes it interesting enough for me. White rice is pure carb, but it's complex carb at least, which means it's good for energy over a longer period of time rather than the quick burst of sugary shit. It's no more fattening than any other carb-based food, but I wouldn't say it's a great food for dieting though.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I haven't eaten rice with spices (other than salt, I guess... at least that I know of). I normally enhance the flavor with some sort of sauce. Tomato juice or some kind of gravy work well.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

White rice is pretty much pure carbohydrates, so it's not the best thing to eat when you're on a diet. If you can find it, brown rice is actually a lot healthier and has more flavor IMO...too bad that it takes longer to cook.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

You can do Japanese toppings - they have some things that are meant specifically to put on plain white rice. Unfortunately, I've eaten them, but don't really know anything about them. Most have seaweed in them.

You can do milk and cinnamon. It'll be a bit bland without adding sugar, but otherwise should be fine.

And rice will only be fattening if you don't burn off easy carbs. Walk around the block and you'll be fine.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hmm... so white rice isn't good for dieting? I plan on working as well. You can't lose weight without working out.

And Drex, is that a mexican thing? That's what it reminds me of. Horchata, I think they call it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Vestin

Hmm... so white rice isn't good for dieting? I plan on working as well. You can't lose weight without working out.

It's probably good for energy. If you switch your white rice for brown, I think it's good for fibre too. What I'm trying to say is that it's fairly high in calories. If you're working out and plan to burn off the calories, it's as good as any other carb source, but make sure you're getting a good balance of other stuff.

How ya doing, buddy?

I see. You're a big help, Soluzar.

I've tried brown rice before and I can't even stomach the taste. I gag everytime I eat it. At least with white rice it doesn't have much flavor to ignore.

I'll still try the brown rice, though.

My diet consists of: canned assorted vegetables, white rice, oranges (picked from the trees here) cheerios (without sugar, eaten with skim milk), and boiled eggs. Am I missing any vital vitamins that'll cause me to eventually blackout from malnutrition? I don't want to be driving and then all of a sudden SKEERT slam into the big-rig next to me, malnutrition would be the least of my worries then.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You don't eat red meat? If not, then there's a chance, depending on what vegetables in particular you eat that you might not be getting enough iron. If so, then it might be necessary to take supplements. You didn't mention meat in your list. I'm a vegetarian myself, but you get plenty of dietary iron from tofu, and from leafy greens like spinach.

Lack of iron will make you feel pretty tired. It would have a detrimental effect on your alertness, in an extreme case. It's possible that cheerios are fortified with vitamins and iron, though. Breakfast cereals often are.

That's the main thing that seems like it would be missing. If you're not eating meat, you really need to keep an eye on how much protein you're getting. There are other dietary sources of protein, but anyone who's not eating meat on a regular basis should be aware of those two concerns. Protein and iron.

I've tried to learn about this stuff for two reasons. I'm a vegetarian, as I said before, which means that at first it was a learning experience for me to get everything I need from non-animal sources, and also I really wanted to get in better shape a couple of years back. I'm still not what you'd call the peak of physical fitness, but I'm a lot better than I was then. I could still be a lot better, but progress is good.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Damnit, I need iron, you're right. I completely overlooked that one.

Hmm... Maybe I'll buy small packets of lunch meat or something just for the iron.

I'm switching to nothing but slim fast once I get more money in ;___;

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Grilled chicken breasts for the protein. Also for the pure white rice, I'd suggest you'd slash it. Probably a small bowl will do if you're on a diet. Just don't neglect your vitamins and minerals too.

But Slim Fast why ;_;

How ya doing, buddy?

White rice isn't that bad for your health (it's better than the same serving size of pasta), but you have to kinda experiment with it.

A lot of the new Japanese varieties that are out tend to be quite full in glucose so they're plumper and sweeter, but less on the nutrient factor.

I recommend Californian-Japanese short grain variety. They're a little drier but I think they get the job done. If you can find a grocer that would mill your brown rice from 100% bran to about 70% ish, I think you might find it a little easier to eat.

Personally, I love rice, but I limit myself to about 1-3 servings a day. A serving should be just about a cup of rice (that should be about half a cup of rice UNcooked).

If you're willing to try out brown rice, here's how you might enjoy it better:
1) measure water out to rice, about a 1.3:1 ratio. (I usually just do one cup on water to one cup brown rice, then add another 1/4~1/3ish of a cup of water)
2) soak the brown rice in water for at least half an hour to an hour
3) If you have a rice cooker with "brown rice" setting, use it.
4) If not, try using a pressure cooker to cook your rice.


And for the "seasonings" you're in search for, it's called "furikake" in Japanese. Try a search for it in google image or something... you should generally get an idea of it. They sell them at most general Asian Food markets, so it shouldn't be that hard to find. It's usually a combination of dried fish / vegetable and wee bits of sugar, salt, and you guessed it, msg. So yeah, probably not the best thing to use for a diet.

Now if you're looking for a more innovative way just to eat rice, then you can do stuff like... putting it in soup. I make my beef stew and chicken soup so that it's just perfect when I put it in a bowl about a third filled with rice, then I just pour the soup (or stoup, depending on how thick it is) over the rice.

There's also ochazuke as well (please search in google image, I'm sure you get an idea from that):
How I make mine is:
1) Use left over char-broiled salmon (the parts where it's not so black)
2) sprinkle salmon meat over rice
3) sprinkle little pieces of dried seaweed
4) Over all that, pour good strong green tea to the brim.

Or, you can go the lazy route and buy the store-bought pre-packaged stuff you can just add hot water to:



Although I do have to note from a Japanese stand point: we enjoy plain white rice because it's there to neutralize the taste of the main courses there are. We LOVE our sodium in our food. Notice that a lot of Japanese food have salt/soy sauce as a main component of flavoring to it.
A very typical Japanese meal setting would be:
1) one serving of fish, usually char-broiled with a little bit of salt (and diner can add soysauce to it depending on their preference),
2) a side dish of pickled vegetables (cucumbers or cabbage with scrap pieces of carrots comes to mind as most popular)
3) another side dish of vegetables (usually steamed or stewed in a sweet/spicy/savory broth)
4) Miso Soup
5) A bowl of rice

ALL of the above is served at the same time on the dinner table, unlike western catering style where meals would come out in courses or stages. You eat varyingly. You take a bit of fish, a bite of veggies, savor the flavor, then eat a little bit of rice. Then take a sip of soup, another chunk of rice. Eating in the Japanese-style might help you understand why we're able to enjoy it so much for it's bland taste as our main source for carbohydrates. It's because they like mixing it up. We don't just eat rice just by itself at a full meal. Rice is there to help neutralize the flavors of the main dishes so that you don't get bored with it. So it's a hand-in-hand thing.

My favorite way to eat rice though: 1 raw egg on a bowl of rice, with a little bit of soy sauce. I highly not recommend it considering the calories, the cholestrol, and the sodium factor if you're on a diet, but if you're heavily working out and are just considering the fiber/carb/protein content, there's nothing better. I also highly not recommend it for the salmonela factor. I have heard of poeple whom have actually had fatal deaths from it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I never used to like brown rice, but I developed a taste for it since my mom stopped cooking white rice due to my dad becoming diabetic. I love brown rice mixed with the small black wild rice. I can't help you with spices though since I am a plain eater :/

I was speaking idiomatically.

Eating white rice isn't fattening at all. Considering its the main staple of food in China and China has such small isolated cases of obesity, I think that its fine to eat. However, it is not very nutritious unless it is being eaten with meat and vegetables. I enjoy vinegar or soy sauce and rice. Sushi being my favorite rice dish ever.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by RainMan

Eating white rice isn't fattening at all. Considering its the main staple of food in China and China has such small isolated cases of obesity, I think that its fine to eat. However, it is not very nutritious unless it is being eaten with meat and vegetables. I enjoy vinegar or soy sauce and rice. Sushi being my favorite rice dish ever.

It's not so much that it's fattening, it's that it contains alot of calories. Like any food, eat too much of it and it will make you fat. Rice and pasta contain complex carbohydrates, which release energy gradually over time and fill you up, so you eat less and feel fuller throughout the day. I'd still plump for brown rice/pasta though since they have a greater fibre content.

FELIPE NO

Soy sauce on rice ftw! I also really like salted duck egg or canned stew. =)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Wow, thank you Jpnezeshorty for all your insight. That was very helpful. I googled the images you gave me and I will be looking into that.

I'm definitely going to give brown rice a shot. I didn't know that white rice could so unhealthy. =[

I can never win.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Once you get over the difference, I think you might find you can come to like brown rice. I know I did. Brown rice is a better bet all around, just make sure you measure your portions so you aren't getting more of it than you need.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Jpnezeshorty

There's also ochazuke as well (please search in google image, I'm sure you get an idea from that):
How I make mine is:
1) Use left over char-broiled salmon (the parts where it's not so black)
2) sprinkle salmon meat over rice
3) sprinkle little pieces of dried seaweed
4) Over all that, pour good strong green tea to the brim.

I forgot to put a WARNING label on this. This stuff works wonders for hangovers (or right after having way too much to drink) but as the sub-main ingredient in this is green tea, I highly suggest steering away from eating it right before you go to bed. It does have decent amount of caffeine.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

There's the always cherished white brown with sunny-side up eggs and soy sauce. It's a really quick and easy meal, plus it give you (or just me) lots of energy.

I heard that there's a lot of people who like adding a spot of butter to their rice, but I don't think it'll be the greatest for a diet (unless you use a small amount, and eat it every now and then)

I definitely think that white rice isn't terrible, although brown rice is much much better overall.

Like what the others said, be sure to give rice a good scrub and soak in water; also, like all carbohydrates, chewing them for some time gives it more flavor, since your saliva starts breaking some of the carbs down into glucose (and well all know how much everyone loves glucose <3).

Plus, eating/chewing slower makes you feel more full.

This is a bit off-topic, but if you plan on going on a diet, be sure to take a multi-vitamin supplement!!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I usually just have rice for dinner or something... Unlike typical Filipinos I know who have it for breakfast too. Honestly, I can't stand rice in the morning, but reading up on the energy part, I might reconsider. I usually like having rice with some sort of broth with whatever I might be eating, gives the rice some flavor.

But as everyone else is saying, go for brown rice. It's not a personal favorite of mine, but my mom used it for dieting and it worked like a charm for her.

How ya doing, buddy?

If someone already suggested this, then I'm sorry for being repetitive, but I would strongly suggest eating fresh veggies instead of canned, and cook sme fresh meat rather than eating lunch meat.

Canned veggies and processed meats such as lunch meat are pretty high in sodium and that can be a bad thing for weight loss. You also lose nutrients by eating canned veggies rather than fresh.

Steaming vegetables really doesn't take a long time and is very simple.

Good luck with the diet changes. Just don't restrict your variety of foods so much or you'll get bored quickly.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Rice is a staple of our diet here at home and we make it with almost everything. One of my friends, who owns a Mediterranean restaurant here in town, taught me how to make "Kesar Chaval".

Meanwhile, heat a bit of butter over medium heat, add a stick of crushed cinammon and a couple pinches of cloves and stir well. Throw in a handful of chopped onions and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add rice and stir for about 5 minutes then add boiling water and salt to taste. Secret to it now is adding some saffron which should also be mixed with boiling water. Stir and cook for about 20 minutes. The saffron turns the rice yellow and gives it a really faint zesty taste that is absolutely fucking wonderful.

Enjoy with some kabob skewers if you can make them.

FELIPE NO

hmm...well we don't normally put spices in our white rice, but my bf and i sometimes add some chopped garlic and a bit of salt to it while it's cooking. it's good with steaks and other meat dishes.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?