edamame brown rice
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never ever cooked brown rice before. I’ve always been put off by the fact that it takes, on average, 30 minutes longer to cook than white rice, and that it is tasteless in my opinion unless you spend some time seasoning it and adding vegetables to it. But the more I’ve been blogging the more I’ve been tempted to try new ingredients, so I finally gave in and decided to give brown rice a chance. Plus, they say it’s much healthier than white rice, and who can say no to that in June when everyone is getting their body ready for bikini season. I decided to put a pot of brown rice to cook as soon as I walked home from work, giving myself some time to think about how I wanted to season it when ready.
I have this habit of printing out recipes I find online and putting them in a plastic folder in my kitchen; a folder that is kind of like my “I want to try this” pile of dinners and lunches to make. I sometimes forget about it for a while, then run back to it when I’m searching for inspiration. I had printed out a recipe from Martha Stewart for brown rice mixed with edamame a while ago, and with my pot of brown rice simmering in my kitchen, I decided to finally give it a go.
I cannot even begin to describe how much I love edamame. I love eating them as a snack in front of a movie instead of popcorn. I love ordering them at a Japanese restaurant before I start any meal. I love adding them to stir-fries and even to mediterranean-inspired salads like this cumin-spiced version I shared with you a while back. Edamame might be beans but they contain a huge amount of protein for such a small ingredient. Low-fat and high in protein, fiber and manganese, these vibrant green immature soy beans are one of those power foods you should add to your diet — especially since they’re so easy to store. You can buy them fresh or frozen, in their pod or shelled, and quickly add them to a variety of dishes.
Besides the fact that cooking the brown rice itself takes so long, the rest of this recipe is quite easy and straight-forward. I cooked the brown rice half way on its own and then added my frozen shelled edamame to the pot, so as to infuse the brown rice with their flavor. Once fluffy and ready, I mixed in some lime juice, rice vinegar, sesame oil and granulated sugar as suggested by Martha Stewart, but decided to also throw in some chopped fresh coriander from my garden to give the dish an even more Asian twist. The result was a rice dish that was anything but tasteless and boring — zesty yet sweet with a hint of sour, I wouldn’t mind eating brown rice more often instead of my beloved basmati rice, especially when paired with edamame.
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Combine the brown rice and water in a medium saucepan with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, covered, then reduce heat to low and let simmer 30 minutes.
- Add the edamame to the brown rice and stir to combine. Continue cooking on low heat for another 20 minutes, until rice is cooked through and tender.
- Combine the lime juice, rice vinegar, sesame oil, granulated sugar, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour over the brown rice, mix to combine and serve warm.
How did your edamame brown rice come out? Share photos of your recipe on Instagram with the hashtag #savormania