This nutty colorful black, brown, and wild rice pilaf has some real pizzaz! I wanted to make a rice pilaf recently to go with some fish for dinner. But I was looking for something a little brighter, fresher than the typical pilaf, and with a little more nuttiness and chew – not so creamy and starchy. I was thinking brown and wild rice, but as I was looking for wild rice at the grocery store, I discovered black rice. I’d never heard of this, but hey, cooking is a chance to experiment, so I picked up some of that, too.
Well, the combination of the three rices is awesome! The differences in color and length of grain are visually interesting and each rice has a bit different texture, too. The wild rice is the firmest while the black rice is a little bit sticky. Each rice has a distinct blend of fragrant, nutty and earthy flavors.
The black, brown and wild rices in this pilaf have a lot more going on nutritionally than just starch!
Nutritionally, these whole grain rices are high in fiber, some B vitamins, and minerals including iron and magnesium. Wild rice is exceptionally high in amount and quality of protein for a grain. Black rice is also a good protein source, being high in lysine, an essential amino acid deficient in most grains. In addition, wild and black rice are rich in anthocyanins, healthy antioxidants also found in blueberries. Wild rice is actually an annual water-grass seed, not directly related to Asian rice. It has traditionally been harvested from the wild, but there also is limited and rather difficult cultivation.
Black, Brown, and Wild Rice Pilaf Preparation
Back to cooking and eating the rice! It takes about an hour’s time to make this dish, but for most of that it’s just simmering. The labor’s fairly low. The wild rice and black rice are cooked in one pot, with the wild rice going in 10 minutes earlier, since it needs a little bit longer cooking. The brown rice is cooked separately so that the pigments in the black rice do not discolor it.
I played around a lot with how much liquid to use – we have a few trial batches in the freezer now that will probably find their way into some sort of rice and bean cakes – bonus vegetarian burgers from the effort! Anyway, I zeroed in on just the right amount of liquid to get well-cooked but fairly firm, not gooey rice. The dish has a texture kind of similar to fried rice. If you prefer creamier rice, you can add 1 oz more liquid to each pot.
Fresh lemon and herbs really make this Black, Brown, and Wild Rice Pilaf sing!
Fresh lemon juice and zest are a wonderful bright counterpoint to the nutty, earthy rice. Basil and chives bring garden-fresh herby flavor to the party. Mix it all together with a little margarine or butter and salt and pepper and you have a splendid bright, fresh, nutty, satisfying side dish!
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- ¼ cup wild rice
- ¼ cup black rice (might be in the rice or the Asian section of the grocery store)
- ½ cup long grain brown Basmati rice
- 15 oz chicken or vegetable stock, divided
- ¼ tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 Tbsp margarine or butter
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- zest from 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
- 2 Tbsp julienned fresh basil
- Rinse wild rice well in a strainer.
- Add 1 cup stock and wild rice to a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to a very low simmer.
- Rinse black rice well in a strainer.
- After wild rice has been simmering 10 minutes, add black rice and recover.
- Turn up heat briefly to get pot back to a simmer, reduce heat and let simmer covered for about 45 more minutes until liquid is absorbed.
- Meanwhile, rinse brown rice in a strainer and add to 7 oz stock in another pan.
- Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes until liquid is absorbed.
- Let rices stand covered 5 minutes off heat when done.
- Mix rices in a bowl with margarine (or butter), salt, pepper and lemon juice.
- If you’re not quite ready to serve, you can stop at this point and just reheat in the microwave when ready.
- Mix in chives, basil and lemon zest and serve.
