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How to cook wild rice

by Great British Chefs22 November 2016

Cook nutty, striking wild rice to perfection every time with our easy video guide.

How to cook wild rice

Cook nutty, striking wild rice to perfection every time with our easy video guide.

Wild rice isn’t actually a type of rice at all, but is in fact a grass seed from the US. However, it is often mixed into bags of long-grain rice to add texture, colour and flavour. It is very chewy, contains lots of protein and fibre and tastes sweet, and is fantastic in all sorts of dishes. Soaking the rice in boiling water the day before you plan to serve it drastically reduces the cooking time.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
The day before cooking, pour the rice into a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water (125g is enough for 2 people). Leave the rice to soak overnight
2
The next day, drain the rice well. For 125g of rice, bring 300ml of water to the boil in a pan
3
Place the rice in the pan, stir once and cover
4
Turn the heat down and leave to cook for 20 minutes, or until the grains have split open and curled slightly at the ends
5
Take the pan off the heat and leave, covered, for 3 minutes
6
Use a fork to fluff up the grains and serve

Serving suggestions

Wild rice works particularly well in salads, as it tastes just as good cold, is nutritious and helps to bulk out other ingredients, but for something warmer try Karen Burns-Booth's Cranberry-glazed roast turkey breast with wild rice stuffing.

As well as being cooked in boiling water, wild rice can be fried in oil until the grains puff up. This puffed rice is crispy and can be used as a garnish for all sorts of dishes to add crunch, such as Paul Foster's Duck hearts with pickled blueberries, fennel and wild rice.

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