A 10-minute upgrade for basic brown rice

January is "Back to Basics" month on TNB! 🌾

Hello and happy new year, friends!

I hope you’ve had a restorative holiday season and a gentle beginning to 2024. I’ve got a ton of new ideas to share with you, so let’s dive right in.

---

In the recent past, January has become synonymous with “veganuary”, which means some of you may be extra curious about exploring a plant-based diet. That’s why this month, we’re going back to basics.

To me, the idea of “veganuary” is not about perfection, deprivation, or forgoing animal foods entirely and forever. Rather, it’s about rethinking what a typical plate looks like.

Many of us create our meals according to this standard formula: animal protein plus carb plus a vegetable “on the side.” Eating plant-based is about exploring new formulas and learning to put plants at the center of the plate.

One key here is to forget everything you know about sad vegetables - think raw celery sticks, the mesclun greens side salad, boiled-to-death broccoli. Instead, experiment with all the foundations of a plant-centered diet: whole grains, beans, tofu/tempeh, nuts/seeds, and of course, lots of veg.

Which is exactly what I’m gonna show you how to do this month, focusing on a different foundation each week, starting with whole grains.

Rice is already a staple in most households, and switching to brown rice is an easy move. Brown rice has all its edible parts still attached, making it a great source of fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, and other micronutrients. White rice, on the other hand, has had all its outer parts polished away and as a result, is mostly pure starch.

If cooking with brown rice is new to you, turmeric rice is the way to go. It requires just a few extra steps and you end up with a restaurant-fancy side dish that blows regular rice out of the water…

P.S. No time to read now? Pin the recipe for later.

---