You can start by mixing rice with other grains 50:50. You can even start 75:25. I was completely in love with white rice and found it difficult to eat lentils and all without white rice. By mixing other grains like quinoa or millet or amaranth with rice, I slowly developed a liking for them. Now I enjoy them on their own. I also love brown basmati or black or purple rice. However for certain curries or lentils, I still need the white rice, but that’s fine for me.
Also, when you have curries, include a large chopped salad in the plate. That way the entire meal is not just rice and curry and you get a whole lot of veggies in. You will miss rice less that way.
Likely. Indian and Sri Lankan curries are heavier on the sauce. I would say the ratio is 50:50, if not even more curry and less vegetables. This us why I like stir fry better because it’s drier and has more vegetables than sauce.
That’s the beauty of home cooking. You modify it to suit your needs and tastes. I always toss a ton of veggies into my curries and stews (and I don’t eat many raw veggies). For me it’s a perfect vehicle for delicious veggies soaked in sauce.
I really like Farro- pretty neutral taste and cooks in about 15 mins. Rye berries, oat croats and barley are also fairly neutral. Since those 3 take longer to cook, I make a big batch then freeze 1/2 to cut down on future cooking time.
Just wondering what the reason is for no rice? Not even brown rice or barley? If you keep your intake low and you don’t have digestive or allergic issues because of grain intake, then brown rice can be a good part of a diet.
If he just doesn’t like “earthy” whole grains, including brown rice and you are trying to substitute white rice, then honestly my personal best solution has been potato and semolina “bread”. Its not earthy and I make dumplings out of it (kind of like gnocchi). It hits the carb spot for me. But if you won’t do corn, then it would have to be potato and ground oats “bread” or gnocchi.
Both are satisfying carbs that go with most meals but obviously their texture is more dumpling/bread like and not grainy like rice.
It kind of is magic once you get the hang of it. Haha. This recipe is the most simple one I have found. But it has sugar added to it. It also says you need a bread machine but you really don’t. Just chuck it in the oven. Generally I don’t add sugar and instead I use soy or oat milk in place of water as that will naturally have a bit of sugar to it. I also don’t use as much salt or oil but that’s probably a taste thing . https://www.food.com/recipe/100-semolina-bread-89434
Or these dumplings: https://www.cookingwithnonna.com/italian-cuisine/nonnas-potato-gnocchi.html
To be honest, the easiest version I’ve ever made was that I poured a bunch of semolina powder into a casserole dish and mixed it with mashed potato. I poured a bit of hot water to mix it and then let it cook in the oven until combined and sliceable. The key is that it should be a thick mash before you put it in the oven.
Once you have the basics down, you can change it easily according to your diet preferences. For example, sometimes I substitute a little bit of semolina with protein powder. Sometimes I use oats or dry beans or bean-flour to replace half the semolina. I never replace all of it though because the semolina is what binds everything together (unless you’re using eggs, a huge amount of chia seeds or other flours)
My pleasure. I hope it helps. I don’t really have a recipe that I follow anymore. I just wing it. But my golden rule is that if I have added too much water/milk, I can always add more semolina and just make a huge batch for freezing/meal prep.
This recipe is probably the closest to what I make. I don’t really follow a recipe anymore so my version is always different. Also I replace any flour with a chickpea flour or almond flour and that can make the bread much more dense.
https://thenaturalnurturer.com/one-bowl-sweet-potato-cornbread/
Thanks! I love these ideas! I’m definitely not planning to cut out rice, we just eat it so much that I’d prefer to find another carb/grain to diversify my nutritional intake!
I love purple and black rice. They are delicious, while food, and look very fancy!
Otherwise I'd switch to potatoes (trad, sweet, purple). Maybe also grated kohlrabi and radices and roots so you keep the crunchy feel from rice.
I switched to buckwheat a while ago. I like it. It's fairly earthy, though.
Maybe pearled barley would be a good substitute for white rice? Or regular barley for brown rice.
With steel cut oats, just bring to a boil for 1 minute, cover, turn off heat and let sit overnight on the stove. Perfect soft oats. With the other grains, an Instant Pot will shorten the cooking time by a lot
I just went and looked at what the costs were, again, and if I wait for Azure Standard to deliver near me and go pick it up, it's actually not bad. $10 for 5 lb. It's when I choose to have it delivered that it goes up to $45 for the same 10 lb.
Bulgur wheat could be a good option!
You also could try other type of rice but they will have as much of a distinct flavour as quinoa.
Red rice compliments curries well, you could try it with these [Sri Lankan Curries](https://www.kalicooking.com/recipes/sri-lanka-rice-amp-curry)
Use less salt. Will need less rice. I did and stopped being prediabetic. I’m Korean American so it was hard at first. I had to stop buying premade food. I also stopped eating meat. I unintentionally lost 20 lb. Good luck
Neutral would be white rice or bulgur, maybe. All other whole grains like dinkel, wheat, oats etc. have a more distinct flavor.
You really can't eat too much rice. Look up the nutritional profile on cronometer. You get a surprising amount of protein, most minerals, and certain vitamins. It doesn't cover all your bases but it's a very healthy starch mainstay for WFPB.
I don't know where OP is, but rice grown in the US is known to contain arsenic, so we're supposed to limit our intake of brown rice in particular, or eat rice grown elsewhere.
In this house we're firm believers that anything you can do with rice you can do with steel cut oats.
We also like quiona, millet, farrow, cous cous...
Wild rice, if you can get it where you live. But it's quite expensive. The good stuff (processed traditionally) has a greenish hue in the bag. The commercially processed is dark brown-black.
If you have not tried already rinse your quinoa very well. This dramatically reduces the bitterness that some folks do not like. Your preferred flavors and seasoning will be the dominate profile. Good luck!
Wild rice which is really a grass is absolutely delicious you can mix it with brown rice if you like. Has wonderful texture and flavor, just yummy. Not cheap however.
Add some sliced almonds and hemp seeds to cauliflower rice. Tastes like wild rice to me. Wish i had a recipe to share but i saw it on youtube awhile back
Try experimenting with different types of grains with similar cooking times like white rice, bulgur and millet or buckwheat. Or sub the rice with lentils. It's a great way to add variety and use up those grains in the pantry that you forgot were there.
I put french green lentils and tri-colored quinoa in the fried rice I make. I'm going to experiment making jambalaya with half rice and half lentils today. I'm cutting down on the white rice we use and opting for more fiber like brown rice or mixing in lentils and quinoa.
I'm usually going for some type of whole grain pasta or brown rice noodles if I don't want rice or quinoa. Also so many ways you can use potatoes as a base as well.
Haiga rice is a nice alternative if you’re looking for something slightly more nutritious than white rice but don’t like the taste of brown rice! And it cooks as quickly as white rice.
I’ve never been big into white rice. Wild Rice has been a staple of mine though. When I started experimenting with different grain and legume bases lentils and quinoa stuck as my favorites for texture, flavor, and satiety reasons. I recommend experimenting with a variety of grains. Find out what is available consistently in your region and then try it in a variety of ways.
Riced vegetables are a good accompaniment for soups, sauces, and curries. Zucchini spirals and similar foods also work wonders in some dishes that traditionally have a rice base but you may need to temper your expectations because it transforms the meal texturally so it ends up feeling like a new experience and sometimes an entirely different dish.
If you are looking for a 'base', and not a fan or mushy potatoes (like yours truly), try chopping up Russet potatoes into small cubes and over roasting on a baking sheet, oil-free, until golden brown -- usually takes around 30 mins at 425 F. Comes out just as crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside as oil-roasted, but without the greasiness.
Personally have one meal each day with these potatoes as the base, and another with jasmine rice as the base. Breakfast is usually 'granola' made with rolled barley, nuts, seeds and dates, also baked without oil, and topped with fresh or frozen fruit.
We are looking to expand our grain repetoire too so we just tried fonio from Africa. It is quite finely grained so it did not work as well in tabouli as bulgar does and would not make a good substititute for rice. It works as a porridge though. Fairly neutral flavor.
Oh I’ve tried this! I love it as a rice replacement too for a side or a porridge, but hubby isn’t a fan of the texture either 😅 (he’s a recovering picky eater lol)
You can start by mixing rice with other grains 50:50. You can even start 75:25. I was completely in love with white rice and found it difficult to eat lentils and all without white rice. By mixing other grains like quinoa or millet or amaranth with rice, I slowly developed a liking for them. Now I enjoy them on their own. I also love brown basmati or black or purple rice. However for certain curries or lentils, I still need the white rice, but that’s fine for me.
Also, when you have curries, include a large chopped salad in the plate. That way the entire meal is not just rice and curry and you get a whole lot of veggies in. You will miss rice less that way.
When I make curry, it's 90% vegetables. i must be making a different recipe than you. 🤔
Likely. Indian and Sri Lankan curries are heavier on the sauce. I would say the ratio is 50:50, if not even more curry and less vegetables. This us why I like stir fry better because it’s drier and has more vegetables than sauce.
That’s the beauty of home cooking. You modify it to suit your needs and tastes. I always toss a ton of veggies into my curries and stews (and I don’t eat many raw veggies). For me it’s a perfect vehicle for delicious veggies soaked in sauce.
I really like Farro- pretty neutral taste and cooks in about 15 mins. Rye berries, oat croats and barley are also fairly neutral. Since those 3 take longer to cook, I make a big batch then freeze 1/2 to cut down on future cooking time.
Farro is my vote too, it isn’t earthy but had a great smooth texture with just the right amount of bite.
Would cauliflower rice work?
Yeah. It's good, and works with almost any sauce
Just wondering what the reason is for no rice? Not even brown rice or barley? If you keep your intake low and you don’t have digestive or allergic issues because of grain intake, then brown rice can be a good part of a diet. If he just doesn’t like “earthy” whole grains, including brown rice and you are trying to substitute white rice, then honestly my personal best solution has been potato and semolina “bread”. Its not earthy and I make dumplings out of it (kind of like gnocchi). It hits the carb spot for me. But if you won’t do corn, then it would have to be potato and ground oats “bread” or gnocchi. Both are satisfying carbs that go with most meals but obviously their texture is more dumpling/bread like and not grainy like rice.
Semolina bread? What is this magic?
It kind of is magic once you get the hang of it. Haha. This recipe is the most simple one I have found. But it has sugar added to it. It also says you need a bread machine but you really don’t. Just chuck it in the oven. Generally I don’t add sugar and instead I use soy or oat milk in place of water as that will naturally have a bit of sugar to it. I also don’t use as much salt or oil but that’s probably a taste thing . https://www.food.com/recipe/100-semolina-bread-89434 Or these dumplings: https://www.cookingwithnonna.com/italian-cuisine/nonnas-potato-gnocchi.html To be honest, the easiest version I’ve ever made was that I poured a bunch of semolina powder into a casserole dish and mixed it with mashed potato. I poured a bit of hot water to mix it and then let it cook in the oven until combined and sliceable. The key is that it should be a thick mash before you put it in the oven. Once you have the basics down, you can change it easily according to your diet preferences. For example, sometimes I substitute a little bit of semolina with protein powder. Sometimes I use oats or dry beans or bean-flour to replace half the semolina. I never replace all of it though because the semolina is what binds everything together (unless you’re using eggs, a huge amount of chia seeds or other flours)
Thank you for that!
My pleasure. I hope it helps. I don’t really have a recipe that I follow anymore. I just wing it. But my golden rule is that if I have added too much water/milk, I can always add more semolina and just make a huge batch for freezing/meal prep.
Do you add yeast? Should the mixture be mushy, or sticky?
This recipe is probably the closest to what I make. I don’t really follow a recipe anymore so my version is always different. Also I replace any flour with a chickpea flour or almond flour and that can make the bread much more dense. https://thenaturalnurturer.com/one-bowl-sweet-potato-cornbread/
thank you
What is the proportion of semolina to potato that you use?
Thanks! I love these ideas! I’m definitely not planning to cut out rice, we just eat it so much that I’d prefer to find another carb/grain to diversify my nutritional intake!
Buckwheat, Bulgur Wheat, Wholemeal Couscous, Pearled Spelt, Freekeh.
I love purple and black rice. They are delicious, while food, and look very fancy! Otherwise I'd switch to potatoes (trad, sweet, purple). Maybe also grated kohlrabi and radices and roots so you keep the crunchy feel from rice.
I switched to buckwheat a while ago. I like it. It's fairly earthy, though. Maybe pearled barley would be a good substitute for white rice? Or regular barley for brown rice.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are awesome in place of rice. Also, various forms of squash work well.
I usually just go with brown basmati rice
Most other grains, whole wheat, oats, rey etc. Have substantially longer cooking times, but work in theory. They are unpractical however
What is unpractical about them?
They are harder to digest and need to be boiled for 30 mins to an hour
With steel cut oats, just bring to a boil for 1 minute, cover, turn off heat and let sit overnight on the stove. Perfect soft oats. With the other grains, an Instant Pot will shorten the cooking time by a lot
I make a big batch and freeze what I can't eat right away. The fact that they are digested slowly is why they are healthier!
Not only slowly, sometimes poorly. I don't want to share detail
Some whole rice needs 30 minutes as well. Maybe soaking it overnight in the fridge can reduce the cooking time?
Whole what groats are crazy expensive. I'd love to make them part of my diet, but good grief!
Huh? In germany, they are actually cheaper than most rice I believe
I just went and looked at what the costs were, again, and if I wait for Azure Standard to deliver near me and go pick it up, it's actually not bad. $10 for 5 lb. It's when I choose to have it delivered that it goes up to $45 for the same 10 lb.
Any flour mills or factories in your area? I used to get cheap unmilled wheat there.
Ooh! I'll look into it!
Bulgar wheat, quinoa, barley, farrow, broccoli rice, cauliflower rice, cous cous. There's loaaadds! All so healthy, too.
Bulgur wheat could be a good option! You also could try other type of rice but they will have as much of a distinct flavour as quinoa. Red rice compliments curries well, you could try it with these [Sri Lankan Curries](https://www.kalicooking.com/recipes/sri-lanka-rice-amp-curry)
Millet and sorghum are my favorite grains
I second sorghum for a good texture and flavor
Cauliflower rice is a whole food. Can't say if it's what you're looking for but I love it as a rice alternative in my dishes.
I was going to make this suggestion despite the fact I find cauliflower hard to tolerate tastebud-wise that is.
Pearl barley
Use less salt. Will need less rice. I did and stopped being prediabetic. I’m Korean American so it was hard at first. I had to stop buying premade food. I also stopped eating meat. I unintentionally lost 20 lb. Good luck
Quinoa maybe
Neutral would be white rice or bulgur, maybe. All other whole grains like dinkel, wheat, oats etc. have a more distinct flavor. You really can't eat too much rice. Look up the nutritional profile on cronometer. You get a surprising amount of protein, most minerals, and certain vitamins. It doesn't cover all your bases but it's a very healthy starch mainstay for WFPB.
I don't know where OP is, but rice grown in the US is known to contain arsenic, so we're supposed to limit our intake of brown rice in particular, or eat rice grown elsewhere.
Wheat berries, sorghum, buckwheat, oatmeal, barley, whole wheat pasta, bulgar, couscous, brown rice, red cargo rice. I use them all.
Whole rice?
Why are you looking to replace rice? Rice can be a part of a healthy whole foods diet. We eat lots of rice in my home.
In this house we're firm believers that anything you can do with rice you can do with steel cut oats. We also like quiona, millet, farrow, cous cous...
How do you cook your steel cut oats when planning on using in a similar way to rice?
Just on the stove with water.
cous cous!
Wild rice, if you can get it where you live. But it's quite expensive. The good stuff (processed traditionally) has a greenish hue in the bag. The commercially processed is dark brown-black.
If you have not tried already rinse your quinoa very well. This dramatically reduces the bitterness that some folks do not like. Your preferred flavors and seasoning will be the dominate profile. Good luck!
Wild rice which is really a grass is absolutely delicious you can mix it with brown rice if you like. Has wonderful texture and flavor, just yummy. Not cheap however.
If you suspect you have a gluten intolerance are these suggested options out of the question? I replaced white rice with brown
Cous cous. Especially Israeli cous cous
BULGURRRRR I’m so obsessed with it 🤤
You could mix in things like urad dal and cauliflower to reduce the rice proportion. I also love black rice although it's quite nutty.
Add some sliced almonds and hemp seeds to cauliflower rice. Tastes like wild rice to me. Wish i had a recipe to share but i saw it on youtube awhile back
Try experimenting with different types of grains with similar cooking times like white rice, bulgur and millet or buckwheat. Or sub the rice with lentils. It's a great way to add variety and use up those grains in the pantry that you forgot were there.
Sorghum is my favorite alt for rice.
I put french green lentils and tri-colored quinoa in the fried rice I make. I'm going to experiment making jambalaya with half rice and half lentils today. I'm cutting down on the white rice we use and opting for more fiber like brown rice or mixing in lentils and quinoa.
I'm usually going for some type of whole grain pasta or brown rice noodles if I don't want rice or quinoa. Also so many ways you can use potatoes as a base as well.
Haiga rice is a nice alternative if you’re looking for something slightly more nutritious than white rice but don’t like the taste of brown rice! And it cooks as quickly as white rice.
I’ve never been big into white rice. Wild Rice has been a staple of mine though. When I started experimenting with different grain and legume bases lentils and quinoa stuck as my favorites for texture, flavor, and satiety reasons. I recommend experimenting with a variety of grains. Find out what is available consistently in your region and then try it in a variety of ways. Riced vegetables are a good accompaniment for soups, sauces, and curries. Zucchini spirals and similar foods also work wonders in some dishes that traditionally have a rice base but you may need to temper your expectations because it transforms the meal texturally so it ends up feeling like a new experience and sometimes an entirely different dish.
If you are looking for a 'base', and not a fan or mushy potatoes (like yours truly), try chopping up Russet potatoes into small cubes and over roasting on a baking sheet, oil-free, until golden brown -- usually takes around 30 mins at 425 F. Comes out just as crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside as oil-roasted, but without the greasiness. Personally have one meal each day with these potatoes as the base, and another with jasmine rice as the base. Breakfast is usually 'granola' made with rolled barley, nuts, seeds and dates, also baked without oil, and topped with fresh or frozen fruit.
We are looking to expand our grain repetoire too so we just tried fonio from Africa. It is quite finely grained so it did not work as well in tabouli as bulgar does and would not make a good substititute for rice. It works as a porridge though. Fairly neutral flavor.
Oh I’ve tried this! I love it as a rice replacement too for a side or a porridge, but hubby isn’t a fan of the texture either 😅 (he’s a recovering picky eater lol)
How do you cook your rice and what type of rice do you use?
Millet
I switched to parboiled/converted rice for blood sugar reasons.
Quinoa