Rice Seasoning?

What does everyone use to season their rice?

I've just been using powered chicken bouillon but it is too salty!

What about chicken broth?

I'm not a cook :)

I cook it either plain or in low sodium chicken broth.  Herb-Ox makes a low sodium bouillion.  It comes in a little jar.

Another thing you can do is finely chop onions, celery and carrots, and mince up some fresh parsley.  Add that to the water you cook the rice in. 

Usually I rely on the sauce of whatever I'm cooking to flavor my rice.

Lime juice and chopped cilantro.  You can dice other veggies in there, like tomatoes and onions, or just go with salt and pepper.

Try cooking it with a little vinegar. No cals, and I love how it tatses. I use vinegar in my cooking a lot.

I cook the rice according to the package directions but add powdered ranch dressing mix to the water. I put about 1/2 a packet of powdered ranch dressing mix to 1 cup of rice. It's very yummy and still low calorie!!!

Depends on my mood, but usually I either use low sodium chicken broth or just add some cumin, garlic powder, & a dash of salt and pepper... or whatever spices catch my eye. 

Oooh I forgot about Cumin, which is odd, since I've been on an Indian kick lately.  Try some tumeric, curry powder or my personal favorite for everything - garlic salt.

Try using lowfat coconut milk in the liquid and adding toasted coconut and pineapple to the finished rice or at the last step.  Also can throw in some sliced green onion and grated ginger.  Make a main dish out of it by adding Shrimp or chicken and some cashews.

I also use broth, bouillions are way too salty. I'll often also throw some garlic or ginger in it while it's cooking. In the last few minutes I also throw in some frozen peas, I don't know why but it makes rice so much better.

 

Depending on what else is for dinner, I like it cooked with some curry powder.

I put chopped onions and some garlic salt in mine and top it all off with some black beans cooked with cut up tomatoes. mmm...

I heat up a little salsa in the microwave and pour over the rice. About 1/4 cup medium salsa / portion of rice.  Only adds about 20 calories and sooooo worth it!

Tonight I just used a little spray butter, some coarse sea salt, and garlic pepper. I swear it was the best rice I ever had-total comfort food!

I like to use half the amount of water and substitute chicken broth (I am an' easier the better' cook, so I buy low fat, low sodium in the box so I can refrigerate what I don't use this meal to use in the next.) And then to add the final kick, I add a packet of Sazon Goya Seasoning. This is the same saeasoning used to make paella and talk about WOW factor ... This is a great side dish for chicken saute'd in a non-stick skillet, or a tuna steak seared on the sides and sashimi in the middle (My personal favorite) And adding peas to THIS rice is AMAZING! I haven't tried with pork or beef, but for a quick and easy 'exotic tuna casserole' I have mixed a bag of frozen peas and carrots to cook with the rice and after it was cooked, added a can of chunk white tuna, drained.

OK so 'nuff said!

Namaste!

~Katt 

"Spanish" Rice

1 cup rice
2 cups broth
1 TBS olive oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
hot sauce to taste

Bring the broth to a boil and stir in the rice.  Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

Saute the pepper, onion and garlic until the onion is soft.  Add the tomatoes and seasoning.  Let this mixture simmer gently until the rice is cooked.

Combine the rice with the tomato mixture.  This is very good made the day before and reheated.

I like to make rice in a slow cooker, and I make up recipes as I go along.  The easiest I've found is to have my favorite dried beans and peas on hand, and I throw in a quarter cup of those with one cup of medium grain brown rice - get good protein, fiber, much more interesting texture and FLAVOR that way without adding calories or sacrificing taste.

 The goodies:

Fat skimmed chicken stock (I make baked chicken separately and refrigerate the leftover stock for use in rice and soup dishes - it can also be frozen.)

1 T caraway seeds - wonderful, wonderful!

1 T chives

Rosemary to taste

Basil to taste

Oregano to taste

Dried red pepper flakes to taste

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt - or to taste

Allow everything to marinate in three cups water for one hour, then turn on slow cooker to medium for four hours. Depending on what rice you use, adjust the time and heat setting to get your level of "doneness" in the time you want.

I also do this in the microwave - but check every twenty minutes to see about adding water.  I usually end up adding between seven to eight cups of water/fluid in total.

I sometimes top with a tablespoon of honey mustard dressing or poppyseed dressing - as long as no high fructose corn syrup is in the commercial product.  That is worse than fat, but thankfully there are a lot of products which do not use it.

Experimenting with rice dishes is very enjoyable, and learning that the medium and long grain rices are just as easy to prepare as the "instant" types was a wonderful discovery.  The aroma during the cooking is celestial, too!

Enjoy!

All of these are great suggestions! I've gotten a few ideas from reading this post! 

I like to use orange juice instead of water, or pineapple juice.

The sweet flavor goes great with chicken and doesn't add too many calories as long as you're keeping the portion moderate.

My mom always added a handful of raisins to the rice while it cooked when we were kids, and that turns out awesome, but raisins are a little high in cals.

Just a tidbit: if you're having trouble with sticky rice, rinse your rice until the water runs clear to remove a lot of the extra starch that causes the rice to glue together.

:-] 

Try Japanese rice seasoning called Furikake - it's fantastic!!  There are lots of different kinds, but most of them have seaweed which is super healthy.  I love the stuff.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas :)