Bulk cooking of home-made parboiled brown rice for the Fast

Planning meals for a large homeschooling family during a fasting period isn’t easy. With a busy schedule, it is a real temptation to rely on convenience foods. But as our finances have become increasingly tight with the current economic slowdown, we no longer can afford such luxeries as rice mixes. But the inconvenience of preparing brown rice which requires 50 minutes of cooking, for a large number of meals during the week, can be daunting. I have seen parboiled (converted) white rice available in bulk. But I have not seen this for brown rice.

But by the mercy of God, we have found a solution!

First of all, it is the most inexpensive to purchase long grain brown rice in 50# sacks (I like Basmati, but you can use regular brown rice too). Bulk long grain brown rice can be found in a co-op, Middle East grocery, or a store like Whole Foods. For various reasons, it has been a while since we bought bulk grains this way. But in the past, we would store it in 6 gallon plastic containers (which we are presently working to do again). And now following the pattern of “Once A Month Cooking” I plan to have a day where I cook a bulk quantity of the brown rice.

Normally, brown rice requires 2 1/4 cups of water per cup of rice, and cooking time of 50 minutes. But to parboil, I use:

1 1/8 cups of water per cup of brown rice

1 cube of vegetarian bouillon per two cups of rice.

I add the rice to the boiling water, cover, set it to low and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until the water is gone. Then I spread the rice on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven set between 150-200 degrees (if I leave it unattended overnight, I set it at the lower temperature). I occasionally stir the mixture, helping it to dry more quickly and evenly. Once the kernels are dry, I mix in a 1/2 cup of vermicelli (or broken angel hair pasta), to every cup of rice. I toast this in the oven by raising the temp to 250, for 20 minutes or so (until it starts to get a golden toasted hue). Then I take out the rice/vermicelli mix and place in freezer bags. In my case, since I presently have the freezer room and we have had a problem with grain moths, I am storing the rice in the freezer. But as long as it is thoroughly dry, I am sure the rice would be fine in ball jars or some other sealed container at room temperature.

There is a Middle East warehouse in our area that has unbelievably good prices for bulk spices. I put in a couple teaspoons of one spice mix that includes: green onion, dill weed, parsley and fenugreek into each of the bags. I also put in a teaspoon of turmeric into each of the bags. I then mixed them well by shaking.

Tonight was the first time we have cooked the rice to eat. To reconstitute the rice, I brought to a boil 1 1/8 cup of water for each cup of rice. I put in the rice, cover, turn to low, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Then it was done with perfect texture and all the kids loved it (I mixed in cooked garbanzo beans to make a balanced protein).

We had the rice mix and steamed vegetables with pita that was warmed with Zaatar seasoning (a seasoning mix from Lebanon consisting of thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, salt and sumac that is tasty and also available very inexpensively in bulk at our local Middle Eastern warehouse store). When we attended an Antiochian Orthodox parish for a time, the Palestinian women would bring in their pita with this Zaatar seasoning during potlucks. It really adds to the flavor of pita.

I also plan to parboil brown rice to be used as a rice cereal (I hope to do this tomorrow). I plan to cook it first without any flavoring. Once the rice is cooked, I plan on adding vanilla, a sweetner, cinnamon and allspice. Then I will dry it in the oven. When I bag it, I can add ground nuts and/or dried fruit. And then when we are ready to use it, I will reconstitute it just like with the savory rice above. A ten minute cooking time, will make this a more practical breakfast food than conventional brown rice.