This was my first experience making fried rice with brown basmati rice. Since I’ve always used white in the past (I still have about a hundred pounds of the stuff left in my cupboard), I’m not extremely familiar with the brown version, but from what I’ve seen, I feel it tends to be stickier and mushier than the white. Since I like my grains to be well separated when making fried rice, I decided I would try cooking it like I would pasta, in a large quantity of boiling salted water and drain it once it reached the desired level of doneness.

This technique gave me somewhat good results, but I think it could’ve cooked for a few more minutes. I forgot that brown rice does have a longer cooking time than white, so the grains remained a little too crunchy for my taste. Guess I was just afraid to see my rice turn into a sticky mush, so I played it overly safe. Next time I will have to adjust consequently.

Other than that, I was fairly happy with this dish. Mind you, I was in the mood for a very dominant ginger taste and loads of green peas, so feel free to add less if you’re not that big a fan…

Ingredients
(serves 1)

  • ½ cup brown basmati rice
  • 1 green onion, chopped (save a few pieces to garnish)
  • 2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
  • 3 button mushrooms, sliced
  • 8-10 tail-on cooked cold shrimp (size 31-40)
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 1 tbsp cooked wild rice (totally optional, I already had some in the fridge)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar
  • ½ tsp sambal oelek
  • White and Black toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Ingredients

  • Cook brown rice in lots of salted boiling water until desired level of doneness. Drain and rinse under cold water.
  • Coat a non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add ginger, green onions and mushrooms; season with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the mushrooms start to turn brown. Add rice and cook for another 8-10 minutes, stirring often.
  • Add peas, shrimp, and cooked wild rice, sambal oelek, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Cook until peas and shrimp are heated through.
  • Serve immediately, garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.