What's the difference between white rice and brown rice?
What's the difference between white rice and brown rice?
Brown rice and white rice are the same grain. White rice is brown rice that has been stripped of its fibrous layers of bran and then polished smooth and white. Those outer layers contain most of the fiber and nutrients of the grain. (They also give brown rice a nuttier, chewier flavor and texture.)
So, which is better?
It depends on what you're in the mood for. We enjoy the complexity and wholesomeness of brown rice. But we also appreciate a simple, soothing bowl of white rice, which cooks faster and has a light, fluffy texture that balances acidic and spicy dishes, like a stir-fry or vindaloo. And while brown rice is great for the heart, white rice is easier on the stomach, making it a suitable base for comforting Greek Lemon-Egg Soup.
what you should know
Asked how he came up with the name for his Grammy Award-winning, hip-hop group, Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am replied: "Black-eyed peas are a food for the soul."
It's true.
For centuries, this humble food has nourished the souls and bodies of the poor, besieged and disenfranchised. Because they're drought-resistant and nutrient-rich, these and other cowpeas are common staples across the globe.
spared the torch Black-eyed peas came to the West Indies with African slaves. From there, they crept up into the southern United States, where they were initially used as feed for livestock. It was because of their low stature that General Sherman didn't bother to torch fields of black-eyed peas as he marched through the South.
pea, as in people Black-eyed peas became a fixture of southern soul food, and are now eaten every New Year's Day to ensure good luck and prosperity in the coming year. Ever wonder why?
dry vs. frozen vs. canned If you've got the time, use dry beans. If not, use frozen beans. If you can't find frozen beans, use canned beans. (Be sure to rinse them.)
what you need
In her Carolina Rice Kitchen: the African Connection, Karen Hess traces the roots of Hoppin' John back to ancient pilafs.
Born in Ethiopia but raised in Sweden, Marcus Samuelsson explores "African fusion" cooking in his stunning cookbook The Soul of a New Cuisine.
Nesting bowl sets are handy in big and small kitchens for soaking beans, rinsing rice and serving big one-pots at the table. We love the stylish, curving set from Sunami Sobu.
Two-word, one-pot must-have: Dutch oven.
what you do
The most famous black-eyed pea-based dish is Hoppin' John, an elemental pea-rice-pork meal, of which you'll find variations of all over the world: the Brazilian feijoada, the Senegalese ciebou neibe, the Cuban moros y cristianos.
For a quick Hoppin' John, use frozen or canned black-eyed peas.
We took the basic template and added some Thai flavors to make this Bangkok Hoppin' John.
We like to make a lot of this black-eyed pea salad on Sunday afternoon and have it to snack on early in the week.
We're a week and a half past the turn of the new year, but that doesn't make Coconut & Lime's Lucky Cabbage and black-eyed peas any less delicious.
A reminder: if you'd like to wander through cookthink.com, we now have an index of all our recipes. And don't forget about our brand new Cookthinktank.
Kaffir lime leaves are wild leaves from a kaffir lime tree. Essential in Southeast Asian cuisine, kaffir lime leaves add a signature tanginess to traditional Thai dishes like Tom Yum soup or green curry paste.
Available dried, frozen or fresh at most Asian markets, the leaves grow in pairs that appear to be kissing.
Kaffir lime leaves can be used whole, like bay leaves, by adding one or two to a brothy soup or simmering curry. You can also cut them into thin strips and steam them with chopped chile peppers on top of fish or chicken. They freeze well.
If you can't find kaffir lime leaves, use regular lime zest instead. We use 1/2 teaspoon of zest in place of 1 kaffir lime leaf.
Cilantro is the parsley of the East, where it's known as "coriander leaves" or "dhani". (In Mexico, where it's also very popular, it's sometimes called "Mexican parsley".)
If you like cilantro (and some people don't at all), the herb is an easy way to add a beautifully fresh, sweet, fruity flavor to any dish.
To prep it, first rinse and shake dry the leaves. Hold the bouquet at an angle with the leaves against the cutting board. Run your knife down the side of the bouquet to slice away the leaves. It's fine to remove some of the tender stems along with the leaves. (In fact, for salsas, spice pastes, curries and some longer-cooking dishes, the stems add essential, concentrated cilantro flavor.)
Now just run your knife back and forth across the pile of leaves, chopping them as coarsely or as finely as you need to. The closer to the end of the cooking you plan to add the cilantro, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since cilantro is so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
Now that you know how to prep it, try some cilantro recipes at Cookthink.com.
Chopping is probably the most common way to prep an onion. Chopped onions show up in anything that needs the basic, earthy pungent flavor that onions give. Chop them larger for longer-cooking dishes like stews and rustic soups, and smaller (call it a dice if you like) for anything from salsas to sauces to ragouts.
To start, cut the onion in half through the root. The root itself will help keep the onion together for chopping
Rotate the onion 90 degrees and cut off the papery end (not the root end). This will make the skin easy to peel away and discard.
Peel back the onion's papery skin. It's often easiest to peel away the first layer of the onion along with the skin.
Make a series of diagonal cuts (roughly 45 degrees) into the side of the onion. Keep more space between the slices for a large chop. Make the cuts closer together for a small chop or a dice.
Now make a series of horizontal cuts to finish shaping the chop or dice.
Finally, rotate the onion again and slice crosswise against the checkerboard pattern you made in the onion. The chopped pieces will fall away from the onion.
Ginger's brown outer peel looks tough, but it's not. It's so thin and light that you don't need a knife or vegetable peeler to peel it.
To start, break or cut off the the amount of ginger you need. Slice off any small protruding limbs to make the main piece easier to peel.
Hold the piece of ginger in one hand. With the tip of a spoon, scrape away the ginger's peel.
You'll be surprised by how little effort it takes to remove it. Because spoon tip is dull, it easily takes off the soft peel without wasting much of the aromatic flesh.
Once you've peeled the ginger, you're ready to prep it further.
Reference: How much is a thumb of ginger? (Cookthink)
Reference: How to mince ginger (Cookthink)
What should you do if you eat a pepper that sets your tongue on fire?
Do not drink beer. Water won’t help either. (In a Caribbean folktale, children drown in a river trying to cool their tongues after eating habanero stew. See Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach's The Pepper Pantry for the full story.) Capsaicin, the chemical that makes a hot pepper hot, doesn’t dissolve in water, so even ice water won’t help remove the heat.
Your best bet? Get milk. Because capsaicin is fat-soluble, a compound in milk can actually pull the capsaicin off your tongue and relieve some of the burn. Another option: eat bread or rice to absorb the heat. Cucumber can also have a cooling effect.
If you are feeling brave (or masochistic), you could try eating another pepper. According Robert Berkley, the author of Peppers: A Cookbook, you can build up a resistance to capsaicin by eating more chile peppers. With Berkley’s approach, you get the added high of a capsaicin-triggered endorphin release. Before you know it, you might be addicted to the hot little things.
Reference: How to seed a chile pepper (Cookthink)
Reference:: Why are some jalapenos hotter than others? (Cookthink)
