This is an easy and healthy recipe with brown rice. Now a days I am just trying out brown rice recipes which my family will love to have. Last week, I made curd rice from brown rice, a typical south Indian recipe which I made with vegetables and fruits. This week I made this fried brown rice recipe with vegetables and it turned out very well.

Rice has several layers. In brown rice, only the outer husk is removed. However in white rice bran and germ is also removed. Nutritionally, brown rice is better than white rice as it is high in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Brown rice takes longer time to cook. Earlier I had made this recipe the same way as the white rice recipe but it didn’t turned out well. It was very chewy and dry as brown rice has the hard coat of fiber on it. In case of white rice, you don’t overcook the rice and prefer the perfect rice grains. But when you make fried brown rice, it should be cooked very soft. Let it cool down and then use it. Leftover soft cooked brown rice also tastes very good. With lots of vegetables and little oil for frying, you can make it a perfect healthy recipe.

[box]Also check – Curd rice from brown rice [/box]

Make the brown rice recipe with different vegetables like colorful bell pepper (capsicum), cabbage, cauliflower florets, french beans, carrot, green onion, green garlic, mushrooms, boiled sweet corns etc. You can also add pineapple to give it a little tang. Add all the vegetables of your choice or whatever available at home. You can also add tofu (soybean paneer) or milk paneer to make it a complete meal. If you eat egg, add scrambled or boiled egg pieces. Tofu /paneer / egg will make it rich in proteins. I have used chinese ingredients to give it a nice flavor. To make shehzwan fried drice from brown rice add shehzwan sauce.

Do you like this recipe? Are you going to try it out at home? If you do, share your suggestion and queries. I am eager to know if your family liked it!

I have cooked some vegetable like beans, carrot, cabbage  in microwave oven for 1-2 minutes. If the vegetables are half cooked, they give a crunchy taste and it will not change the color of the vegetables. If you want to use less amount of oil (and make it even healthier!), cook it in microwave over.

Tips to follow

• Soak brown rice for ½ an hour before cooking it.
• If you are cooking brown rice in a utensil, add 6 cup of water for 1 cup of rice and boil it for 25 minutes to ½ an hour or until the rice  becomes soft. Then drain it using colander and let it cool down for at least ½ an hour.
• If you want to cook brown rice in pressure cooker, it will get cooked within 10 -15 minutes on low flames. In pressure cooker, for 1 cup of brown rice, add 2¼ cup of water, keep the flames high. When it starts boiling, cover it with pressure cooker lid and cook it on low flames for 10 minutes.
• Before cooking fried brown rice, make sure that it is completely cooled as it clumps less when it is fried.
• Leftover soft cooked brown rice can also be used.

I have explained step by step method to cook fried brown rice. In this recipe, I have cooked brown rice in pressure cooker. But you can even cook brown rice in a utensil or use leftover cooked brown rice to make this recipe.

[ingredients title=”Ingredients to cook Fried Brown Rice”]

• 1 cup brown rice
• 2¼ cup water
• 1 teaspoon butter or oil
• ¼ cup onion chopped
• 3-4 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 strand of green garlic finely chopped (optional)
• 1 cup bell pepper (capscicum)-green, yellow or red
• ½ cup julienned cabbage
• ½ cup French beans finely chopped
• ½ cup panner or tofu pieces
• 5-6 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon soya sauce
• 1 /4 teaspoon black pepper for taste (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil (preferably sesame seed oil / olive oil)

(You can add vegetables of your choice or whatever available at home for eg. Broccoli florets, spinach, mushroom, peas, zucchini, carrots etc.)

[/ingredients]

[directions title=”Step by Step Directions to make fried brown rice “]

1. Wash the brown rice with clean water and soak it in 2¼ cup of water for ½ an hour.
2. Add some water to the cleaned rice and put it in pressure cooker on high flames, add 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt to it.
3. When it starts boiling, close the lid of pressure cooker and cook it for 7-8 minutes on low flames.
4. Remove it from heat let the steam release.
5. Let the rice cool completely in a big plate.
6. While the rice cools down, chop all the vegetables. Cook beans, cabbage for 2 minutes in microwave. It will make them half-cooked. This step is totally optional but follow it if you want your vegetables crunchy.
7. Heat the oil in a pan, add ½ of finely chopped garlic and sauté it for few seconds don’t make it brown.
8. Add spring onion, sauté it for few seconds and then add onion, bell pepper and stir fry on for few seconds.
9. Add the microwave-cooked vegetables, paneer or tofu and sauté it for a few seconds.
10. Add chili sauce, soya sauce to it .
11. Mix it.
12. Add cooked brown rice. 
13. Mix it and stir fry for 4-5 minutes .
14. Add chopped garlic and black pepper powder. This step is also optional if you don’t like raw garlic.
15. Serve fried brown rice hot.

    

[/directions]

Do you like it? Give it a try. I am sure your family will love it! And if you are not sure if it will work, share your queries below in comments.