Baked Brown Rice

Trust me, this is the way to make rice. My sister-in-law Faith sent me this recipe to complement her fabulous Red Beans with Cumin and Sausage. It was originally an Alton Brown recipe from Food Network. I made mine with Organic Earth Balance buttery spread, for a vegan dish. According to author Michel Montignac, "long-grain Basmati which has a high fiber content but don't make the mistake of washing it and cooking it in lots of water or you will lose the fiber."

1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain (I like long-grain organic brown basmati)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour, then remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Makes 6 servings.

Food Fact! What is the difference between brown rice and white rice? The following excerpt is from Michel Montignac's Slim Forever: The French Way. "The Glycemic Index (GI) of brown rice is 50, which makes it a good, low-GI carbohydrate. When brown rice undergoes the refining process, it becomes white rice. The new GI of the refined white rice is 70 (20 points higher than it would be for unrefined brown rice.) The reason for this is that when brown rice is refined into white rice, the fiber is removed, leaving only starch behind. The same thing happens when brown whole wheat flour is refined into white flour: all of its fiber is removed, and the GI goes up significantly. In their new, refined forms, both of these foods now more closely resemble glucose. This allows sugar to pass more easily into the bloodstream, since the body has little work to do in order to break the food down into glucose. Once refined, a good carbohydrate can become a bad one, since most its complex molecular bonds have been broken in the process."