Forbidden Rice or Why I Have Blackish-Purple Teeth Today

While my family hasn’t gone fully vegan or even vegetarian yet, we do eat that way most of the time. As a result, we have begun to incorporate new and interesting ingredients to keep things fun, new and flavorful. I’ll be blogging about ingredients that are new to my cooking repertoire, the nutritional information and examples of how I’ve used them just in case inquiring minds want to know. 

First up….Forbidden Rice!

I stumbled upon Forbidden Rice at my local whole foods and picked up a bag because, hey who doesn’t to try black rice?!? It’s actually a very dark purple color, not black and if you make it in a rice cooker it will spew dark puple steam all over your countertop (yikes!). The good news is that it wipes up easily and doesn’t leave any permanent stains. The manufacturer’s website says:

Legend tells us that this ancient grain was once eaten exclusively by the Emperors. Today, this medium-size Chinese black rice can be enjoyed everyday and is prized for its delicious nutty taste, soft texture, and beautiful rich deep purple color. High in nutritional and medicinal value, Forbidden Rice® is rich in iron and considered a blood tonifier. Unlike other black rice from Asia, it is not glutinous or rough and cooks in only 30 minutes to produce a superior flavor, texture, and color.

The website also lists nutritional information and links to recipes. I have used the rice as an alternative base to my vegetable stir fry. It has a different texture and flavor than plain, white rice, but I think that’s a good thing. It definately adds visual appeal to your dish, but remember it will add a purple hue to your entire mouth as well. It looks a bit as if I’ve just had a grape nehi or a puple gobstopper for lunch.

As far as nutritional value goes, it is on a scale of goodness better than glutinous white rice, but not as good as medium-grain brown rice and should be considered moderately inflammatory. If you have GI issues, you may consider limiting the amount of rice you eat. However, for everyone else, rice has no saturated fat, cholesterol and is low sodium and is a good source of manganese.

Enjoy!

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