How to Prepare Brown Rice in Microwave? Simple, Tasty, Healthy Recipe

microwave brown rice header

The ultimate essence to a wholesome meal in Asia starts from a bowl of rice! Rice has a long and valuable history in Japan. Stemming from meticulous rice cultivation to its accessibility we have today, it’s no wonder people yield to its nutritious qualities more and more. With no need of slow rice cooker or extra storage space, we introduce you the microwaveable brown rice that will leave you wanting more. Learn why brown rice is the way to go, useful tips to preparing it and some easy-to-follow recipes for that extra boost of flavour!

 

What is Microwave Brown Rice?

Have you ever cooked brown rice? If yes, how do you usually cook it?

Brown rice may be tedious to cook because of the rice husks. However, with the Microwave Brown Rice, all you need is to rely on the microwave to do the work for you. Goodbye additional rice cooker!

How does it taste like?

Since Brown rice is whole-grain rice with the outer hull removed, it contains nutty flavor, fragrance, chewy texture, and natural color.

Brown Rice Nutrition

According to USDA, brown rice contains a rich amount of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B. This nutrition can keep you healthy, such as preventing heart disease.

Source:
Rice, brown, long grain, cooked (includes food for USDA’s Food Distribution Program)

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Is Brown Rice Healthy? Find out Its Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits There are many types of rice we can identify—white rice, black rice, sticky or glutinous rice, long-grain jasmine rice, and basmati rice, etc. They are all c...

Types of Brown Rice that can be Cooked in the Microwave

There are two types of brown rice that can be cooked in the microwave, retort brown rice and raw brown rice. Retort brown rice can be made by following the package instructions. Here, we show you a step-by-step guide to cooking raw brown rice in the microwave. Try it out with us!

Best Way to Cook Brown Rice in the Microwave

Some people might be short on time and don’t always have the opportunity to prepare brown rice, so microwave brown rice is a big time save. Read on to see how you can make perfect brown rice with just a few steps.

What do You Need?

Preparing tasty brown rice in the microwave all you need is:

 

⇒Brown Rice: 300 grams
⇒Cooking alcohol: 15ml
⇒Salt: 5 grams
⇒Heat-resistant bowl: 1

How to Microwave Brown Rice?

 

  • 1

    Wash and soak the brown rice
  • 2

    Add salt and cooking sake
  • 3

    cover with plastic wrap and make some holes

  • 4

    heat in microwave for 25 mins
  • 5

    mix then reheat in microwave
  • 6

    put it aside for 10 mins and ready to serve

There are six steps to make brown rice in the microwave:

 

 Steps:

1
Wash the brown rice and put it in a heat-resistant bowl, soak in water for 2 hours.
2
Adjust the amount of water to 2cm higher than the rice, and cooking alcohol and salt.
3
Cover with a wrap, then drill several holes with a toothpick or a folk.
4
Heat in a microwave with 500W for 25 minutes.
5
Take it out, mix it, then put it back to a microwave with 300W for 25 minutes.
6
Leave it with the wrap for 10 minutes, and it is ready to eat.

USEFUL TIPS TO KNOW  
● Unlike white rice, brown rice has a shell on its surface. Soaking for a while can help soften the texture.
● In winter, we recommend soaking the brown rice in water for at least 4 hours. You can also soak it a day in advance before going to bed.

Microwave Brown Rice Recipe

Let’s try our hands on cooking simple, tasty and healthy meals with our one pan recipes!

 

Brown Rice Curry

Curry is an easy and common dish paired with rice in Japan. Try using brown rice as an accompaniment for elevated taste and nutrition.
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients
  

  • 200 grams Pork
  • 1 Carrot
  • 4 cups Brown Rice
  • 1 tbsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp Pepper
  • 1 tbsp Salad Oil
  • 700 cc Water

Instructions
 

  • Peel and cut the carrot in rolling wedges and cut the pork into bite size pieces.
  • Add salad oil, fry the pork and stir sufficiently. Add salt and pepper until the color changes.
  • Add 700cc of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add curry roux.
  • Boil for 10 minutes and enjoy it with your Microwave Brown Rice.

 

teriyaki-brown-rice-bento

Chicken Teriyaki Brown Rice Bento

Teriyaki chicken and brown rice would be the nice combination for bento. To make the nutrients more balanced, complete the bento with stir fry dishes or with steamed vegetables.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 200 grams Chicken Breast
  • 2 cups Brown Rice
  • 2 tbsp Cooking Alcohol
  • 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 2 tbsp Mirin
  • 2 tbsp Sugar
  • Vegetable Oil (a little)
  • Steamed vegetables (carrot, red pepper, green pepper, sweet potato, etc)

Instructions
 

  • Mix cooking alcohol, soy sauce, mirin, sugar with chicken breast and leave to marinade for about 30 minutes.
  • Turn on the frying pan and heat the vegetable oil in low heat. Cook the marinated chicken until lightly browned on bottom. Flip over and cook through.
  • Take it out, serve it at the bento box with brown rice you have microwaved, and add some steamed veggies.
Keyword Brown Rice, Chicken Teriyaki, Bento

 

Natto Brown Rice

 

microwave brown rice with natto

Natto is a widely-known Japanese superfood made of fermented soybeans, which not only increases immunity but also good for bone health. For this recipe, all you need to do is open one box of natto, place the natto above your microwaved brown rice and mix them. In just 3 minutes, a very traditional Japanese dish- Natto with brown rice is ready to serve!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Microwave Brown Rice

After understanding the microwave brown rice, let’s review their advantages and disadvantages!

Advantages

● You don’t have to prepare extra equipment such as a professional rice cooker or a saucepan in order to cook brown rice. This will save you money, space and time.

● Fresh brown rice is ready-to-eat in just an hour!

● If you want to save more time, we highly recommend trying Koso Genmai which will be ready after 5 minutes of heating.

 

Disadvantages

● In order to cook the brown rice, we will need to run the microwave for about 1 hour. It may be difficult to guarantee the safety issue.

● It may not be cost effective to buy steamed packages regularly.

Healthier than Brown Rice: What is Koso Genmai?

As compared to white rice, brown rice is full of nutrition. Therefore, brown rice is a staple for many in Japan.

Besides brown rice, Koso Genmai is another popular option these days. Koso Genmai is brown rice cooked together with Azuki beans (red beans) and salt before being fermented.

Here are some comparisons between Regular Brown Rice and Koso Genmai.

Microwave Brown Rice vs Koso Genmai

 

Details Brown Rice Koso Genmai
Definition

Brown rice is a type of rice excluding rice husks.

Brown rice contains not only endosperm, which is rich in carbohydrates, but also germ, which is rich in proteins, lipids, and vitamins, and is characterized by being rich in nutrition.

Koso Genmai is brown rice, cooking together with red beans and salt. Matured for 3 to 4 days, it becomes highly nutritious.

If you are not good at brown rice because it is lumpy, Koso Genmai might be a new choice.

Taste

● Nutty flavor

● Chewy texture

● Lumpy

● Red bean aroma

● Soft and chewy

● Good balance of sweet and salt

 

Health Effect Brown Rice Koso Genmai
Helps to Keep You Fuller for Healthy Weight

Prevent the Risk of Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Disease

Prevent the Risk of Several Types of Cancer

Brown Rice is Good for Diabetics

Relaxing Stress with GABA Ingredients

Help to Suppress Blood Pressure

Good for your Diet

Help to Solve Constipation

Further details Click here for more Click here for more

 

Annotation: ○ stands for “Good”; ◎ stands for “Excellent”.

Nutrition Facts Comparison for Brown Rice and Koso Genmai

 

white rice brown rice and Koso Genmai

Compared with white rice, brown rice and Koso Genmai both offer more nutritious ingredients such as potassium and calcium. While Koso Genmai not only contains nutrition which brown rice includes, the fermentation process allows the nutrition to stand out even more. Read on for the comparison:

 

nutrition comparison of white rice brown rice and Koso Genmai

* Per 150g of rice bowl. Percentage is the nutritional amount of white rice and Koso Genmai when brown rice is 100

* From “Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2015 (7th edition)”

* Reference book: “Poisonous Koso Genmai Diet” Uka Okamoto (SHUFUNOTOMO)

* Source: HIRYU-type Koso Genmai Nutrients contained in 150g of rice

Note: Please use this information for reference. Each manufacturer has its own nutritional value.

 

In short, Koso Genmai is a power-up version of brown rice. You can also take in polyphenols because of the red beans. It is also popular with entertainers in current Japan because it is excellent in terms of beauty.

How to make Koso Genmai

Do you know that you can also make Koso Genmai at the comfort of your home?

Koso Genmai is known for its incredible health benefits, with abundant enzymes that are considered to be one of the most important elements for human activity.

 

 

Related Post on How to make Fermented Brown Rice
How To Make Fermented Brown Rice (Koso Genmai) Fermented brown rice (Koso Genmai) is very good for diet and health. Even for those who can't eat normal brown rice, they can eat fermented brown rice because it has fluffy texture with more umami. Let's easily make fermented brown rice with organic ingredients at home!

Microwave Brown Rice FAQ

 

How to cook brown rice in the microwave?
You can enjoy brown rice by microwaving it for 50 minutes. For instance, first time at 500W 25 minutes followed by second time at 300W 25 minutes. Please make sure that the bowl is suitable for microwaves.

 

What does microwave brown rice taste like?
It has a fragrant taste similar to nuts and rice. Due to the brown rice excluding rice husks, the texture is chewier than white rice. If moldy taste is present, that means the brown rice is no longer fresh.

 

What kind of brown rice do you recommend?
We recommend choosing brown rice with full shape, deep colour, and obvious germ. Since only the outermost part is removed, some products might have pesticide residues. Make sure the brown rice is organic and cultivated without relying on pesticides or chemical fertilisers.

 

Is brown rice healthy?
As compared to white rice, brown rice contains 5 times of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B1, Vitamin E, Magnesium, and Iron. This nutrition can keep you healthy and prevent risk of diseases. If your main concerns are constipation or relieving stress, Koso Genmai will be the better choice as it is the power-up version of brown rice.

Recommended Products for Microwave Brown Rice

Would you like to try brown rice? Here are our all organic recommendations, crafted just for you!

 


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Author of this post

Tiffany is a content strategist but does more than just wrangling commas. She is deliberately enamoured by the meaning of food and wellbeing with a repertoire of all things Japanese. Her dream is to be a maven at savouring life!