replacing rice

[reggaedog]

rice has been a major part of my diet for a long time and I'm curious what foods to replace it with?

[carolg]

cauliflower looks like rice ground up in food processor....note sure if it would have same starch rice has.

carolg

[Thick]

You can also soak or "bloom" wild rice and eat it. Many vegetables can be riced-- I like cauliflower as Carolg suggested but you can also make--turnip, jicama, butternut squash, crookneck squash, zucchini, any squash, sweet potato, carrot or practically any other harder vegetable.

You just cut it into smallish pieeces and pulse it in a food processor until it is rice or cous cous size.

[coco]

unless specified as truly raw by the company selling it, wild rice isn't raw. it is steamed as part of it's processing. it wouldn't neccesarily be labelled as such unless it was a raw specific company selling it, you'd have to call and ask for that info.

in nori rolls i use a sunflower and/or pumpkin seed pate, it's filling and tastes great with the veggies and sprouts. sometimes i use a young romaine lettuce leaf as the wrap part, that's nice too.

[Frugal Raw]

I LOVE "riced" parsnips in lieu of rice! They have a light sweetness to them, whereas cauliflower can sometimes be bitter. To prepare them, grate them in a food processor or hand grate - just watch the fingers!!! :D

[srsarri]

I hate to be negative here, but if you like rice as much as I do, NOTHING i mean NOTHING replaces it. the ONLY thing I craved when I dropped everything and went 100% raw was RICE, not snickers, pizza, or pasta, I craved a big bowl of Plain brown rice.

I still crave it. Funny this post came up, I tried cauliflower "rice" yesterday, and It was so bad It made me eat a couple tablespoons of my boyfriends rice! HAH. I felt fine after.

Sorry this was negative, I am going to keep checking up on this thread to see if anyone has any more good suggestions for us!

[Thick]

In defense of cauliflower rice, you really need to make an excellent, strong sauce to go with it. I've made it a couple of differet ways and the milder the sauce the less I like it. My favorite way so far was-
-portobello mushrooms marinated in garlic and nama shoyu and olive oil
-olives
-tomatoes
-bell peppers, different colors
-italian herbs
-fresh garlic
-spinach

Marinate the mushrooms (important ingredient) and *warm* it in dehydrator for a couple of hours, then stir it into fresh cauliflower "rice" and some fresh parsley and basil.

Okay, that's the last time I mention the cauliflower rice--as most people are so disgusted by it that they are moved to post their revulsion.

[carolg]

Cauliflower with hemp seed oil or flax seed oil rawks. Try it you all.

HARD VEGGIES:

Thick,
I have hard squashes from Farmer's Market. Hubbard mainly. How do I slice these monster, hard squashes. You know the kind? Orange long and thick, plus very thick skinned.

Thanks.
carolg

[srsarri]

Thick - I am going to try the cauliflower rice your way!, Im dieing to find a way I like it! Thanks!

[Thick]

So, as not to hijack--I'd like to second the parsnips that Frugalraw suggested. They are so good and sweet--almost fennelish--so good!



Thick,
I have hard squashes from Farmer's Market. Hubbard mainly. How do I slice these monster, hard squashes. You know the kind? Orange long and thick, plus very thick skinned.

Thanks.
carolg

You'll need a really good knife. I use a cleaver type serrated chef knife for things with hard rinds like watermelon, squashand pineapple. Here's a video--she doesn't start cutting until 2 minutes. http://www.slashfood.com/2008/09/09/foodie-flicks-cutting-butternut-squash/

heres a woman with a cleaver on the back porch..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdfsUHJWlI4

here's my favorite tv chef alton brown using a mallet with a cleaver to cut a hard squash, and then unfortunately cookes them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAJOnBkpAY

[Emma-Liza]

thick--I've been wanting to try some sort of squash rice and I was wondering if you thought the huge calabazos would work. I've seen them sold in quarters or eighths at the international mkt. They look sort of like butternut squash in a king kong size. A quarter is probably 5-6 lbs and comes with strings and seeds intact. Have you ever used this for anything? Think it would be good raw. (And I could dehydrate the seeds. I used to roast squash and pumpkin seeds--yum! the recent thread on them got me all nostalgic.)

BTW, I thought the cauliflower rice was fine; I just wanted to try something a bit sweeter next. Jicama is also on my list. Man, I have so many things I want to experiment with! Can only pick a few per week! :)

[Stina]

Please try sprouting quinoa. I feel it fills that need for substance that cooked rice used to.

[RawKnitster]

Sprouting quinoa sounds like a good replacement.

This is more of a recipe, but I like to make it if I'm missing fried rice. Make a rice out of jicama, add an assortment of snow peas, chopped almonds, red pepper...any veges could be found in fried rice. The key is the dressing, equal parts olive oil, sesame oil, and shoyu, flavored with garlic and ginger, maybe cilantro and basil.

[Ilse W.]

Oh that sounds sooo good. I happen to have a jicama sitting on the counter (I rarely ever buy them) and I WILL try that this week. :)

[Morn]

How about Barley. I have used barely in nori rolls and you can make a raw chili with it.

[ShelShel]

Now see, this is why I don't try for the rice anymore. :rolleyes: Because once I've gone through all the work and if disappointed at the result, I find myself getting the cooked version because I had my heart set on it.

I simply don't try to replace my cooked favorites, but rather find new raw foods that I find as satisfying in new ways.

[SekhemNefer]

I hate to be negative here, but if you like rice as much as I do, NOTHING i mean NOTHING replaces it. the ONLY thing I craved when I dropped everything and went 100% raw was RICE, not snickers, pizza, or pasta, I craved a big bowl of Plain brown rice.

I still crave it. Funny this post came up, I tried cauliflower "rice" yesterday, and It was so bad It made me eat a couple tablespoons of my boyfriends rice! HAH. I felt fine after.

Sorry this was negative, I am going to keep checking up on this thread to see if anyone has any more good suggestions for us!

You got that right sister! I miss rice the most, more than pasta and bread.

I wonder if cous - cous can replace rice. And I am not much of a Barley fan unless it is in beef barley soup, which I can't eat when trying to be 100% raw.

[kaybee]

i second the sprouted barley, at least for soups, which i have been doing alot of lately during this cold rainy summer. you want "pot" barley; there might be another name for it, but basically you want the outer husks off, but you dont want it polished to white: i.e. you dont want "pearl" barley becuase i dont think it will sprout. this is the best rice substitute i have come up with, and it works best in soups: soak it then sprout it for a day or 2 until you see signs of it getting "tails"; keep rinsing well. it softens to almost the consistency of cooked rice. i put a bunch of chopped or grated veggies (carrots, mushrooms, sometimes some greens) in a huge bowl with garlic, herbs (basil, etc) , salt, tamari (or nama shoyu if you can get it but i cant), misoand some olive or sesame oil, add the barley, then pour hot water over it all. you could use warm water but i find because im pouring it over such a volume of veggies, warm water is cold by the time it mixes with the veggies. of course i dont use boiling water, but about the temperature where its just starting to hurt to put my finger in it. yeah, it may cause the outsides of some of the veggies to lose the enzymes, but i figure most of them will be preserved, and after you mix it in the soup is just warm anyway becuase of the quantity of veggies its warming. im willing to compromise on a few enzymes if it keeps me raw; too much cold and rain here and i need warm food :) but yeah, try the barley. it doesnt have much taste, but has about the texture of rice once its been soaked and sprouted.

kaybee

[rawstrength]

What about sprouted lentils?
They aren't exactly like rice, but they might make a nice brown rice substitue when you're looking for something that is grainy/starchy like rice that you can use as the base for a meal. I've been loving sprouted lentils and garbanzos lately, cheap, filling, enzyme-rich, protein-rich, mineral-rich and delicious!

[RawYorkCity]

I used to crave, or so I thought, rice too. I was a kid who could eat rice by itself (I was picky anyway so no meat/vegetables for me). What I found is that I wanted rice with steamed vegetables from a fast food Asian restaurant. Well, we all know how salty they make those foods, so I figured it was a salt/variety craving. Try salty fruits like cucumber, bell peppers, and tomatoes chopped up and mixed with avocado. It's definitely got me satisfied!

[brownies]

Personally I HATE cauliflower as rice. I've tried it a few times and have gagged on all the variations I've tried. I can't even think about cauliflower & curry anymore without my stomach churning.

I prefer sprouted quinoa.