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Rice with Peas - Brown or White Rice? That is the question

I have to make a confession. For the last couple of weeks, I have been eating too much sugar.  This is what happens when a good bakery like Huckleberry opens in my neighborhood.   But thank goodness to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Shop's closed. 

This week, I have amended my eating pattern a little, starting Tuesday with a menu that is basically Macrobiotic.  Brown Rice with Fresh Peas and a clear Spring soup with Fresh Peas, Tofu and Wakame seaweed (see recipe below). This with some pickled napa cabbage and an apple for dessert and I feel like my sins will be forgiven.  Notice I am still trying to finish up the Fresh Peas i bought from the market last week.

Brown Rice with Peas is very simple. Briefly blanch the peas in boiling saltwater and drain. You just mix the barely cooked peas into steamed brown rice.  Sprinkle salt (fleur de sel)  and roasted black or white sesame seeds for flavor.  I make the brown rice in my bulky twelve year old Panasonic electric pressure cooker SR -106 N that looks a little like R2D2. It's a very reliable pot that gives me absolutely no fear of pressure cooking. I set the timer for 30 minutes and walk away. The rice comes out chewy and nutty, which is impossible to achieve in a regular pot or electric ricecooker.  Even though this kitchen R2D2 doesn't sing like my electric rice cooker, I love it.

If you choose to make the dish with White Rice, that's fine too but it just won't be as wholesome as Brown rice.  Cook the white rice in a regular electric rice cooker or  a heavy pot and add the peas at the very end to give them a brief steam. Sprinkle salt and roasted black or white sesame seeds.   

Try to introduce more brown rice or white rice mixed with whole grains into your daily life. You will feel healthier and live longer.