[2] A tricolor rice dish made from white rice, using vegetables for color (photo © Nephroplus).

[2] These are the natural colors of brown rice (photos #2, #3, #4 and #5 © rice specialist In Harvest).

[3] Black rice, also called forbidden rice.

[4] Red rice, also called Bhutanese red rice.

[5] Green bamboo rice is white rice infused with bamboo extract, combining the health benefits of chlorophyll with a delightful color

September is National Rice Month, so here’s an eye-catching recipe that’s impressive for special occasions. We’ll get to the recipe in a minute, but first: All rice starts as a whole grain, which means that the germ and bran layer are intact. When these are removed, you have white rice.

The most common bran layer for rice is brown; remove it and you have white rice. But there are also red and black rice brans. The darker the bran layer, the more nutritional value the rice has.

Some rices are only partially milled, so some of the bran layer is left on. These rices tend to be light tan, pink or even a striated color. Our Madagascar Pink Rice is an example of rice that is partially milled. It still retains a high level of nutrition, but cooks faster and has a texture that is closer to white rice.

But you don’t have to by naturally colored rices to serve colored rice. You can color white rice with vegetables, as in the recipe below.

Tricolor rice is a popular dish in India, but we haven’t yet seen it in the U.S.—probably because it’s a bit more work.

We did find a sweet dessert version to join the savory rice below.

You don’t have to use Indian flavors if it’s not your thing. Just add your own favorite herbs and spices, using the recipe template as a guide.

> The different types of rice: a glossary.

> The history of rice.
 
> 40+ more rice recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: TRICOLOR RICE

This special-occasion recipe from Nephroplus.com as an Indian specialty called a rice sandwich.

Since most of us in the U.S. don’t want to labor over six individual servings, we made it in one large Pyrex bowl.

Prep time is 25 minutes, cook time is 25 minutes, baking time is 20 to 25 minutes. The wonderful aroma will have everyone waiting in anticipation!

Ingredients For 6 Servings

For The Orange Rice

 
For The White Rice

 
For The Green Rice

 
For The Green Paste

 
Plus

 
Preparation

For The Orange Rice

1. COMBINE the tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of water in a deep non-stick pan. Cook over a medium flame for 5 to 7 minutes or till the tomatoes are soft.

2. BLEND the tomatoes in a blender to a smooth pulp and strain it using a strainer; set aside.

3. HEAT the ghee in a wide non-stick pan. Add the onions and sauté over a medium flame for 1 minute. Add the carrots and sauté for 1 more minute. Add the prepared tomato pulp, green chiles, sugar and salt. Mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes.

 
4. ADD the rice, mix well and cook over a medium flame for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
 
For The White Rice

1. HEAT the ghee in a wide non-stick pan and add the caraway seeds. When the seeds crackle, add the green chiles and sauté on a medium flame for 30 seconds.

2. ADD the rice and paneer, mix well and cook over a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
 
For The Green Rice

1. HEAT the ghee in a wide non-stick pan. Add the onions and sauté on a medium flame for 1 minute.

2. ADD the green paste and again sauté over a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rice, green peas and salt, mix well and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
 
To Assemble

1. PREHEAT the oven to 360°F. Grease a microwave safe baking bowl with oil and spread the green rice evenly over it using the back of a spoon. Add the white rice and spread it evenly using the back of a spoon. Top with the orange rice and spread it evenly using the back of a spoon.

2. POUR the milk evenly over the rice, cover the bowl with a lid and bake for 15 to 20 minutes (or microwave on high for 5 to 7 minutes).

3. SERVE: Turn the bowl upside down on a serving plate. Serve immediately.
 
 

January 21st is National New England Clam Chowder Day, with a cream base. There is no National Manhattan Clam Chowder Day, honoring the tomato-base version; but you can have your choice of recipes on February 25th, a generic National Clam Chowder Day.

The recipe is below.

> Check out the different types of chowder below.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CHOWDER

Chowder is a type of soup (see below for the major categories) made with potatoes and onions. It can include clams or other seafood, chicken, corn and creative variations.

A friend of ours has an old family recipe from Maine for a haddock chowder. Feel free to combine fish and shellfish. How about a surf-and-turf chowder with both chicken and fish or shellfish?

The word chowder has its roots in the Latin calderia, which originally meant a hearth for warming things and later came to mean a cooking pot. The word evolved to cauldron, which in French became chaudiere, a word that easily became chowder in English.

The first chowders in our culture were fish chowders, made in cauldrons in fishing villages along the coast of France and in the Cornwall region of Southwestern England. When the fishermen came to the New World, they found clams in huge supply along the northern Atlantic coast, and clam chowder was born.

Celebrate today—or any day demanding a hearty soup—with this yummy clam chowder.
 
 
RECIPE: NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

This one-pot recipe, adapted from Bon Appetit, can be made a day in advance, up to Step 5. Bring the chowder to a simmer before adding the clams on the second day.

Substitutes:

 
Ingredients For 8 One-Cup Servings

 
Preparation

1. BRING the clams and water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Cook until the clams are just open, 8-10 minutes; discard any that do not open. Drain, reserving the broth. Transfer the clams to a baking pan, rimmed sheet or platter; let cool until comfortable to handle, remove the meat, and discard the shells. This step can be done 1 day ahead. Cover the clams and broth separately and refrigerate.

[1] The clam chowder recipe with bacon. Here’s the recipe (photo © Bon Appetít).

[2] Some recipes are heavier on the cream, but that gives you more cream flavor, less clam-vegetable flavor (photo © Mackenzie Ltd.).

[3] Clam chowder in individual bread bowls at Arch Rock Fish of Santa Barbara (alas, now closed).

3. MELT the butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the bacon begins to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the celery, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.

4. ADD the reserved broth, potatoes, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, 20-25 minutes.

5. COMBINE the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl to form a slurry, and stir it into the chowder. Return the chowder to a boil to thicken. DO day ahead. Let cool; discard the bay leaf.

6. STIR in the clams and cream. Taste and season with salt as needed (some clams are brinier than others) and pepper; or allow diners to season their own. Divide the chowder among bowls. Garnish with chives or parsley. Serve with oyster crackers.
________________

*Discard any uncooked clams with broken or opened shells; these can collect bacteria. Conversely, discard any cooked clams with shells that have not opened.

†Substitute Baby Dutch potatoes or other waxy potato (here are the different types of potatoes).
________________

[5] Rhode Island Clam Chowder has a clear base. Here’s the recipe from The New York Times (photo © The New York Times).

[6] Sweet-flesh razor clams can look exotic, yet beautiful, in a clam chowder (photo © The Fish Society).

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLAM CHOWDER
 

 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOUP: BROTH, CHOWDER, CONSOMMÉ & MORE

 
 
MORE FOR SOUP LOVERS

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOUP

> THE HISTORY OF SOUP
 
 

When we first saw the word sorghum, it was as a tween, in the reading of “Gone With The Wind.”

There was no sugar available in the blockaded, war-torn South, so Scarlett O’Hara sweetened her coffee substitute, chicory, with sorghum syrup, a molasses substitute.

For decades, we thought of sorghum as a sweetener. After all, it’s not something you come across in the American diet.

That is changing, with the rise in demand for gluten-free whole grains.

Sorghum is an ancient Old World whole grain that has been cultivated for millennia.

 
You can also pop sorghum seeds. The result looks just like popcorn.

COOKING SORGHUM: WHERE TO START?

Click to the links featured in the photos, and/or pick up a sorghum cookbook.

WHAT IS SORGHUM?

Sorghum is a genus of plants in the grass family—the family that includes the other grains (see the list below).

Seventeen of the twenty-five sorghum species are native to Australia. One species, Sorghum bicolor, native to Africa, has become an important crop worldwide.

Most varieties of sorghum are drought- and heat-tolerant, and are especially important crops in arid regions, where the grain is a dietary staples for the poor and rural populations.

Sorghum is not only used for food (as grain and sorghum syrup, similar to molasses), but is brewed into alcoholic beverages, used as animal fodder, and made into biofuels.

Nutritionally, it is similar to raw oats. A serving contains 20% or more of the Daily Value of protein; the B vitamins niacin, thiamin and vitamin B6; and several dietary minerals, including iron (26% DV) and manganese (76% DV).

HULLED VS. PEARLED GRAINS

When you see a grain labeled “hulled,” such as barley or sorghum, it indicates a whole grain.

Hulled means that the the three parts of the seed—the bran, germ and endosperm—are intact, or “whole.” A whole grain provides optimum nutrition—vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Only the inedible outermost layer, the hull, has been removed. This is true for all grains for human consumption: We can’t digest the hulls.

Pearled grains are processed, like white rice. The polishing (pearling) removes the nutritious bran layer. The flavor is more delicate, not earthy; and it cooks faster. But a good amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber are lost in the process.

Here’s more about whole grains and their nutrition.
 
WONDERGRAIN: A LINE OF PREMIUM SORGUM PRODUCTS

In 2012 Patricia Alemdar was given a taste of crushed sorghum from Haiti, where it’s considered a medicinal food. Although she liked the taste, she didn’t really care for the texture.

(The common variety of sorghum is too dense to be cooked whole, so it needs to be crushed.)

After months of research and testing, she and her mother produced a better, premium version of sorghum.

It didn’t have to be crushed to be eaten whole. It had the softest bite and fastest cooking time. They launched it in 2014, and branded it Wondergrain.

It’s a delicious addition to our table! The line is certified kosher by OU.

Discover more at Wondergrain.com.
 
FOOD FUN: NAME THE WHOLE GRAINS!

________________
*Grits are refined and are not whole grains.

[1] Sorghum (photo courtesy Wondergrain). [2] Pearled sorghum cooks faster, but is not a whole grain (see the discussion below—photo courtesy Healthy Nibbles And Bits). [3] BREAKFAST: A bowl of hot sorghum (here’s the recipe from Clean Eating Magazine). [4] LUNCH: Sorghum grain bowl with beans and avocado (here’s the recipe from Street Smart Nutrition). [5] Sorghum salad with kale pesto (here’s the recipe from Healthy Nibbles & Bits). [6] DINNER: Serve chicken or fish with a side of sorghum (here’s the recipe from Bon Appetit). [7] Add some grated cheese to this sorghum and squash pilaf (here’s the recipe from Cooking Light).

Chocolate for Burns Night. If you need something more simple, grab a quality dark chocolate bar (photos #1 and #2 courtesy Burdick Chocolate, photo #3 courtesy Laphroaig).

Luke Scotch? Like chocolate? Combine both on January 25th.

On that day, the birthday of the great Scottish romantic poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) is celebrated. Family and friends gather for Burns Night, an evening of good food and company.

A traditional Burns’ Supper (Scottish supper) is served. It can consist of beef pie, cock-a-leekie soup, colcannon, haggis, nettles and tatties, smoked haddock and more.

Perhaps, some of Burns’ most popular poems are read: A Red, Red Rose; To a Louse; To a Mouse; Tam O’Shanter, Ae Fond Kiss and perhaps most appropriate to the occasion, Address to a Haggis.

You could celebrate with dinner, with a cup of tea and some shortbread, or with a dram of Scotch.

But that dram would be so much better with a box of the Robert Burns Whisky Bonbons from L.A. Burdick Chocolate.

Available for just a few weeks, these chocolates are infused with a variety of fine Scotches, including Macallan, Glenfarclas, Talisker, Springbank, Highland Park and Lagavulin.

A half pound gift box is $42.00.

Don’t tarry: Order yours today at Burdick Chocolate.

Finish the evening with Burns’ most famous poem, set to a folk song:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
And days of auld lang syne, my dear,
And days of auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

And ther’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

HERE’S MORE ON PAIRING CHOCOLATE & SCOTCH.
 
  

Having grown up with a mom whose acclaimed pasta sauce set a bar, we never liked supermarket sauces, even in our less-picky, less flush college days.

As we grew into long work days and a paycheck, we treated ourselves to Sauces ’n Love, its shelf-stable Scarpetta line, and other high-end brands.

All have the same thing in common: top-of-the-line tomatoes, which means that no sugar needs to be added to sweeten dull tomatoes (the corollary problem being that the typical popular brand adds more than a pinch of sugar).

When we don’t have time to make their own—or when tomatoes are not in season, which is most of the year—we often pick up a bottle of Riserva from Classico, a brand owned by Heinz.

The Classico brand’s pasta and pizza sauces, pesto and bruschetta are familiar to many consumers.

The Riserva line’s vine-ripened tomatoes mean that there’s no sugar added. That’s our kind of sauce (and given all the hidden sugar in purchased foods, it’s not easy to find popularly-priced sugar-free tomato sauces).

A 24-ounce jar is $4.72 with free shipping at Walmart (for orders of $50 or more—you don’t even have to schlep it!).

Varieties include:

 
You can find Classico Riserva at retailers nationwide including club stores, and at e-tailers such as Amazon.

(We were quite surprised at some unhappy Amazon reviews, e.g. “Heinz should stick to ketchup.” At this price, we can’t find anything better—rich tomato flavor, thick and chunky).

So, what’s for dinner:

Classico Riserva sauces are thick, chunky, delicious and made from quality ingredients. [1] Marinara Sauce (photo courtesy Classico). [2] Eggplant Artichoke Sauce at Cravings Of A Lunatic. Here’s how Kim uses it.

We’re hungry already!

TIP FOR THE VEGETABLE RESISTANT

Cook veggies to al dente and place in a heat-proof dish. Cover with pasta sauce and mozzarella and heat in the oven, under the broiler or in the microwave until the cheese is melted.

Garnish with any fresh herbs at hand, or a sprinkle of oregano or thyme. For the truly veggie-averse, serve with grated parmesan.

Yum.