How to Cook Wild Rice

Depending upon the recipe you want to make, choose the method of cooking the wild rice. The process of cooking wild rice recipe in a saucepan or microwave, is perfect when you want to cook some exotic dishes like risotto or herb flavored rice. You can also opt for this method of cooking wild rice when you want to make wild rice salads. However, the recipe with rice cooker works well, when you want to make wild rice for soup recipes or want to serve the rice with some curry.

A cup of wild rice will yield around 3 - 4 cups of cooked rice, so use the proportions accordingly. Many people prefer not to add salt when cooking the rice recipes, so it is up to you if you wish to add salt while cooking wild rice. However, personally I always add a little salt to the rice to balance its taste. Wild rice takes longer time to cook than white rice, but it has many nutrients. It contains vitamin B3 and other B vitamins. It also contains calcium and potassium, and is a good source of dietary fiber. Here are three main ways to cook wild rice.

Cooking Wild Rice in Saucepan
Take ⅔ cup of wild rice, take 2 and half cup of water, and around ½ teaspoon salt or according to taste.

• Wash the wild rice three times with hot tap water and drain it properly.
• Take a saucepan and heat the rice, water and salt till it boils.
• Reduce the heat and cover the pan with a lid.
• Let the mix simmer till the rice becomes tender, and has absorbed the water. The perfect time of how long do you cook wild rice, till it becomes tender can be anywhere between half an hour to 45 minutes.
• The well cooked wild rice will be tender but not mushy or very soft.

Cooking Wild Rice in Microwave
For this recipe you will need 3 cups of water or vegetable broth for vegetarian recipes or chicken broth for non-veg recipes, and ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of wild rice.

• Wash the rice properly and let it drain.
• In a casserole dish combine the water or broth with wild rice and mix salt in it.
• Microwave on high setting for 5 minutes.
• Then microwave the rice on medium or 50% power setting for half an hour.
• Let the rice stand for 15 minutes.
• Drain the rice and it is ready to eat.

Cooking Wild Rice in Rice Cooker
To cook this recipe you will need 3 ½ cups of water or broth, 1 cup of wild rice, and ½ teaspoon of salt.

• Wash the rice 3 times with clean hot water.
• Spray the nonstick cooking spray on the rice cooker, or smear a little butter or olive oil.
• Add water in the cooker and salt, mix them together and add rice.
• Cover the cooker for around 40 minutes or till the rice cooker switches off.
• Let it stand for 10 - 15 minutes and serve.

So, choose any of the above mentioned ways to cook the wild rice. Keep alternating the amount of water or adding flavors like lemon or herbs when cooking wild rice, or cook it with different varieties of rice like white and brown, and soon you will be able to perfect the art of cooking wild rice.