Is it me or does yellow rice taste better than white? Sure, the added spices definitely help but it’s also a visual thing! Color affects how we perceive taste. When our tastebuds come into contact with food, they send signals to our brain to interpret flavor. But we look at food before eating so our eyes are sending signals first. This causes us to have an interpretation of what the food tastes like even before it crosses our lips!
What gives yellow rice that beautiful color?
Turmeric! Merely a handful of years ago, I didn’t even know what turmeric was. These days, not only do I always have fresh root on hand but I buy ground turmeric by the pound. That’s right, my pantry houses a 1 lb. bag of ground turmeric. How did I go from not knowing what turmeric was to buying it by the pound? I read How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger and learned a vast amount of information about food and health. Turmeric was one of many things I began to incorporate into my diet after learning the health benefits!
You might wonder what I use all this turmeric in? Everything! Beans, rice, curries, tofu seasoning, chilis, even green smoothies, just to name a few.
What is Turmeric?
A cousin to ginger root, turmeric root and looks very similar until you cut into it and reveal it’s brilliant orange color!
Turmeric is commonly used in Asian and Middle Eastern dishes (and a large portion of my cooking!) adding not only a richness of color but is also packed with powerful health benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial activities. Over one hundred clinical studies have been carried out with curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, and its health benefits.
Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric but our bodies don’t easily absorb it, so always pair turmeric with fresh ground black pepper. The active ingredient in black pepper, piperine, increases the bioavailability of curcumin by 2000%!1
Is there arsenic in rice?
Years ago I heard somewhere that there’s arsenic in rice but had no further information on what that actually meant. I should have looked into it before giving myself a pat on the back for not eating rice at all back then but I unfortunately just avoided it more.
I assure you that the benefits from eating rice far out weight possible arsenic risks and there are actions you can take to help reduce exposure!
Arsenic is a naturally occurring heavy metal found in rock, soil, and water. Inorganic arsenic is what we really need to worry about and it can be found from contaminated soil and ground water from livestock manure, fertilizer, pesticides, or industrial waste. The reason arsenic levels can be higher in rice than other grains is because rice crops sit in standing water.
There are tricks you can do to reduce the chance that your rice is tainted with arsenic!
- Buy rice grown in California! Avoid buying rice from southern U.S. states (I’m looking at you, Texas) as the fertilizers of yore used to be arsenic-laced when growing cotton crops.
- Soak rice for at least 15 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly before cooking with fresh water. Soaking for long periods also reduces cooking time (this is easier to monitor when cooking on the stovetop versus a pressure cooker).
- Cook rice with much more water than instructions call for. Once rice is finished cooking, strain extra water out and rinse rice one more time. This step alone can reduce any arsenic levels by 50% but unfortunately some water-soluble B vitamins will also be lost.2
Would you rather make this Yellow Rice in an Instant Pot? Check out my recipe here!
Yellow Rice on the Stovetop
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 2 cups Water
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp Garlic powder
- ½ tsp Onion powder
- ¼-½ tsp Salt to taste
- 5-10 grinds of Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak rice in cold water for 15 minutes.
- Rinse rice in fine mesh strainer until water runs clear.
- Place rinsed rice in medium-sized pot on the stove, add 2 cups of water and all the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. Gently simmer until rice is fluffy, 15-20 minutes.
Notes
Did you love this Yellow Rice? Leave me a comment! 🙂
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9619120/
- https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/rice/#:~:text=The%20average%20GI%20for%20brown,risk%20for%20type%202%20diabetes.
