Thai Brown Jasmine Rice 101

This is part 2 of special video series "5 Colours of Thai Rice"! After exploring Thailand's staple white jasmine rice, it's time to look at the healthier sister: brown jasmine rice. Now, if you don't like brown rice, hear me out, this is not your average brown rice! Being of the jasmine variety, it's tender, fluffy, and a little nutty, but it still has that same floral aroma we love in jasmine rice. But because it's a whole-grain rice, all of its nutritional benefits are still intact.

About the 5 Colours of Thai Rice Series: Did you know that Thai people nowadays are eating so many colourful varieties of rice? That's right! There are several options of Thai rice you could be having with your Thai meal! In this series, I am giving you the lowdown on 5 types of rice Thailand has to offer, each with its own unique colour, and these are the 5 main types that Thai people now eat on a regular basis. Thank you Thai Trade Center Vancouver for sponsoring this awesome series!

Tips on Cooking Brown Rice

I use 1 part brown jasmine rice to 1.5 part water (ratio is by volume, not weight). This ratio is good for rice cooked in a rice cooker or on the stove top. If you want to know how to cook perfect rice on the stove top, check out this video How to cook perfect Thai jasmine rice without a rice cooker. The same process applies to brown rice.
If the water has all dried up but the rice doesn't taste tender enough for you, add a little more water and keep it cooking longer (on low heat!).
A sign that the rice is tender enough is that the rice grains should look like they've burst open, i.e. the rice has swollen enough that the brown bran "jacket" rips open, exposing the white inside of the grain.
To mix white and brown rice, there are 2 ways to do it:
1. Cook a bunch of brown rice, freeze it in portions, and when you're ready to eat just reheat in the microwave for about 90 seconds and mix as much of it as you want into white rice. I prefer this method because I can cook both types of rice to their own perfection, and I can mix in as much of the brown rice as each diner wants (kids who are used to eating white rice may want to start out with just a little brown rice mixed in).
2. You can cook them both together in a pot, although I would recommend soaking the brown rice first in water for at least 1 hour and upto 3 hours. If you don't soak it, I find that the brown rice isn't quite tender enough by the time the white rice is done. Of course, this is something that can vary between brands of rice, so it might take a couple rounds of trial and error!