Wehani Rice

It all started with my first visit to the new discount supermarket, Winco. It is a kind of Aldi on steroids. However, in case you hadn’t realized, while your local Aldi relies on being understaffed with most shifts having no more than three or four employees in total, Winco has folks all over the place to be helpful.

I had heard rumors of cheap quinoa, so I stalked the bulk bins in search of a more reasonable price on this product. Ureka! What costs four or five dollars at my local stores can be found for $2.65 in Bulk at Winco! Their steal-cut oats were only $1,50 a pound. There’s gold in them there bins!

And so it was that I tarried a while and considered the benefits of chickpea flour for falafel. There will be more on that particular rumination in the following weeks. What really caught my eye was something that I had not noticed before – Wehani Rice. In fact, it was labeled Red Wehani Rice on the bin, but I understand that there is only one type, it is always red and its name is Wehani Rice.

This is the Wikipedia Entry:

Wehani rice is a variety of aromatic brown rice developed in the late 20th century by Lundberg Family Farms of Richvale, California. It is a registered trademark of Lundberg Family Farms, the only company that grows it, and is named for brothers Wendell, Eldon, Homer, Albert, and Harlan Lundberg.

Wehani rice was developed from basmati rice seeds from India. Its grains (sold in whole-grain form) are reddish-brown in color and slightly resemble wild rice. When cooked, the rice produces an aroma similar to that of hot buttered peanuts, and is slightly chewy.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 45 grams, Amount Per Serving: 0.3 cup, Calories 150 *Total Fat 1.5 grams 2.3, Saturated Fat 0 grams 0%, Trans Fat 0 grams, Cholesterol 0 milligrams 0.0, Sodium 0 milligrams 0.00, Total Carbohydrate 35 grams 11.7, Dietary Fiber 2 grams 8%, Sugars 0 grams, Protein 3 grams 6.0 Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 0%, Iron 2%, Vitamin D Potassium

* The % daily value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Your recommended daily intake may vary depending on your calorie needs.

Whole grain, gluten-free and reasonably low in calories. However, please note that a full 85% of those calories come from carbs – albeit those carbs are slightly mitigated by the two grams of soluble fiber. A further 13.5% of those calories come from fat. I have not been able to find glycemic information on this product, but I think that it is safe to assume that it must be similar to whole grain brown rice.

1/3 cup Brown rice, steamed: GI 50, Cal 150, GL 16

Color me intrigued.

Go figure. I love rice, but have become wary or carbs and food high on the glycemic index. However, I am willing to give most things a try – especially with the acquisition of an electric pressure cooker. I am going to use the pressure cooker and treat it like any other brown rice, except for the volume of liquid. Instead if the 1:2 ratio that I would use for regular brown rice, I am going to try the recommended 1:2.25, with .5 tsp of salt. Plain water for the liquid.

Here are the results.

These are probably a little overcooked. After the recommended brown rice setting on my pressure cooker (20 minutes), they we not quite done. I gave them a further 10 minutes and that may have been a little too much. They were still firm, but on the overdone side. Next time I will give them 25 minutes.

I say “next time” because the rice is delicious. It would lend itself to creole-style cooking, but this is worth trying. Firm, flavorsome and healthy.

Enjoy!