Long Grain and Wild Rice Medley

This is an excellent side dish for pork or poultry. The seasonings can be adjusted to compliment the meat or fish you are serving this with. The recipe can easily be doubled.

Many people complain that they changed the recipe for this and no longer like it, that it is now bland and doesn't taste right. The box contains a mix of parboiled long grain rice and wild rice, with a seasoning packet. The classic recipe prided itself on being free from artificial flavors and artificial colors. Optional Addition: Many recipes recommended adding 1 tablespoon of butter for enhanced flavor.

Seasoning Packet before the change: Salt, Sugar, Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Dried Parsley, Celery Salt/Dried Celery, Turmeric (for color), Maltodextrin, Natural Flavors, and various Spices (including Black Pepper, Thyme, Sage, Marjoram, Rosemary, Nutmeg).

Seasoning Packet before the change: salt, yeast extract, dehydrated onion, parsley, celery, garlic, spinach, sugar, natural flavors, spices (black pepper, sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, nutmeg), and citric acid.

Seasoning Packet after the change: Salt, Yeast Extract, Onion*, Parsley*, Celery*, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Spinach*, Potassium Salt, Natural Flavors, Autolyzed Yeast, Garlic*, Torula Yeast, Mushroom*, Spices (Black Pepper, Thyme, Sage, Marjoram, Rosemary, Nutmeg), Silicon Dioxide, Carrot*, Citric Acid, Tomato*, Vitamins and Minerals [Calcium (Calcium Carbonate), Iron (Iron Phosphate), Vitamin B3 (Niacinamide), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), Folic Acid), Turmeric (Color), Natural Smoke Flavor. * Dried.

Long Grain and Wild Rice Medley

FMM: I modified this recipe so that the wild rice is cooked first. Wild rice takes a long time to cook and trying to time this with the white rice is impossible. You can then combine the two rices and cook until both are done. Wild rice is cooked when the grains split open; they do not hold their shape like white rice does.

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
3/4 cup wild rice (may want to soak in water for a few minutes to speed the cooking time)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup long-grain converted rice
1 tablespoon butter

Bring the chicken broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the wild rice and seasonings. Bring back to a boil; cover and simmer over low heat until the wild rice is almost done and is starting to split open. Add the long-grain rice and butter; cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until the broth has evaporated and the rice is done.

Serves 4 - 6

Homemade Version of Uncle Ben’s Rice
from https://www.themakeyourownzone.com/

In this recipe, she cooks wild rice before hand and freezes it. She then just pulls one packet of wild rice out of the freezer and makes the recipe below.

To first prepare the wild rice:
1/2 cup Wild Rice
1 cup Water

Put the water in a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Stir in the wild rice, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let the wild rice simmer on low heat for 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. You should see that the rice has now cracked open so it won’t be hard and crunchy in your recipes.

Divide the cooked rice into four snack size ziploc bags. The 1/2 cup of uncooked wild rice you started with yields about 3 tablespoons of cooked wild rice per baggie. Flatten the baggies a bit so you can stack them, and put in the freezer.

1 cup Water
1 tablespoon Butter
2 teaspoons Chicken Baseor Chicken Bouillon Powder
1 teaspoon Dried Parsley
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1/2 teaspoon Basil
1/2 teaspoon Rubbed Sage
1/2 teaspoon Celery Salt
1/2 cup Long Grain White Rice
1 packet of Precooked Wild Rice from the instructions above

These are some of the spices I like to use that I think mimic the Uncle Ben’s blend, but you can certainly adjust the spices to your own liking.

Combine the water, butter, chicken base or bouillon, and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Stir in the white rice, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Take a baggie of precooked wild rice from the freezer. Empty the rice from the baggie onto a plate (you may need to break it apart a little bit) and microwave for about 45 seconds.

Then add the wild rice to the mixture that’s simmering on the stove. You can do this either at the beginning of the cooking time or towards the end of the cooking time. It didn’t seem to matter.

Let everything simmer for about 20 minutes or until the white rice has absorbed the liquid.

Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and serve.

Long Grain and Wild Rice Medley

Long Grain and Wild Rice Medley

Homemade Version of Uncle Ben’s Rice from https://www.themakeyourownzone.com/

Homemade Version of Uncle Ben’s Rice
from https://www.themakeyourownzone.com/