Black rice

An unpolished rice with a purple-black bran that stains the water deep violet as it cooks. Chewier than white rice, it is usually mixed in small amounts into congee or a sweet soup rather than eaten alone.

TCM properties

Nature · neutral　Flavour · sweet　Meridians · spleen、kidney

Traditional food therapy

In food therapy black rice supplements the kidney and nourishes the blood; the dark-foods-build-blood reasoning is doctrine of signatures, drawn from colour.

Cautions: read first

• Soak it properly or it stays hard.
• The cooking water goes very dark; that is the bran, not a fault.

Preparation

Soak for at least two hours, then cook it together with the white rice.

Origin

Guangxi, Yunnan and Hunan. Packed at Australian Asian grocers, and sometimes in the supermarket organic aisle

Availability in Australia

Common at Asian grocers

Pairs well with