Dirty Rice

From EatingWell: March/April 2008 — Subscribe Now!

A Louisiana favorite, our version of this spicy dish uses whole-grain Wehani rice. Long-grain brown rice also works. Traditionally made with chicken liver, which gives it a “dirty” color, we use healthy lean chicken sausage instead.

6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Nutrition Profile

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Wehani or long-grain brown rice, (see Note)
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon peanut oil, or canola oil
10 ounces cooked chicken andouille, or other spicy chicken sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1 1/4 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Bring rice and broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer at the lowest bubble until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 50 minutes (see Test Kitchen Note). Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
While the rice is standing, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, stirring, until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add onion, celery, green and red bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes more. Stir in thyme, cayenne to taste and salt. Stir the sausage mixture into the rice and serve.

Tips & Notes

Note: Developed by Lundberg Family Farms, Wehani is russet-colored, long-grain rice with a pronounced nutty flavor. Unlike other long-grain rice, the grain splits while cooking. Use for pilafs, casseroles or rice salad. Use Bhutanese Red Rice as a substitute; adjust cooking time accordingly.
Test Kitchen Note: Perfectly cooked rice is not simple. In fact, it's something that we struggle with occasionally in the Test Kitchen. To have the most success cooking whole-grain rice, we recommend using a pan with a tight-fitting lid, cooking on your coolest (or simmer) burner and making sure the rice is simmering at the “lowest bubble.” While testing the recipes that use less than 1 cup of dry rice, we found that the cooking time varied greatly depending on what stove we used. Although whole-grain rice usually requires 50 minutes of cooking, we found smaller volumes of rice were sometimes done in as little as 30 minutes (and burned at 50 minutes). So, when cooking a small batch of rice, start checking it after 30 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn.

Nutrition

Per serving: 296 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 36 mg cholesterol; 48 g carbohydrates; 13 g protein; 5 g fiber; 428 mg sodium; 226 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (90% daily value), Vitamin A (20% dv).

3 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 2 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 lean meat, 1/2 fat