I grew up on plain old, white rice. Well, that and lasagna and puff pastry chicken, but always with rice and kimchi readily available. Starting about when I left for college, my aunts, uncle, and mom started mixing together rice blends that looked more and more not like the white rice I was used to. It first started with swapping out white rice for mostly brown (because it’s healthier), and then when one of them read about the higher level of pesticide residue in rice, they started to swap in barley, then steel cut oats, then quinoa, and now, when rice is served, there isn’t even an actual single grain of rice in there! I found it all really amusing, with each trip home, there was some sort of new blend my mom was trying. But pretty quickly, I got on the bandwagon too! Lately, I’ve been all about using more diverse, whole grains, especially wanting to put those good things into my kids’ bellies. Luckily, it’s pretty easy! And there are so many possibilities.

I started by buying a bag of a pre-mixed blend at our Korean store. On top of hearing from my family what they use, it was helpful to read the ingredients list to get ideas and figure out what I wanted in mine. The most recent time I ventured out to buy “rice,” I browsed the shelves myself and chose the individual grains that I liked best. During one of Caleb’s nap times, Gianna had a blast pouring in the grains into a big container and mixing them up with her little hands. I think it entertained her for a good 30 minutes! It was so fun to watch her. I keep this blend and also a container of white rice in our pantry. I haven’t completely eliminated white rice from our mix, I find that it’s helpful to have a 1/2 to 1 cup added in to help everything stick together better. And, it’s also for when we have company over and I don’t want to scare them with my hippie rice/grains blend!

Below is a list of all the grains I’ve used or seen/heard of others using. I should note that I have a pressure cooker rice cooker (which my mom bought me promptly when I got married, I think it’s a Korean thing), which really gets the grains soft. If you don’t have the pressure cooker, if you find the grains too tough, soak them for a few hours or overnight before cooking.

Grains for your Rice Blend

White rice
Brown rice
Sweet rice
Barley (pressed, whole pearled, whole)
Millet
Quinoa
Steel cut oats
Rolled Oats
Wild Rice (black, red)
Buckwheat
Farro
Mung Beans
Beans (these really need a pressure cooker or good, long soak)

Mix together however you like and cook as you would normal rice.