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Once the preserve of Chinese emperors, forbidden rice, otherwise known as 'tribute rice' or 'longevity rice' was a precious commodity said to ensure a long and healthy life.
These days forbidden rice, also known as black rice, is no longer reserved just for royals, but has made it to more distant shores riding the crest of the superfood wave.
Boasting some attractive nutritional credentials along with an interesting colour and flavour, find out why forbidden black rice might just be the new brown rice on your menu.
Royal Purple
Much like other purple coloured foods; eggplant, blueberries, purple cauliflower ... the purplish/black dark colour of the rice is due to anthocyanin which boasts desirable antioxidant qualities. Forbidden rice also has superior levels of protein and fibre compared to other rice varieties, even brown rice.
Nutty Flavour
While this rice might take longer to cook it's worth it for the earthy, nutty tones which are also more intense than brown rice, although it's also glutinous making it more similar to white rice in texture.
Cooking with Forbidden Rice
Have a bag of black rice in the cupboard and not sure what to do with it?
Enjoy it just as it is, boiled and seasoned with salt and pepper, as a side dish, or try substituting your usual brown or red rice in your favourite stir fry recipes or stews.
Or, try making an unusual forbidden rice salad with this recipe from Food52 or forbidden rice with shrimp recipe from SeriousEats to add striking colour to your dish.
The rice is also suitable for sweet cooking and can happily be made into rice pudding with a twist.
