Vita in Vitro: DIY: Korean Mixed Grain Rice

I suppose that most of my Asian (or Asian-cuisine-loving) readers have recognized this mix. For those that have not - it is a mixed grain porridge, commonly found in Korean grocery stores or in Asian supermarkets in the rice section. It is basically rice mixed with wild or black rice, millet, corn, beans, barley or wheat etc. The idea is to improve the nutritional qualities of rice, since white rice has fairly high GI. By adding whole grains and beans, you can get more vitamins, fibre, proteins and satiety. The downfall? The price - 1 kg can sell for 5 - 7 Euros! I forgot to take a picture in my local supermarket, but I found a picture of what it looks like here.

Since I'm a cheapo student, I dragged Gerald to 3 different supermarkets and got all of the grains separately. I got roughly 3 kg of different grains for 7 Euros, which makes the price of the porridge 2.3 Euros/kg. Still not as cheap as white rice, but it is worth the extra investment and it's much better value than the store-bought one. And you will eat less of this mix than you eat of white rice because you will feel fuller sooner. Moreover, this way, you can customize your porridge.

I got black rice, crushed corn (Indian/Asian supermarket), brown rice, barley and Adzuki beans (Tesco). The only thing that limits your taste buds while mixing is the cooking time of individual grains. You should only get those that cook for roughly similar time (in my case 30 - 40 minutes) and that do not require long soaking (mine needs a 2/3-hour soak because of the Adzuki beans, which is fine as I usually soak rice for a bit anyway since a sushi chef recommended it.

I mixed the brown rice and other grains in approximately 4:1 ratio (So, the 4 other grains combined weighted about as much as the brown rice portion).

I'm storing it in a plastic bag inside a box.

How to cook:

Soak in water depending on your grains.

Add water corresponding to 7/6 of the mix weight.

Bring to boil in a pot with a lid and boil on high for 1 minute.

Turn the heat down to medium and boil for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat to low and boil for additional 20 minutes.

Let it stand under a lit for another 20 minutes without any heat.

Sometimes, I adjust the medium to low transition if the grains look still too hard. You get a sticky (but not overcooked) pink mixture (mainly because of the Adzuki beans). I've had this happen with the store-bought one too, and I think you can't avoid the colouring unless you leave out/switch the beans. But actually, the color looks pretty cute and adds a more interesting look to your dish.