Rice Middling or Middling Rice

Found a great new product at my favourite middle-eastern market a few weeks back called Middling Rice, manufactured/distributed by Cedar Phoenicia here in Canada.

I have used it as an ingredient in my breading mix when making schnitzels.  Gives the breading more texture in my opinion, kind of like potato flakes.  It’s not expensive either, so it’s a good item to source out for your gluten-free kitchen stock.

From the Cedar Phoenicia site, here is the nutritional breakdown of Middling Rice:

Keep this one in mind when you read my schnitzel recipe, which should be coming soon.

I got side-tracked with life and stopped updating this blog for quite a while.

My original plan was to have this as a companion to a book I was (and had) worked on … but I think maybe it’s time for that plan to evolve, so I can take this resource forward rather than backward.  I’ll add in the resources from that original manuscript as I have time, but I’m also constantly developing new stuff.  Why make us all wait?

So on that note, I’m going to make an effort to start posting in here as consistently as possible.  Once I deal with my camera situation (or current lack thereof as the case may be), I’ll do it up right — with pics so you can see what it all looks like.

If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please post away!  I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner.

grains:

flour, kernels, breads, pastas

legumes:

dried, canned, milk, pasta, bread

sweet vegetables:

e.g. squash, sweet potato, carrots, parsnips

healthful flavourings:

seaweed (nori, kombu etc.), sesame seeds, dried ginger

prepared foods:

baby food puree in jars, vegetable broths and soups in tetra-paks

sweet stuff:

honey, syrups (maple, grape, pomegranate, date), granulated sugars (maple, organic raw cane, succanat, xylitol etc.)

binding agents with nutritive value:

agar, xanthan gum, quail eggs, goat & sheep’s milk dairy products, nut butters (cashew, almond – if your child doesn’t have an allergy to nuts), seed butter (if your child is safe with seeds)

liquid elixirs of health:

teas high in calcium (e.g. Japanese kukicha/bancha tea), anti-oxidant teas (e.g. decaffeinated green tea, roobios), nourishing and stomach-settling brews (e.g. loose chamomile buds or peppermint leaves)

NO:  gluten, wheat, beans, soy, eggs, dairy products, nuts

Notes:

This is a milk based on the fragrant Thai rice, Jasmine.  Additional flavourings come from the flavour of juice you choose to dilute it with.

This milk combines the calcium and minerals of kombu with the anti-oxidant benefits of green tea, and the fruit juice used primarily in this recipe (pear) is a very low reactivity food.

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Ingredients:

1. 240 ml white jasmine rice
2. 1 strip of kombu
3. 470 ml of spring water (soaking)
4. pinch of sea salt
5. 3800 ml spring water (cooking)
6. 5 ml pure vanilla extract
7. 5 ml extra virgin olive oil
8. 3 large bay leaves
9. 470 ml pure pear juice

Ingredients for tea:

1. 2 teabags of organic green tea
2. 710 ml spring water

Implements:

1. measuring cup
2. measuring spoons
3. 1 litre pyrex measuring cup/bowl
4. large pot
5. stirring spoon for pot
6. small/medium fine-mesh strainer
7. blender or cuisinart
8. 1 litre bottle for milk storage
9. smaller stainless steel pot for tea
10. tongs

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Directions:

Stage 1: The Night Before …

1. Measure out 240 ml of rice
2. Wash well under cold water, using fine-mesh metal strainer
3. Put rice into a large cup or bowl (or measuring cup)
4. Take 1 strip of kombu and rinse well in cold water.  Pat dry with paper towel.  Then cut strip in half and add kombu pieces to washed rice
5. Add 470 ml of room-temperature spring water
6. Add a pinch of salt
7. Put bowl into refrigerator to soak for several hours/overnight

Stage 2: The Next Day/Many Hours Later …

1. Pour soaked mixture into large pot – include soaking water
2. Add 1900 ml cold(ish) spring water
3. Turn element on stove to high heat
4. Add 5 ml pure vanilla extract
5. Stir; wait for mix to boil
6. Allow to boil for approximately one minute, then lower heat to medium
7. Add 5 ml extra-virgin olive oil 
8. Allow pot to simmer for about 30 minutes, then add another 950 ml of spring water; stir
9. Allow pot to simmer for about another 25-30 minutes, then add another 950 ml of spring water; stir
10. Add brewed green tea to larger pot on stove
11. 20 minutes later, add 3 large bay leaves; stir
12. After another hour, turn heat on stove down to low (3/10)
13. After another 25-30 minutes, turn the heat off on the stove and remove the pot from the element
14. Allow cooked mixture to cool in the pot for an hour

Stage 3: Making the milk drinkable – how thick do you want it?

Batch #1:  Jasmine-Pear

1. Set up your blender
2. Using ladle, measure out 590 ml of rice goop from pot into measuring cup (avoid skin/foam on top of pot, as well as kombu chunks and bay leaf pieces), then pour into blender
3. Add 470 ml of 100% pure bartlett pear juice
4. Blend on low for 5 minutes
5. Pour and serve

Makes:  1070 ml of liquid

Batch #2:  Jasmine-Pear-Mango

1. Set up blender
2. Add 590 ml of rice goop plus 240 ml of pear juice plus 240 ml of mango juice
3. Blend on low for 5 minutes
4. Pour and serve

Makes: 1070 ml of liquid 

NO:  gluten, beans, nuts, soy, eggs, dairy products, wheat

NOTE:  If your child is going through a high amine or histamine response period, don’t include the cinnamon called for in this recipe.

This differs from Jasmine-Apple Rice Milk (see previous post) in two main ways.  First, it is higher in calcium.  Second, because we  use more seaweed in the base, this liquid will solidify into an aspic if you don’t drink it more or less immediately.  That’s why I refer to this as “milk/aspic” – the form it takes all depends on your consumption timing.

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Ingredients:

1. 120 ml jasmine rice (organic, california jasmine is what I use)
2. pinch granulated sea salt
3. 1900 ml spring water
4. 3 bay leaves
5. 1 stick of cinnamon (approx. 9-10 cm long)
6. 4 sticks dried kombu
7. 15 ml pure vanilla extract
8. 15 ml organic granulated sugar
9. 45 ml 100% pureed mango
10. 590 ml tea mix

Ingredients for tea mix:

1. 590 ml spring water
2. 15 ml kukicha twig tea

Implements:

1. measuring cup
2. measuring spoons
3. 1 litre pyrex measuring cup/bowl
4. large pot
5. stirring spoon for pot
6. small/medium fine-mesh strainer
7. blender or cuisinart
8. 1 litre bottle for milk storage
9. smaller stainless steel pot for brewing tea
10. tongs

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Directions:

Stage 1: The night before … 

1. Measure out 120 ml of dry jasmine rice
2. Pour into a medium sized bowl or mug
3. Add 470 ml of spring water plus a tiny dash of sea salt to rice
4. Put bowl or mug in fridge
5. Leave it there to soak overnight

Stage 2:  The following morning …

1. Take the bowl of soaked rice from the fridge
2. Pour entire mixture into large pot, including the soaking water
3. Rinse your kombu sticks in cold water and add to pot
4. Add 1420 ml of spring water plus cinnamon stick, bay leaves, vanilla extract, mango puree and sugar
5. Turn element on stove to high; stir
6. In a separate pot, make your kukicha tea
7. Once ready, add kukicha tea to main pot & stir.
8. Bring entire mixture to a boil.  Allow to boil for maybe 2-5 minutes or so.  NOTE: If the pot starts to overflow, remove it from the heated element for a minute or two.
9. Then, turn the heat on the stove down to medium heat and simmer
10. Allow to simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring periodically.
11. Using tongs, remove the kombu, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
12. Cool in pot (removed from element) for approximately 5 minutes.  Then pour mixture from pot into oversized heat-resistant/pyrex measuring bowl.
13. Leave to cool on counter for about an hour

Stage 3: Once Mixture Has Cooled …

1. Set up your blender
2. Pour entire mixture into blender
3. Blend on low for about 5 minutes
4. Pour into glasses & serve OR pour in bottle(s) and store in fridge.

Makes: approximately 1 litre of milk (or aspic, depending on your perspective)

NO:  gluten, beans, nuts, soy, eggs, dairy products, wheat

NOTE:  If your child is going through a high amine or histamine response period, don’t include the cinnamon called for in this recipe.

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When I’m deciding what to make, the first thing I usually do is look to see what I already have.  Rice?  Check. Water?  Check.  Apple juice?  Grab a few of my son’s lunch drinking box tetra-paks – not the most environmentally friendly solution, granted, but they’re there and ready to go when I am.  Salt, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and organic granulated sugar?  No brainers – standard kitchen supply.

This is one of those easy recipes that requires night-before forethought – because you’re using rice, it really does need to soak overnight.  But that’s about it for planning – the rest of the ingredients are probably already there in your pantry somewhere!

Ingredients:

Sure, it’s easier to buy pre-packaged.  No argument here.  But what if  your child is reacting to those tetrapaks of rice milk or oat milk or soy milk that you are buying?  What if 0.02% barley traces is too much?  Or the oil in the soup bottle isn’t quite the right kind?

You could give up altogether.

But if you’re still stubbornly plowing forward to look for that substitution solution, like I was, let me share a few recipes to get you started.

Remember:  experimentation is key here.  Play with the ingredients and proportions until you find a taste and consistency you’re happy with.  

My son’s – and my – favourite, calcium-enriched rice milk manufacturer had just gone out of business and the short-dated tetra-pak supply I’d bought the health food stores out of was dwindling.  The only remaining rice milk products on the market either had something else added, like the ever-problematic barley, or they didn’t make a vitamin-enriched formula in the 250 ml drinking box size I needed to send with my son to school and daycare.  I was fed up.  So I started looking through store cookbooks and then on the internet for ideas on how to make milk from grains.

Tips & Tricks: Making Non-Dairy Milk

1. The longer you soak the grain before you use it, the softer the kernels become and the less gritty your milk will be.
2. The longer you cook your mixture, the softer your grains and therefore the smoother your milk will turn out.
3. Invest in a blender.  You will need it to smooth everything out and prevent your child from drinking chewable milk.
4. The better the quality of your ingredients, the better your end product will taste.
5. If you’re looking for a drink without the floaty bits in it, then make sure to strain out the thicker particles before serving it to your child.
6. Use seaweed as a base but be aware of the potential ramifications.  Too much kombu, for example, can take a milk and turn it into a custard or even pudding.

Ready to start?  Here we go!

Creating new dishes and making it possible to rotate your child’s food ingredients regularly requires you – and them – to have an open mind.  You must be willing to explore the options out there, even if they seem odd or unfamiliar.

Just because you live in North America, Europe, the Middle East – or whichever part of the world you’re reading this from – doesn’t mean you have to be limited by your local, mainstream supermarket or even health food store options.

Embrace multiculturalism.

And to help you get there, a few clues on which types of stores to go for which kinds of ingredients used in my recipes.   Some of the really cool foods and ingredients you can find by doing a bit of exploring …

The Americas:

• agave syrup (made from cactus)
• blue corn meal
• cassava
• dulce de leche
• polenta
• sorghum
• white corn meal
• yellow corn meal

Asian Markets:

• acorn starch
• glutinous rice flour
• green bean flour (starch)
• green bean noodles
• jasmine rice
• nori (seaweed)
• roasted black bean powder
• roasted pot barley flour
• roasted sesame seed oil
• roasted sweet rice poweder
• sweet potato noodles
• tapioca flour (starch)
• water chestnut flour (starch)

East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan Markets:

• burfi (fudge – generally gluten-free, depending on where it’s made)
• chickpea flour
• dhokla flour (cake flour) – made from chana dal (yellow split peas) and rice
• dosa (gluten-free crepes)
• lentil flour (dal)
• moong dal flour (mung beans)
• roasted millet flour
• sorghum flour

Italian:

• almond milk
• chestnut flour
• goat’s milk cheese
• good quality rice pasta
• polenta
• sheep’s milk cheese

Portuguese:

• goat’s milk cheese
• lupine flour
• sheep’s milk cheese

Middle East:

• carob molasses
• carob syrup
• date honey
• date molasses
• date vinegar
• goat-milk based haloomi cheese
• goat-milk based labaneh cheese (it’s like a creamy cream cheese spread made from yoghurt)
• grape molasses (Lebanon)
• haloomi (goat or sheep) cheese
• pomegranate syrup
• tahini

Kosher:

• marshmallows (kosher for Passover – corn-free)
• range of strictly dairy-free products (kosher)
• kosher sheep’s milk feta cheese (Israeli)

Each country and culture has something to offer you.

I discovered most of these things by exploration and trial.  Frankly, I drive my family crazy sometimes – I see a food store from an ethnicity I haven’t seen before (or haven’t seen in a long time) and I have to browse, read the labels, and see if there are any new ingredients I haven’t thought of before.

Which area of town you head for before you start to cook may well depend on what you’re in the mood to eat that day.

Flour alternatives?  For cooking pancakes etc., I go asian or far eastern – chickpea flour, glutinous rice flour, bean flour, millet flour etc.

Baking?  I head more for the Italian, Asian and Health Food store bulk aisles for my chestnut, glutinous rice flours, tapioca beads etc.

Cheese?  Well, my favourite dairy haunts are Italian, Greek and Jewish but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other great options that you might prefer.

To be continued …

There are lots.

At your local health food store, you are likely to be able to find:

• organic, granulated cane sugar
• fructose – make sure it’s fruit-based, as opposed to having been made from a corn syrup base
• maple syrup – commonly found in the American and Canadian north-eastern states & provinces
• honey
• brown rice syrup
• stevia
• xylitol
• agave syrup
• barley malt

NOTE: If you are pregnant, Health Canada (among others) recommends avoiding honey products which have not been pasturized.  Unpasteurized honey is commonly found in health food stores as well as international groceries, such as Greek or Russian or Turkish.

Agave syrup may also be found at a Central or South American food seller, since it’s derived from the same kind of cactus from which tequila is made.

Middle Eastern shops (Israeli, Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Libya etc.) are good places to find these:

• carob molasses
• carob syrup
• date molasses
• date honey
• grape molasses
• pomegranate syrup
• honey (Note: This is frequently of the unpasteurized variety)

Pomegranate syrup can also be found at former-USSR (Ukrainian, for example) food markets, as can unpasteurized honey. Greek and Turkish establishments also generally carry unpasteurized honey.

Working around the problem

Just because your child can’t have gluten or nuts doesn’t necessarily mean that cow-based dairy is a problem.   For some reason though, people who are highly sensitive to a lot of foods tend to be reactive to cow dairy as well.

One health food store owner I encountered tried to convince me that it’s the hormones and other trace medications that we give our cattle here in North America which was causing the problem; buy organic, he claimed, and you’ll notice that you won’t have any problem with dairy anymore.

Ok.  Not discounting that this might be the case for some people.  Reactive individuals are frequently being triggered by something hidden, and hormones and other medications that cause reactions in the general population anyway might well have the same effect when we ingest milk products from an animal that has been fed these hormones and other medications.

Me, I’m Canadian and can sometimes have dairy products here.  I have no reaction to cow dairy products from Europe, where they treat their cattle with no medication and no hormones.  But American dairy, as amazing as it can taste, makes me really quite ill – my only guess is that it’s the BSE that US cattle is given that Canadian cattle still don’t take yet.

But this again falls into the category of me not telling you what to do.  (You thought I might, eh?)  Just because this is something I’ve observed for myself, this doesn’t mean it applies to your child or to you.  Frankly, it depends on whether your child is reacting to the drugs in the milk or to the lactose or to the milk protein or even to the kind of milk protein.

Goat Milk, Sheep Milk

In our household, we replaced cow-based dairy for both goat and sheep milk products.  This section covers some of the most common non-cow dairy products I use in my cooking. 

Goat Milk Products Commonly Used:

• chavroux (goat milk cream cheese)
• milk
• yoghurt
• butter (occasionally)
• feta
• curds
• mozzarella/cheddar/marble cheddar

Sheep’s Milk Products Commonly Used:

• liptoi (sheep’s milk cream cheese)   
• pressed cottage cheese
• powdered/grated romano (Pecorina Romano)
• yoghurt
• Pecorina Siciliano

NOTE:  If you are living in the Greater Toronto Area, you can now find actual sheep’s milk by the jug at Ambrosia Natural Foods on Doncaster Avenue (just north of Yonge and Steeles).

One thing to be careful of is pasteurization.  Feeding a child – or yourself, if you’re pregnant – anything that hasn’t been pasteurized is currently somewhat controversial.  The current wisdom seems to say unpasteurized dairy products may be safe for children and/or babies, but not for women who are pregnant.  However, sometimes medical wisdom has a habit of changing.  My strong suggestion is that you ask your competent medical practitioner about the latest findings and ask what they recommend.

Disclaimers done!  And now, for some other cheeses you might consider starting with …

Regional Cheeses Made from Goat Milk Include:

• Manouri – Greece   
• Chevre – France
• Ekte Gjetost – Norway
• Chavroux – France/Canada
• Labaneh – Lebanon/Middle East

Regional Cheeses Made from Sheep’s Milk Include:

• Romano Pecorino – Italy   
• Manchego – Spain
• Haloumi – Cyprus
• Feta – Israel, Bulgaria (some)
• Serpa – Portugal
• Velho – Portugal
• Liptoi – Canada

Cheeses Made from a Mix of Goat and Sheep’s Milk Include:

• Kasseri – Greece   
• Feta – Greece

Where can I find these cheeses?

Your best bet is to go to a specialty cheese store – at least when you’re starting out – and specifically ask for those cheeses that don’t have cow dairy in them.  Sample a variety.  Once you find what you like, then you can broaden your search to the smaller stores where you might have to figure out the cheese you want without help but at a lower price.

The advantage of going with one of these smaller, specialty shops is that the people who work there tend to actually know about the product they’re selling.

Another place to find alternatives to cow’s milk products has become, surprisingly, the supermarket.  The closest one to me – and we’re talking about a no frills type of place – actually sells goat milk, 2-4 kinds of goat milk cheese (chevre is big), as well as sheep’s milk feta (the kosher variety from Israel, and another version from Bulgaria).

And of course, the second-last place listed is probably the first place you’ll end up looking: your well-stocked health food store.  Some carry a good variety and some don’t.  Take a look and see what they have available – you might be surprised.

None of these options possible for you?  Then the Internet is where you’ll have to go.  Lots of specialty cheese stores online are open and no doubt ready to both serve and ship to you.

  Copyright 2008 Beth Dranoff. All rights reserved. No reprints or copies of the materials found on this site are allowed without the express permission of the author.