Red Rice Benefits: A Complete Guide To Nutrition, Recipes And More

Gone are those days when we only used to look up to brown rice as healthy alternative to rice. Here we have another variety that will add taste and colour to your diet chart during the weight loss days - make way for Red Rice! Red Rice is a special variety of rice that gets its colour red from its anthocyanins content. Anthocyanins are coloured water-soluble pigments, which are responsible for the colours - red, purple and blue in fruits, grains and vegetables. This rice is unhulled or partially hulled, and has a red husk, unlike the more common brown rice. Nutty in flavour, red rice has high nutritional values, compared to the polished rice varieties.

Red Rice Varieties:

Red rice is grown in various parts of the world, along with Kerala in South India.

• Oryza longistaminata, which is a native to most of Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, is also known as longstamen rice or red rice.
• Oryza punctata, which is a native to southern Africa, tropical Africa and Madagascar, is also termed as red rice.
• Thai Red Cargo rice is a type of non-glutinous long grain rice that is similar to brown rice and is unpolished. The colour of the bran is red, purple or maroon.
• Bhutanese red rice is medium-grain rice, grown in Bhutan and eastern Himalayas and is a staple for all the people there.
• Camargue red rice is a variety of red rice, which is cultivated in the wetlands of Camargue region of South France.
• Kerala Matta rice, also known as Rosematta rice, Palakkadan Matta rice, Kerala Red rice and Red parboiled rice, is a variety grown in Palakkad district of Kerala. Known for its coarseness and health benefits, this variety is very popular in Kerala, coastal Karnataka and Sri Lanka.
• Ulikan or mini-angan is heirloom red rice from Ifugao and Kalinga in Philippines.
• Rakthashali is a very rare rice variety.

Here Are Few Red Rice Benefits:

Red Rice Benefits For Weight Loss:

Red rice is the recent buzz in the world of diet as it is said to promote weight loss. The fat content in red rice is zero, hence its consumption can never add every an extra pound to your body. It is loaded with both soluble and insoluble fiber as the outer layer of the rice is kept intact, where all the fiber comes from. Nowadays, it is even prescribed by the doctors as an alternative to medicine to get rid of mild symptoms of high-cholesterol.

Red Rice Benefits For Skin:

Red Rice is rich in iron and vitamin, which together help in the production of RBC (red blood corpuscles) in our body, which is considered as an essential element for good skin health. The antioxidants in the rice may help in fighting free radicals, which protect our skin from premature ageing.

Red Rice Benefits For Diabetes:

Red Rice is rich in manganese and antioxidants, and hence, is highly recommended for patients with diabetes.

How To Cook Red Rice:

Red Rice takes significantly longer cooking time than white rice. To cook one cup of red rice, two-and-a-half cups of water is needed and it takes about 40 minutes for it to cook completely.

Red Rice Nutrition:

Red rice has 10 times more antioxidants than brown rice. Red rice is also very rich in essential nutrients, iron, vitamin, phosphorus and fiber.

Red Rice Recipes:

Other than being an alternative to brown rice in our daily diet, red rice can be used in kheer and salad. It can be used on regular basis for idli, appam and dosa. The very earthy flavour of red matta rice also goes very well with lamb, beef or goat meats.

We hope, now you know what to add to your menu to add variety to your diet! Red rice is a great way to start making healthier choices.

(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)