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Blooming Wild Rice

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Wild rice is a life saver for rice loving raw vegans. If you are like me, you probably were a little disappointed in the most common raw vegan rice options, like cauliflower rice or jicama rice. To be honest, the texture is not at all the same, and you can’t fool anybody. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, however for an Asian who grew up eating rice all her life, it’s a bit underwhelming. But then, I discovered wild rice being used in raw foods. It’s a superstar raw food ingredient that in my opinion, most closely resembles cooked rice when recreating rice dishes raw. Wild rice is a water-grass seed, and though it’s named “rice” it’s technically not a grain. It has twice as much protein than brown rice, and 30 times the amount of anti-oxidants of white rice. It’s also loaded with vitamin A, B, C, and E, and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and zinc, to name a few. So I can fulfill my rice craving and nourish my body at the same time! Amazing!

raw vegan cilantro lime rice
Now, normally you have to cook it to eat it, but you can actually eat it raw by soaking it in water. This is called “blooming” since wild rice doesn’t sprout. Blooming softens and swells the rice as if it was cooked.

raw vegan cilantro lime rice
There is a traditional blooming technique shown in several raw food cookbooks, but the problem is, this “blooming” step never worked for me. The technique is to place the wild rice in a closed mason jar with water, and put it into the dehydrator for 12-24 hours at 110℉. Unfortunately, every time I tried it, the wild rice never softened much, even after 24 hours and more. It just never made much progress. Pretty disappointing after all the hours waiting and wild rice isn’t very cheap. I was almost ready to give up on it.

Then one of the raw food pioneers, Chef B Live showed me how he makes his own raw vegan Spanish Rice with wild rice, using a blooming technique that he learned from the legendary Chef Ito, the executive chef behind one of the best raw and vegan restaurant in the states, Au Lac in Fountain Valley, CA. Chef Ito’s techniques involves “scoring” the wild rice for a minute in a food processor in order to allow it to properly bloom when soaked in water. The scoring makes countless slices on the hard surface of the rice, which allows it to soak up the water fast and efficiently. Pure genius. This simple but yet vitally essential technique makes it fail-proof. If you ever choose to share this technique with others, please mention Chef Ito to give credit to him.

So the first thing you do with Chef Ito’s blooming technique is to score the wild rice for one full minute in the food processor. You have to continuously keep it running, so no pulsing here. FYI, it can be quite loud so I usually get out of the kitchen while it’s scoring. When it’s done, make sure the wild rice is completely covered with black powder. If it’s not, it’s a sign it’s not scored enough so keep it running a little longer.

raw vegan cilantro lime rice
Then rinse the wild rice well under water, until the water turns clear. Placed it into a large mason jar like the half gallon size, or a large bowl. Pour in water to soak and let it sit for 12-18 hours. Caution: Make sure the jar you use has enough room for the rice to expand 2.5 – 3 times. No kidding, 16oz of wild rice will literally fill a half gallon jar by the next day, it swells so much.
raw vegan cilantro lime rice
Once the wild rice is bloomed, drain and rinse well. Your wild rice is ready to be used and transformed into a tasty creation!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. gino

    June 29, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    Are you using an s blade in the food processor? For a full minute, wouldn’t that turn it in to flour?

    Reply
    • admin

      September 1, 2019 at 7:44 am

      Hi Gino,

      I am very sorry for the late response. Life took me away from my blog this year, and I wasn’t able to be on top of checking the comments I receive.
      You probably don’t need this answered by now, but wild rice is quite a hard seed, so it won’t turn into flour at all even with the use of the S blade. That’s why this method helps the soaking process that comes later. It scores the tough outer surface so that the water can penetrate better.

      Once again, my deepest apologies for the delayed response.

      Reply
  2. Sherry

    July 7, 2019 at 3:47 am

    Hi there, is there certain kind of food processor blade that is necessary to do the scoring? When i put wild rice in my food processor for a minute, everything gets ground into powder.

    Reply
    • Lynda Renaud

      January 13, 2020 at 11:27 pm

      Sherry already commented that when she followed your instructions , her wild rice was ground into a powder!!
      You did not address her reply…
      Do you have a solution? I really don’t want to waste my wild rice. The Health food store does not sell wild rice…cheaply priced!!
      Perhaps Sherry’s wild rice had been pre-treated. Did you inquire about that?
      Thanks
      P.S. I am anxiously awaiting your reply
      Perhaps Sherry did not put a sufficient amount of wild rice in her food processor & 1 minute was too long!
      Personally, I would have started with a shorter time. One can always continue if that time was insufficient, right?!
      It all depends on how old the rice is…

      Reply
      • admin

        February 26, 2020 at 7:02 am

        Hi Lynda,

        Thank you for pointing out Sherry’s question. I had another question about wild rice from someone else at the time and got it mixed up and mis-read Sherry’s and didn’t address the issue. I completely somehow missed that hers turned into flour. I just realized that so thank you so much for bringing it into my attention.

        My recipes for wild rice dishes usually use half a pound of rice, so I think the issue is probably the amount in use. I never had an issue with this amount. If the amount in use is a much smaller amount, it’ll probably turn into flour if your food processor is a good one. So I would not recommend trying this method in small batches for the full minute. I would also just watch it while you are processing like you said. I would stop in between, and check the rice. Make sure all of the rice isn’t breaking into small bits overall. You will see some broken rice from processing, but most of them should fairly keep its size. If it seems fine, you can do the full minute, because if you cut it too short in time when it can take the processing, you can underscore it and it won’t absorb the water as well.

        Hope this helps and thank you for reading me blog.

        Reply
    • admin

      February 26, 2020 at 6:49 am

      Hi Sherry,

      I realized in my previous response I misread your post and my response was off from what you were asking. I’m so sorry, I just re-read it and realized that. I think it may be because of the amount you are using may be a bit too little. May I ask how much you are using in the food processor. My recipes usually use half a pound of wild rice. For that amount, I never had a problem in my experience, so I am guessing you may be using too little and the S blade may be too overpowering for a small amount. Once again, I apologize for the misunderstanding your question!

      Reply
  3. A

    March 7, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    Wild rice is not raw. It is toasted over heat as part of the harvesting process.

    Reply
    • admin

      March 9, 2020 at 3:05 am

      Thank you for your comment.
      Store bought ones generally are, but you can purchase wild rice that is heated under 118F, which will be considered raw, from an ebay seller.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Raw Vegan Carbonara Risotto with Green Peas says:
    October 16, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    […] “scoring” and then blooming it (soaking), which results in a nice al dente texture. Check out how to bloom the wild rice here. I recommend starting to soak the cashews for the carbonara sauce 2-4 hours before you are […]

    Reply
  2. Raw Vegan Garlic Fried Rice says:
    October 20, 2016 at 6:59 am

    […] you need to prep the wild rice by blooming it. Check out the instructions on how to bloom the wild rice here. I recommend starting to soak the cashews 2-4 hours before you’re done soaking the wild rice, […]

    Reply
  3. Raw Vegan Kimchi Risotto says:
    November 2, 2017 at 4:54 am

    […] “scoring” and then blooming it (soaking), which results in a nice al dente texture. Check out how to bloom the wild rice here. I recommend starting to soak the cashews for the kimchi sauce 2-4 hours before you are […]

    Reply

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Mariko Sakata

Hi, I'm Mariko! I am a raw food chef, instructor, and a cookbook author. Plant-based cooking is my passion. My creations are plant-based, mostly raw, and gluten free.
Hope you enjoy my recipes! Check out my About page to find out more about me.

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marikosakata

Ying and Yang☯️ My utmost respect to Stacey A Ying and Yang☯️ 
My utmost respect to Stacey Abrams. The word “inspirational” does not quite cut it.
Testing a couple of vegan cheeses🌱🧀 We’ll Testing a couple of vegan cheeses🌱🧀 We’ll see how they turn out🧐
Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season😊

新しいヴィーガンチーズを研究中✨さて仕上がりはどうなるかな?

ヴィーガンチーズのオンラインオンデマンドクラスにご興味のある方はプロフィールのリンクからどうぞ🙇🏻‍♀️
Getting ready to cook some gluten free 100% buckwh Getting ready to cook some gluten free 100% buckwheat soba for New Year’s Eve🍜 It’s a Japanese tradition to eat soba on New Year’s Eve for good fortune and longevity for the coming new year. Probably one of my favorite traditions, because it gives me another excuse to eat noodles🍜💕 I’ll have my bowl of soba to wish everyone good fortune and longevity🙏🏼✨
Happy New Year’s Eve! 

アメリカはまだ大晦日なので、年越しこれから年越し蕎麦を🍜少し自宅から遠い日系マーケットに行く機会がコロナで今年激減したので、大事にとっておいた十割蕎麦を年越し蕎麦に✨

日本の皆様、明けましておめでとうございます🎍2020年はコロナで未曾有の一年で、日本にも一時帰国できませんでしたが、その分オンラインクラスやオンデマンドクラスを通して皆様にお会いでき、又お陰様で増版、台湾語と韓国語版も出版され、実りも大変多い一年でした。昨年は大変お世話になりました。本年も何卒宜しくお願い申し上げます🙇🏻‍♀️
Uplifting a gloomy Monday with this plate of raw v Uplifting a gloomy Monday with this plate of raw vegan cheddar cheese🌱🧀 Hope everyone in LA us staying dry🌧

ロサンゼルスには珍しく今日は一日中雨🌧熟成していた太陽のようなローフードヴィーガンチェダーチーズをおやつに気分転換🌱🧀
Enjoying some post Christmas treats and probably g Enjoying some post Christmas treats and probably going to pass out from sugar crash🎄😝

クリスマスツリーのライスクリスピートリーツ(スピルリナ入り)🎄来年は抹茶味で緑色にしたいけれど、夫が抹茶味あまり好きではないので、レシピ2倍でプレーンと両方作らないといけないかな?
Merry Christmas everyone💚 I made some minty ric Merry Christmas everyone💚 I made some minty rice crispy treats this year, and this may very well become one of our yearly tradition🎄Tastes like crunchy York peppermint patties💕 Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas✨

ミント味のライスクリスピートリーツ💚ライスクリスピートリーツは幼少の頃にニューヨークで出来立てを食べて以来大好きなお菓子ですが、高カロリーなので特別な日にしか作りません😅今年はミント味にアレンジしてみたら、これまた美味し過ぎて毎年恒例になりそうです✨
When we decorated our tree earlier this week, we w When we decorated our tree earlier this week, we were a bit short on ornaments, but we were able to get extras just in time🎄✨ Listening to Mariah, my QUEEN and tree trimming now❄️ Merry Christmas and happy holidays everone✨

クリスマスツリーの飾りが先日少し足りなかったので、オーダーした追加の飾りがギリギリイブの今日届きました❄️毎年恒例のマライヤ・キャリーやマイケル・ブーブレを聴きながらツリーの飾り付け🎄皆様素敵なクリスマスをお過ごしください✨
Testing out my Waring blender for vegan cheese mak Testing out my Waring blender for vegan cheese making😊 Not gonna lie, it’s no Vitamix, but it does a good job👍🏼

最近お気に入りの普通のミキサーで試しにヴィーガンチーズ作り🌱🧀勿論バイタミックスには負けますが、なかなかの出来👌🏼
The homemade ornaments we made yesterday worked ou The homemade ornaments we made yesterday worked out great on our newly delivered white Christmas tree🎄Orion’s ornament hanging above my husband’s favorite ornament from his childhood, a vintage snoopy ornament circa 1981. I love the look of this vintage Hallmark panorama ball ornament. I may need to add some more from eBay. Happy holidays everyone❄️

昨日作った手作りオーナメントを白いクリスマスツリーに飾り付け🎄夫の幼少の頃のお気に入りのスヌーピーオーナメントと一緒に❄️1981年の物でヴィンテージのホールマークのオーナメントなんですが、中がダイオラマになっていて、ストーリー性があって面白いんです✨これから毎年一つ、他のバージョンを足していこうと思います😊
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