Paleo/Primal folks have done a great job explaining why grains aren’t necessary (and why some are outright detrimental) in a regular diet.  As many people in the community have pointed out, however, there is a wide spectrum of effects you can get from eating grains and therefore I believe there are some still worth consuming if you prepare them properly (think: Weston A. Price philosophies).

One of these grains, in my opinion, is rice.  (For the other [pseudo]grain, see my sprouted raw buckwheat recipe.)  It can easily be soaked and fermented to remove nutrient-blocking substances and to let you absorb the nutrients it does have to offer.  Sure, you could all of them more easily get these from other sources like vegetables and organ/muscle meats but that brings me to my next point…rice is super cheap.  Mr. Dig and I try to get the highest-quality foods we possibly can but it’s financially not always possible, or responsible, for us to do so.  Rice, for us, serves as a an occasional economical filler food that doesn’t seem to be at all detrimental to our health.

In addition to soaking the rice in water, you’ll also be soaking it in apple cider vinegar, kombucha, and trace mineral rich salt.  Then you’ll be cooking it in bone broth to let it soak in all the benefits of that as well.

This recipe has 2 stages…the soaking stage and the cooking stage.  Feel free to substitute any kind of rice you want but I use organic, Basmati rice.

Ingredients for Stage 1:

• 1 cup organic rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon raw kombucha
• Salt with trace minerals (I use Redmond Real Salt)

Steps for Stage 1:

1. Set oven to lowest possible temperature.

2. While oven warms, mix all above ingredients into a cast iron pot or oven safe bowl.

3. Place pot/bowl in stove for about 30 minutes and then turn the oven off.  Leave the pot/bowl in for another couple hours.

Alternative: if you have the time, you can skip the oven step and just leave the mixed ingredients out at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

4. When done soaking, drain the rice with a sieve.

Ingredients for Stage 2:

• Soaked rice
• 1 1/2-1 2/3 cups bone broth
• 1 tablespoon grass fed butter
• Salt, to taste

Steps for Stage 2:

1. Mix all above ingredients into a medium sized pot.

2. Put pot in high heat until the bone broth starts to boil. Mix once more.

3. Lower heat and simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes

4. Remove from heat and stir.

It’s pretty delicious plain but can be used in any other recipes requiring rice.