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Kodai-mai, Japanese ancient rice ( black rice)
Kodai-mai is also called
chojyu-mai, that is rice promising us to live long. A naturalist in
old China said in his book that black rice is high in nutritional and medical
value and especially effective in making blood in our body. As it has been used in Yakuzen-ryori,
Chinese traditional herbal dishes, it has another name of medicine rice. Black rice used to be a tribute to the
Chinese emperors as special rice bringing eternal youth and life. That is why people enjoyed eating it as rare
tribute rice. It is said that if an old
man continues eating black rice his hair becomes black and his body becomes
younger.
Compared with contemporary rice, black rice
contains abundant proteins, vitamins and minerals. Even nowadays it is cultivated and eaten all
over Asia.
What is kodai-mai?
Kodai-mai has strong
characteristics of old species of rice our ancestors grew long time ago.
Kodai-mai plant grows
higher, its grains are easier to drop from stalks and the harvest is smaller
than contemporary rice plant. But it is
very resistant to difficult conditions.
It can grow even in the wild. It
grows without fertilizer and agricultural chemicals and even in the dry or cold
weather.
There are
various kinds of Kodai-mai, such as colored rice and aromatic
rice.
Colored rices
Red
rice@c@ non-glutinous
rice containing tannin
Black
rice c glutinous rice containing
anthocyanin
Green
rice c glutinous rice containing chlorophyll
Three-colored
rice c@a blend of red, black and green rice
Kodai-mai contains a lot of nutrients, such as potassium,
calcium and various kinds of vitamins.
So eating it makes your body strong enough to resist diseases. It can be cooked with ordinary rice. We recommend you eat kodai-mai for
health.
How to cook Kodai-mai with ordinary rice
1)
Wash ordinary rice and drain it in a
colander.
2) Wash kodai-mai
and let it soak in hot water for ten minutes.
The amount of Kodai-mai
is 10 % of that of ordinary rice.
3) Place the
ordinary rice in an electric cooker.
Pour the kodai-mai with the hot water in the cooker and stir,
4) Adjust the
amount of water in the cooker for cooking.
The same or more water as rice is desirable. Let the rice soak in the water for two hours.
5) Switch on the
cooker.
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