If you’re like me, and you enjoy eating rice of all kinds, try this recipe. I just stumbled upon gen-ji-mai rice mix at a local Korean supermarket and fell in love. I’ve never seen it elsewhere even though it is American-made.

Gen-Ji-Mai with olive oil, garlic and onion

Rice mixes are popular in the Korean kitchen. According to this marvelous book, Korean Cuisine: an Illustrated History by Michael J. Pettid, the story goes that shortly after rice was introduced to Korea, nobody could afford to eat it because, at the time it, was prohibitively expensive to produce. Rice could only be grown in the warm southernmost part of the country, and most of the crop was used for export. So eating white polished rice was an affair for the rich. The poor had to content themselves with mixtures of polished and unpolished rice blended with other grains such as barley, millet, sorghum and at times red beans. This is obviously a much more nutritious option than plain white rice. Because of that, and the great taste, these rice blends have been making a comeback these days. I’m hooked.

This gen-ji-mai contains brown rice, hull-less barley, rye berries, jasmine brown rice, red rice, calmati brown, black barley, long grain red rice, black rice, whole oats, brown sweet rice and wild rice. It has a wholesome, nutty flavor with a really enjoyable texture.

Gen-Ji-Mai with olive oil, garlic and onion

1 cup gen-ji-mai
1 clove garlic, mashed
½ onion, cubed
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt

Rinse rice, place in a bowl, add two cups of cold water and soak for 30 to 45 minutes. Drain. Add olive oil to a saucepan followed by onion. Sauté onion until it becomes translucent. Add rice, garlic, salt and a cup and a half of water. Bring it to a boil, stir. Reduce temperature to low and simmer lid on for about 20 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest, lid on, for about 10 minutes. Serve with a side of sautéed green leaves and/or grilled vegetables or fish.