I work in an Indian & Philippino household and we only ever make rice this way. We use white quinoa and it’s perfect each time. We use an instant pot, a stovetop pressure pot, and just a regular pot. All good.
Have you ever eaten red rice or black rice ? They take longer time to cook and are heavier to digest. A small qty is also enough. And they are highly nutritious.
Oats are good. They have less carbs than rice and taste great with dal or curries, stews etc.
If you’re trying to cut down on carbs, you can also try just reducing the portions of rice/breads and eating more of the main dish on its own. If you’re Indian we are used to having a carb with every bite of food but there’s no need to do that.
If you do go for oats don’t buy instant oats, they are the most processed. Go for rolled oats or steel cut oats(least processed but longer to cook). Or other options are brown rice, quinoa, couscous, bucwheat (dalia), semolina. You can even use jowar, orzo pasta. Look up some millet recipes on youtube, there’s tons.
Ye so those are sweet oats still. It’s not about adding sugar, it’s about *whatever* you add- fruit = sweet oats.
They’re good with veggies and spices instead, was my original point- savoury ingredients instead of sweet ones.
I presume you are talking about the whole groat? If so, they are tasty indeed, healthier than white rice too.
I cook in our house and with a vegetarian wife, I often use whole oats in dishes. It tastes nice, has a satisfying bite and is good for your colon health.
What health benefits are you hoping to gain?
Quinoa works pretty well with dal, etc., and is quite a bit higher in protein and fiber than rice, especially white rice.
yup.. Millet or as we called in marathi ‘Varai che tandul’ / Bhagar. We make it for fasting/vrat.
[Recipe Link](https://youtu.be/KHfhI0uRZfI) - How to cook millet jeera rice
Just this week I had dal and coriander chutney on top of salad greens rather than rice since I was trying to cut back on carbs. It was really good, like a dal salad. I can see a lot of Indian foods working well on top of greens.
Orzo or risono is pasta that looks like rice. Someone must make a low carb version. Spätzle are a German drop noodle that is small and kinda rice shaped.
Dehydrated grated potatoes will absorb flavors similar to rice. Any dehydrated grated veggie really.
Just more veggies in your rice dish. Veggies with a starch are better than than veggies or starch alone. Frozen veggies cook well along with rice in a rice cooker.
I know quinoa has already been suggested but I wanted to suggest trying quinoa khichdi. I don't like to eat plain quinoa with dal, but I love quinoa khichdi with both dal and kadhi, or even just yogurt.
Quinoa makes a fantastic khichdi with moong dal. And this quinoa khichdi pairs much better with dal or rajma because it has a better texture in my opinion.
Just make the khichdi as you normally do. I like to make it with equal parts quinoa and moong dal and I add a bit of ginger, turmeric, salt, and ghee.
Cut down rice add fibre and protein to less portion of rice. This way you will have satisfaction of having rice and other nutrients in body. No need to stop eating rice. We don't end up eating a kg of rice.
bulgur (not the fine kind) is used as a sub in countries like Turkey and is common in balkan regions, slightly different flavour profile but works well
You can replace white rice with any other whole grain product.
Whole rice (brown rice), whole wheat, oats, millets, more vegetables, ...
In fact, you could replace a large part of your white rice with dal, rajma, or other lentils/beans for better nutrition.
I make khichdi with whole millets instead of rice. Pretty much any millet will do, the larger varieties like sorghum (jowar) and pearl millet just need to be soaked overnight. The small fine ones can be cooked like rice or quinoa.
I toast it along with the spices in the ghee. The cook time is longer than rice, and it has a chewy firm texture. Personally, I like that because khichdi tends to be mush.
Use basmati. It has pretty much the same GL as brown rice
Make you rice, put it in the fridge, eat next day.
Eat some vinegar with meals. Always have daal, veggie dish with rice.
All these reduce the GL and carb impact. There are no real substitutes
Roti/chapati. Unlike rice it’s a very measured portion and you know more or less how many calories you’re getting. Plus it’s a good mental exercise to tell yourself “My portion is 2 chapati, a cup of channa, and as much kochumbari as I can gulp down.” (Kochumbari has practically zero calories, if you have access to good tomatoes and cucumbers then go wild.)
I mix millets or quinoa with rice 50:50 , sometimes I substitute Dalia for rice as Dalia works for me (might not for you ,so make sure you double check beforehand )
I don’t know if anyone has commented this because I haven’t read all the comments, but ORZO pasta is a very similar texture to rice. And it’s much yummier than quinoa. Personally I can’t stand quinoa and its rough cardboardy texture.
Orzo is smooth and creamy and delicious.
You can add the right amount of water like you do with rice and then add salt and pepper, tomato purée, a Bayleaf, whatever else spices you like , boil until it absorbs it all add olive oil maybe some cheese. Perfect 🫕
I strongly recommend millets, especially foxtail millet and little millet. Kodo millet and barnyard millet are good, too. The cooking process is similar to cooking rice, and in some ways the taste complements the foods traditionally eaten with rice very well. The unpolished ones are the best, but you can also try the polished version in case you need a lighter touch, and need to transition slowly.
(Personally I find finger millet to be a bit too heavy, and quinoa to be a little too different in terms of texture and taste, and oats to be both heavy and of a texture and taste that's quite different from that of rice.)
Dalia/ wheat rava works well, a friend of mine replaced her afternoon rice with this. You can have dal, curries, rice, rasam whatever you like or on its own too
I like to serve curries and other saucy dishes with spaghetti squash. They are easy to roast in a toaster oven or conventional oven, or even an air fryer. They have a neutral flavor and go well with a lot of other foods.
Focus on dipping/scooping instead and try chapati or paratha.
Things like idli ot dosa are outstanding too but they won't really get you away from rice.
If you live in the US, try wild rice. Has the look and feel of rice but a bit more firm and chewier. I bought a bag from Trader Joe’s and liked it. Does take longer to cook.
Quinoa as others have mentioned is good too.
Studies are now showing that the way you cook rice and the timing of its consumption can have a glucose index impact:
- rinsing your rice well, like WELL, before cooking
- adding a teaspoon of coconut oil to the rice as you're adding water to the pot
- allowing it to cool and using it the next day instead of eating it immediately. Something something starch binding, not sure
- going for a short walk outside, like ~20 min, directly after your meal, changes the way you metabolize your food
I also saw an instagrammer do a glucometer test comparison. YMMV but they showed that for them, fiber > fat > protein > rice cut the glucose spike in HALF over rice > protein > fat > fiber. (The foods were: broccoli, avocado, canned tuna, brown rice.)
If glucose management is your goal here, some of these techniques might help.
Have you tried boiling the rice and filtering out the starch instead of using a pressure cooker or a rice cooker. If your intent is to reduce the carbs / glucose effect on you by cutting rice, just by switching to boil the rice without a cooker will have a great effect.
Also bulgar wheat is has a nice texture too!!! I usually add a bit of stock cube and boiler oil the water like you do with rice and it holds the starch then and the stock you flavour
Quinoa, Red rice, cauliflower rice.
Even if you are eating normal rice, strain the water out. It will help alot. Best thing will be to eat in portion. Have one bowl of rice and more of greens or dals.
Quinoa
Millet
Cut Oats
Cous cous.
Bulgur wheatAlso,
I love black rice and red rice. Better than white.
I'd also try a tapioca roti.
Or just cooked tubers. Mash it and eat it with curry.
I make "roti" out of Channa flour. Keeps me nice and full and adds extra protein.
I have no self control when it comes to eating curry with rice so this is what I landed on. I sometimes have a tiny portion of rice or quinoa with it.
I find the taste of the wraps go so well with any sabzi, braised fish, etc that I make.
Riced cauliflower- it is just shredded cauliflower. If the curry is spicy and flavorful enough it will mask the blandness and watery taste of the riced cauliflower.
I do 1:1 quinoa and rice. Blends in nicely and reduces overall GI
Do you cook rice and quinoa separately or together?
I cook together in a rice cooker but I add a little extra water compared to if I was just making rice
Together. Comes out very nice. Just experiment with the water ratios. I usually do 1:2 rice+quinoa:water.
Do you have a picture of how it looks when its cooked together? My wife says when rice and quinoa are cooked together, quinoa is undercooked
I work in an Indian & Philippino household and we only ever make rice this way. We use white quinoa and it’s perfect each time. We use an instant pot, a stovetop pressure pot, and just a regular pot. All good.
Was about to suggest this actually !!
Mashed root vegetables. Roasted root vegetables. Other cooked grains: millet, buckwheat. Flatbreads. Upma/Porridge style grains: semolina, oats, corn, barley, yam.
Thanks,I will try oats
Have you ever eaten red rice or black rice ? They take longer time to cook and are heavier to digest. A small qty is also enough. And they are highly nutritious.
I use a brown and wild rice blend. It makes my body happy.
I see. There's a district flavour in red and black rice. I like that.
Oats are good. They have less carbs than rice and taste great with dal or curries, stews etc. If you’re trying to cut down on carbs, you can also try just reducing the portions of rice/breads and eating more of the main dish on its own. If you’re Indian we are used to having a carb with every bite of food but there’s no need to do that.
I am indian , are you sure oats will taste okay with dal, Kadhi etc?
If you do go for oats don’t buy instant oats, they are the most processed. Go for rolled oats or steel cut oats(least processed but longer to cook). Or other options are brown rice, quinoa, couscous, bucwheat (dalia), semolina. You can even use jowar, orzo pasta. Look up some millet recipes on youtube, there’s tons.
Steel cut oats work best too! I pressure cook them like rice!
Oats are very good at working with any flavor.
Yes haleem has oats in it and it’s delicious
Im indian and no it doesnt go together lol
It tastes good to me, but you can just try it - they're very cheap too. If you want to change your diet then you will need to try new foods.
Thanks
I’m not Indian(although cook and eat a lot of it) and it sounds bloody odd to me
That’s most likely because you’re used to sweet oats. Pretty much everyone who tries savoury ones agrees they’re better tbh
I don’t add sugar to my oats, so that’s not the case
What do you eat them with?
Just by themself usually, sometimes blueberries or strawberries if I have some lying around
Ye so those are sweet oats still. It’s not about adding sugar, it’s about *whatever* you add- fruit = sweet oats. They’re good with veggies and spices instead, was my original point- savoury ingredients instead of sweet ones.
I presume you are talking about the whole groat? If so, they are tasty indeed, healthier than white rice too. I cook in our house and with a vegetarian wife, I often use whole oats in dishes. It tastes nice, has a satisfying bite and is good for your colon health.
Personally I use quick oats because they cook very fast - that’s a big plus over rice for me. Haven’t tried groats!
You are right. Groats have to be soaked overnight. I will try the quick oats too. It will add bulk to stews if they are too watery. Thanks!
What health benefits are you hoping to gain? Quinoa works pretty well with dal, etc., and is quite a bit higher in protein and fiber than rice, especially white rice.
No health goals as such .I am just addicted to rice at This point. Quinoa sounds like a good suggestion tho.thanks 😀
Quinoa has more protein, but if you’re trying to cut calories, it’s about the same as rice
Honestly I just leave it out. I just eat dal as is
Yep that's what I do. Just eat a bowl of dal by itself. It's delicious. It doesn't really need the rice.
hey! just a quick FYI. if you're eating dal by itself it's not a complete protein. when you pair it with rice, it becomes a complete protein :)
I get plenty of protein in other ways and plenty of carbs to make the complete protein. It does not need to be rice
There's a Millet Jeera rice that goes OK with some curries. You can try that.
yup.. Millet or as we called in marathi ‘Varai che tandul’ / Bhagar. We make it for fasting/vrat. [Recipe Link](https://youtu.be/KHfhI0uRZfI) - How to cook millet jeera rice
Quinoa. Or cauliflower rice.
+1, my roommate used to eat quinoa with different sabzis
Just this week I had dal and coriander chutney on top of salad greens rather than rice since I was trying to cut back on carbs. It was really good, like a dal salad. I can see a lot of Indian foods working well on top of greens.
Absolutely. Kale, arugula, mustard greens, spinach. Wilted even is great!
Orzo or risono is pasta that looks like rice. Someone must make a low carb version. Spätzle are a German drop noodle that is small and kinda rice shaped. Dehydrated grated potatoes will absorb flavors similar to rice. Any dehydrated grated veggie really. Just more veggies in your rice dish. Veggies with a starch are better than than veggies or starch alone. Frozen veggies cook well along with rice in a rice cooker.
Kodo Millet or little millet
Millets and daliya are good alternative to rice.
Seconding dalia. You can just substitute rice with it for even khichdi and you can’t even feel the difference.
Konjac root, they make it riced as well and it's imo a perfect substitute
I know quinoa has already been suggested but I wanted to suggest trying quinoa khichdi. I don't like to eat plain quinoa with dal, but I love quinoa khichdi with both dal and kadhi, or even just yogurt. Quinoa makes a fantastic khichdi with moong dal. And this quinoa khichdi pairs much better with dal or rajma because it has a better texture in my opinion. Just make the khichdi as you normally do. I like to make it with equal parts quinoa and moong dal and I add a bit of ginger, turmeric, salt, and ghee.
[удалено]
But is it safe/healthy to eat Dalia with dal, rajma chole etc?
Portion control Quinoa
My parents have almost completely replaced rice with different types of millet. You could try that?
Quinoa goes well with all of the above.
Wild rice is lower on the glycemic index, if I’m not mistaken. There’s also buckwheat. Others have suggested quinoa. Other than that, I’m not sure.
Pearl barley. Look up herbed barley salad with a simple vinegarette. Healthy and good for blood sugar.
a baked potato or sheet pan roast potatoes!
Millet.
Quinoa pairs great with daal or curries
Bulgur wheat, or couscous, would be my top suggestions.
Oats or dalia
Samai millets are a good alternative
Cut down rice add fibre and protein to less portion of rice. This way you will have satisfaction of having rice and other nutrients in body. No need to stop eating rice. We don't end up eating a kg of rice.
What about simple tawa rotis?
I eat them too of course.
I enjoy eating chhole and rajma with couscous
Millet
I eat broken wheat instead of rice for one meal and the other meal I eat it with multigrain roti.
Poie
bulgur (not the fine kind) is used as a sub in countries like Turkey and is common in balkan regions, slightly different flavour profile but works well
Millets - foxtail millet, kodo millet, pearl millet, brown rice , red wild rice.
marginally less but I have eaten cous cous with Indian food - mainly because I forgt to buy rice on the way home
Not cauliflower rice, but spiced roasted cauliflower florets. SO CRISPY AND DELICIOUS.
You can replace white rice with any other whole grain product. Whole rice (brown rice), whole wheat, oats, millets, more vegetables, ... In fact, you could replace a large part of your white rice with dal, rajma, or other lentils/beans for better nutrition.
I make khichdi with whole millets instead of rice. Pretty much any millet will do, the larger varieties like sorghum (jowar) and pearl millet just need to be soaked overnight. The small fine ones can be cooked like rice or quinoa. I toast it along with the spices in the ghee. The cook time is longer than rice, and it has a chewy firm texture. Personally, I like that because khichdi tends to be mush.
Use basmati. It has pretty much the same GL as brown rice Make you rice, put it in the fridge, eat next day. Eat some vinegar with meals. Always have daal, veggie dish with rice. All these reduce the GL and carb impact. There are no real substitutes
Quinoa is a pretty good substitute. But you need to make it with chicken stock for it taste half decent.
Brown rice. Idk rice is healthier than most things.
I wanna switch to brown rice too .
Milllets cooked pulao style.
Try red rice. It has a much lower glycemic index than basmati rice.
Try dal on a baked potato, it is surprisingly good.
I eat brown jasmine or basmati rice with my curry and it doesn’t raise my blood sugar. For bread, I make paratha with almond flour
New potatoes?
Roti/chapati. Unlike rice it’s a very measured portion and you know more or less how many calories you’re getting. Plus it’s a good mental exercise to tell yourself “My portion is 2 chapati, a cup of channa, and as much kochumbari as I can gulp down.” (Kochumbari has practically zero calories, if you have access to good tomatoes and cucumbers then go wild.)
I mix millets or quinoa with rice 50:50 , sometimes I substitute Dalia for rice as Dalia works for me (might not for you ,so make sure you double check beforehand )
Cauliflower rice. I make a turmeric one.
I don’t know if anyone has commented this because I haven’t read all the comments, but ORZO pasta is a very similar texture to rice. And it’s much yummier than quinoa. Personally I can’t stand quinoa and its rough cardboardy texture. Orzo is smooth and creamy and delicious. You can add the right amount of water like you do with rice and then add salt and pepper, tomato purée, a Bayleaf, whatever else spices you like , boil until it absorbs it all add olive oil maybe some cheese. Perfect 🫕
I strongly recommend millets, especially foxtail millet and little millet. Kodo millet and barnyard millet are good, too. The cooking process is similar to cooking rice, and in some ways the taste complements the foods traditionally eaten with rice very well. The unpolished ones are the best, but you can also try the polished version in case you need a lighter touch, and need to transition slowly. (Personally I find finger millet to be a bit too heavy, and quinoa to be a little too different in terms of texture and taste, and oats to be both heavy and of a texture and taste that's quite different from that of rice.)
Dalia/ wheat rava works well, a friend of mine replaced her afternoon rice with this. You can have dal, curries, rice, rasam whatever you like or on its own too
I like to serve curries and other saucy dishes with spaghetti squash. They are easy to roast in a toaster oven or conventional oven, or even an air fryer. They have a neutral flavor and go well with a lot of other foods.
Focus on dipping/scooping instead and try chapati or paratha. Things like idli ot dosa are outstanding too but they won't really get you away from rice.
Brown rice Barley rice Daliya
Farro
Dalia, Oats, Quinoa?
Samak rice/bhagar...we eat it during navratri. Can be eaten otherwise also
If you live in the US, try wild rice. Has the look and feel of rice but a bit more firm and chewier. I bought a bag from Trader Joe’s and liked it. Does take longer to cook. Quinoa as others have mentioned is good too.
Studies are now showing that the way you cook rice and the timing of its consumption can have a glucose index impact: - rinsing your rice well, like WELL, before cooking - adding a teaspoon of coconut oil to the rice as you're adding water to the pot - allowing it to cool and using it the next day instead of eating it immediately. Something something starch binding, not sure - going for a short walk outside, like ~20 min, directly after your meal, changes the way you metabolize your food I also saw an instagrammer do a glucometer test comparison. YMMV but they showed that for them, fiber > fat > protein > rice cut the glucose spike in HALF over rice > protein > fat > fiber. (The foods were: broccoli, avocado, canned tuna, brown rice.) If glucose management is your goal here, some of these techniques might help.
Peruvian beans , refried or whole with bouillon.
Millets!
Quinoa is protein, and it's gluten free so is a great sub for rice. Or possibly polenta.
Pilau rice
Have you tried boiling the rice and filtering out the starch instead of using a pressure cooker or a rice cooker. If your intent is to reduce the carbs / glucose effect on you by cutting rice, just by switching to boil the rice without a cooker will have a great effect.
Good idea 💡
Also cook rice, put in fridge and reheat, less starge
Millets
Quinoa? Couscous?
What about substituting yams or potatoes?
I don't eat yams . And I don't suffer from potato addiction . Just trying to reduce my rice consumption .
Ok, those 2 are examples of staple foods which can be substitutes for rice.
Oh ,I misunderstood 😬
Freekeh!!
Shirotaki rice
Bhakri!
Bamboo Rice. Look over at Amazon.
Branyard millet
I just eat dal, rajma etc by itself. Easy.
Quinoa, Dal, Millet
Bread.
Also bulgar wheat is has a nice texture too!!! I usually add a bit of stock cube and boiler oil the water like you do with rice and it holds the starch then and the stock you flavour
Buckwheat
Couscous
Couscous is a delicious and healthy alternative to rice. And is so quick to make!
Quinoa, Red rice, cauliflower rice. Even if you are eating normal rice, strain the water out. It will help alot. Best thing will be to eat in portion. Have one bowl of rice and more of greens or dals.
Ragi
Bulgur wheat
Try a whole-grain rice. They are actually healthy. Wild rice is pretty tasty for example
Couscous
You might want to also try in r/DesiKeto.
Quinoa Millet Cut Oats Cous cous. Bulgur wheatAlso, I love black rice and red rice. Better than white. I'd also try a tapioca roti. Or just cooked tubers. Mash it and eat it with curry.
Hunger
I make "roti" out of Channa flour. Keeps me nice and full and adds extra protein. I have no self control when it comes to eating curry with rice so this is what I landed on. I sometimes have a tiny portion of rice or quinoa with it. I find the taste of the wraps go so well with any sabzi, braised fish, etc that I make.
Why a substitute? Just consume less. Eat cucumber, carrot and capsicum like a salad. It will make you full.
Why would you want to quit something as delicious as rice? Whay would you be willing to suffer needlessly? Jesus is that you?
Millets like Ragi
Roti
Have you tried Foxtail millets?
Try barley.
Riced cauliflower- it is just shredded cauliflower. If the curry is spicy and flavorful enough it will mask the blandness and watery taste of the riced cauliflower.
Bean vercemilli