Grande Rice Bran Oil – the Newest, Healthiest Cooking Oil is Here!

The latest trend in healthy cooking oils is rice bran oil!

Rice bran oil – I don’t think I have heard of it before I got the invitation to join a cooking demo with Chef Miko Aspiras last week.

I was curious about rice bran oil. Obviously, it comes from rice bran, but what are the benefits of rice bran oil?

RICE BRAN OIL

A quick read on Wikipedia later, I learned that rice bran oil is actually a very healthy oil, and some say, is even healthier than olive oil!

It’s a newcomer cooking oil that has slowly been gaining recognition for its various health benefits. It is called the “Olive Oil of the East,” and, aside from general cooking like sauteing, searing, frying, etc.., it can also be used to make salad dressings and for baking.

Rice Bran Oil is available in the Philippines under the Grande brand of Grandiose Marketing Inc.. It is available in selected supermarkets and Rustan’s Marketplace nationwide. Pricing: SRP is P185.00 for the 1 Liter size and P365.00 for the 2 Liters size.

Here are some of the other benefits of using Grande Rice Bran Oil:

• High Smoke Point (up to 250 Celsius) – this means that food can be cooked at higher temperatures without losing its nutritive value; food cooked at high temperatures also absorbs less oil; this makes rice bran oil suitable for stir frying and deep frying; you can also keep reusing the oil as long as you don’t heat it beyond the smoke point so the oil stays stable; this means more savings!
• Neutral taste and low viscosity – rice bran oil doesn’t have any strong flavor or aroma so it won’t clash with the flavors of the food you are cooking; it is also not viscous (malapot) – the oil just flows like water, this also means less oil is absorbed during cooking, and food tastes less oily, too
• Rich in natural antioxidants – it contains Vitamin E, Phytosterols and Oryzanol which help improve cholesterol levels: it increases good cholesterol (HDL) while lowering bad cholesterol (LDL); Vitamin E can help prevent cancer and boost your immunity. Aside from this, rice bran oil can help with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, too. It is also hypoallergenic and is beneficial to cardiovascular health. The high antioxidant levels also give rice bran oil a longer shelf life by resisting rancidity and spoilage.
• Balanced fat profile – rice bran oil has an ideal balance of polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) and monounsaturated fats (MUFA). Rice bran oil is rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and free of trans-fats.
• Grade Rice Bran Oil is 100% physically refined with no additives – you get all the nutrients in the oil

COOKING WITH GRANDE RICE BRAN OIL

Last week, I had my first encounter with Grande Rice Bran Oil while Chef Miko Aspiras (Le Petit Souffle, Scout’s Honor, Freezer Burn) was cooking with it.

Here he is making the Sesame Mayo:

For our first course, he made Sesame Tuna Aburi Tataki Salad:

The sesame mayo was made from scratch using Grande Rice Bran Oil, and the tuna was seared using Grande Rice Bran Oil.

This dish was pretty, as well as delicious. The dish was light, and the dressing did not taste oily at all, even though I knew that he put 3 cups of Grande Rice Brown Oil in when making the sesame mayo!

For our main course, Chef Miko made Pork and Beans, which I think is more of a cassoulet (which I like) than the typical canned pork and beans.

The pork belly is rolled, brined in spiced water, roasted for 3 hours, and finally deep-fried in Grande Rice Bran Oil until skin is crispy. It is served with white beans and topped with a dressing made with coriander, basil, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, and Grande Rice Bran Oil. This is like a more sophisticated version of lechon kawali, with white beans. What’s not to like?

Even after the deep-frying, the pork belly did not taste greasy. That seems to be the general observation by everyone. Also, Chef Miko deep-fried pork bellies and we didn’t even get that “oil” smell. You know what I’m talking about, when you fry something and the whole area starts smelling “amoy ulam”. That didn’t happen here!

For dessert, Chef made Pili Donuts and Cream. He fried these brioche donut balls in Grande Rice Bran Oil until golden brown and rolled them in cinnamon sugar. It was served with Pili Butter Glaze. Again, the donut was not oily! Can you believe we stayed so close to the frying pan but didn’t get that oily smell on us?

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Here the fried donuts are being plated:

You really need to try rice bran oil to see the difference versus regular cooking oil.

Chef Miko was telling us that he was even thinking of experimenting with using Grande Rice Bran Oil for his baked goods because of the very light qualities of Grande Rice Bran Oil. Which also made me think of making Chocolate Crinkles again soon! I stopped making Chocolate Crinkles because I could always taste the vegetable oil that I used whenever I make them. It might be time to try again, this time using Grande Rice Bran Oil.

I am also very excited to bake cakes that call for vegetable oil but change to using Grande Rice Bran Oil instead. 😀

Grande Rice Bran Oil is currently available at:

NCR
Makati City
Cash & Carry Supermarket
(Filmore St, Makati City)

For more information about Grande Rice Bran Oil, please visit https://www.grande-rbo.com/ and follow them on Facebook and Instagram to get updates.