Rice is the best side dish with heavy curries and meat dishes. This food grain is a part of staple diet in Asian countries like China and India. Especially, in India rice is a part of almost every meal through the day. From steaming idli to scrumptious dosa, rice is a main ingredient in many Indian dishes. Biryani is another popular Indian dish, which has rice as the main ingredient and has ruled the food world. There are many more and with many Indian trained chefs in the hotel business, the number of dishes made with rice is certainly increasing. Nowadays, even big giants of the hospitality world are indulging in cooking delicious dishes made with rice.

The main reason behind the popularity of this grain is its subtle taste and crunchy texture that it can attain after deep-frying. Especially, variants available in market like pure harvest organic basmati rice are known for their unique taste, shape, aroma and texture. In case you think that rice is not a very healthy food option that let me tell you that this is a myth and rice is in fact packed with many vital nutrients that your body needs for healthy functioning. Following are few major health benefits of rice:

• A healthy serving of carbohydrate is quite essential for your body and rice is the best source of this nutrient. Therefore, do have at least one serving of rice every day. If you are on diet then you can have some plain boiled rice instead of oil-laden biryani and pulav.
• Boiled basmati rice and brown rice are fat-free and your dieting regime will not be affected by adding them to the diet chart.
• Every ¾ cup of rice contains 3 g of protein, which makes it a good source of this vital nutrient. The amount of protein that you need on daily basis may not be attained with just rice but it still has enough and is a very important part of staple diet in many regions across the globe.
• Being a natural source of essential nutrients like thiamine and niacin, rice is crucially essential for proper functioning of body's metabolism.
• This health food also comprises of trace minerals and you can increase its mineral content by just adding some rock salt or sea salt while cooking. Rice may not be a very rich source of minerals but it is certainly a moderate source.

There are many other factors that make rice a health food and if you are worried about starch content then let me tell you that you can easily get rid of it while boiling. All you need to do is remove the white froth that appears over boiling rice.