Special rice

This is a way of cooking rice so that it looks attractive, when you’ve worked a bit harder at the main course and want the rice to complement your efforts. It’s not difficult, but worth the extra few minutes it takes to make it.  Obviously, the ingredients aren't going to combine that well with your Spanish stew, but it will pretty much go with any recipe that originates east of Italy.  It was intended as a sort of Indian pulao.

 

It's an out-and-out voyaging recipe and can even be made in the unlikely event that you've run out of onions, heaven forfend!

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

generous knob of butter OR (vegan) ghee OR 2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 cup water

1/4 tsp dried, minced garlic

1 tbsp dried onion OR 1 tsp onion powder OR 1/4 onion, sliced

1 cardamom pod

2 cloves

 

Method:

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently fry the rice and turmeric for a couple of minutes.
• Add the water and while it’s coming to the boil, add the garlic, onion, cardamom and cloves.
• When the water has boiled, stir, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.
• Take the pan off the heat and leave it a few more minutes to dry out. This will also release any grains from the bottom of the pan which may have caught.
• Remove the cardamom and cloves before serving.

Variation:

•   You might like to add 2 tbsp raisins, if you like a touch of sweetness.  Add them with the onion.

You will find many more rice recipes here