Jealous?
About a week ago I made one of my favourite dishes and certainly my preferred Lebanese dish: Arabic rice, also known by its full name, Jess is Hoarding the Arabic Rice. It's full of savory goodness from its unique combination of chicken, beef, onion, cinnamon, rice and of course butter-fried pine nuts, and reheats so well that it was my lunch all week.
While there are many methods for cooking Arabic rice, here's my simple version with approximate amounts:
- Boil about five fatty chicken legs in salted water until cooked. Cool, remove meat from bones and strain broth. If you'd like (I don't like), chill the broth until the fat congeals and is easy to remove.
- In a large pot, fry a big onion (small dice) with a sprinkle of salt in a drop of olive oil or butter or a mix of the two or tears or something else slimy until soft. I also used a minced clove of garlic this time. Toss in a pound or so of ground beef. I like extra lean. Brown the meat and and drain off the fat. Add black pepper and whatever amount of cinnamon looks good. I think I use about a teaspoon or less. Other recipes include spices like coriander, so experiment if you're feeling saucy.
- Rice, baby. Swirl in about two cups of long-grain white rice and stir until shiny. Add enough of the broth for a 2:1 ratio, adding water if needed. Do a salt check. Stir in the chicken meat from before, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and wait about 18 minutes.
- In the meantime, fry a good 1/3 cup of pine nuts in salted butter. I used unsalted this time by mistake (after buying it by mistake) and it just wasn't the same. They're easy to burn; be careful! Also try not to eat them all. Oh yeah, you can substitute sliced almonds. Serve on top of the rice.
That's all you need for a bigass pot of deliciousness. I said this was one of my favourite dishes, but I didn't mention that I've spoiled myself with a lot of favourites lately. My favourite fruit (okay, top 5) was lurking around Urban Fare this evening when I went in to grab some tortillas. Guessing time!
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| I didn't receive permission from the unnamed pet owner's unnamed pet to post a picture of him on the web. Om nom. |
Sugar apple! I love seeing new recipes on this - it totally makes my day.
ReplyDeleteWell then I'll keep doing it :)
DeleteThere must be at least 2lbs of snowburr in that dish! 2 pounds!!
ReplyDelete. . . Elaine?
DeleteMami said: Was that long-grain , or parboiled rice? Photo looks good, but whenever I cook any rice other than parboiled, I find it difficult to get that lovely, individual-grain look. Instead, it mostly cooks up like "family rice.... they all stick together."
ReplyDeleteHow about using a combo of fried almonds plus the '2lbs of snowburr' on top?
I just ate a monstrous-sized, yummy guava, but now I crave sugar apple. Bon appetit!
It had a bit of mold inside :(
DeleteBut the non-moldy part was delish. I don't know what kind of rice it was, because I used what was left and threw away the bag. It was a Jessica Special (slightly crunchy rice), but still edible. The flavour was bang-on!
MAMI'S WHITE RICE RULES:
ReplyDeleteBUY only parboiled. Uncle Ben's costs more, so get no-name in bulk at Safeway, Superstore or Save-On. Or buy the 2kg, 4kg or 8kg no-name brands. I think it's a yellow label.
SOAK in water for at least 30 minutes, then drain before cooking. The key is ensuring that you measure the cooking liquid, whether using water or broth. Use 2 cups liquid for every cupful of rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer on LOW until liquid is absorbed. Too-high heat allows liquid to evaporate before rice cooks.
But soaking requires me to know at least 30 minutes in advance that I want to eat rice :(
DeleteI feel the same way about the knowing in advance thing, but I don't think you need to let it soak. Rigorous scientific testing on my part has shown that washing in many exchanges of water is almost as good. You want to get rid of as much starch as possible before cooking as that's what acts as the glue later on. I also found that it helps if you don't use quite as much water as is recommended and if you bring the liquid to a boil before adding the rice. In the end, the most important factor is the type of rice.
ReplyDeleteWowza. Mental note that Salloums are experts at rice.
ReplyDeleteWell, time to gypsy it up, take down this site and move on to one where we can remain anonymous. Thanks for exposing us Sofia. Ummm, Sofia, there's a Valerie Plame on the phone for you...
ReplyDeleteThere's no anonymity on the Internet. We're all, as they say. . . *sunglasses*
Delete. . . fair game.
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
sooooorry
Delete