A delicious rice dish from the Middle East that is happy to be served at holidays and parties. Added to beautiful dishes and topped with nuts, meats, and peas. It can be varied by having carrot, raisins, lambs, or other good on. My recipe is a traditional recipe that is served with chicken, salad, and preferably a good stew.
This is an excellent right to offer when getting guests, an easy-to-cook, beautiful, and really tasty. What makes the rice special in taste is that it is “marinated” before cooking. Season the rice to taste if any of the seasonings do not suit you. Basmati or long-grain rice are the varieties that are best used for this recipe.
Rice for 6 servings
- 6 dl rice (I use basmati rice, even long-grain rice is good)
- 2-3 cardamom capsules
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of sickle spices (an oriental spice mix available in well-stocked stores)
- 2 tablespoons all-spice (an all-round spice mix similar to vegetable broth but in powder form, you can replace it with 2 broth
- cubes, then take chicken or vegetable broth)
- 0.5 tsp saffron (can be excluded or exchanged with turmeric)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 0.5 dl of rapeseed oil
Optional Garnish - 300 g of minced meat
- 1 dl almond shavings or peeled sweet almond
- 1 dl pine nuts
- 5 dl frozen peas
- 1 teaspoon sickle spices
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp allspice or 1.5 tsp salt
How to prepare the rice
Wash the rice to remove most of the starch in it and to get airy rice. The best way is to put the rice in a bowl and let the water flow while you stir the rice gently without breaking the rice grains with your hands. Change the water in turns. When the water in the bowl starts clear, the rice is “clean”.
Mix all the spices with the rice, pour over the oil and lukewarm water (the water should cover the rice by 2 cm). Leave to stand for 1 hour at room temperature. Place the rice in a saucepan, pour over boiling water (the water should cover the rice by about 1 cm), put on a lid. Let the rice cook up and then lower the heat to low temperature. The rice should steam slowly for about 30 minutes. When half the time has elapsed, gently stir the rice and fluff it with a fork. If the rice feels dry you can pour some more hot water. The cooking time varies depending on the type of rice.
Boil the peas and allow to drain. Heat oil and fry until tender. Mix with the peas and all spices, allow to simmer for a minute and then heat off. Roast almonds and pine nuts until they get a nice light brown color. Add the rice, pour over the peach and finally the nuts. Serve with fried chicken.