Rice Surprise

Colorful wonderful tasting basmati rice is a great way to sneak in extra veggies. Now I love one pot cooking, since it makes for a quick and easy clean up. But speaking of cleaning up, you will be cleaning up this side rice dish rather quickly as you and your family gobbles it up. Heats up the next day perfectly as well...

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice
1 large onion sliced
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3-6 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
3 stalks scallions, chopped
2-4 good shakes of red chili flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon or more of freshly cracked pepper
1 and 3/4 cups water
2 tablespoons or less of olive oil
Pot with tight lid
1 clean dish towel or paper towels

Directions:

Put olive oil in pan and add onions.
Let onions sweat not sautée in pan till translucent (cook on medium low – you do not wish to brown the onions) (heck, it’s ok if some browning occurs)
Add chopped peppers and garlic, let sweat for five minutes
Add rice and all spices. With wooden spatula or spoon, stir till well combined.
Let rice get coated with the olive oil and spices.
Then add water, stirring once and put up heat and allow to come to a boil.
Once boiling, turn down heat to low and put on tight lid on pot.
Set timer for 12-14 minutes. (Don’t peek! – you will let important cooking steam out)
Once timer chimes, take off lid, and with spoon, pull away rice and see if any water still exists on bottom of pan. If so, allow to cook for another few minutes.
Once water has evaporated, turn off heat under pot and place folded clean dish towel (or paper towels) just over pot and just under lid. Let rice’s extra steam be soaked up by towels and let sit for at least 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
When ready to serve, fluff up rice with fork and add freshly chopped scallions to rice.
Serve up your rice surprise along with your favorite main course. Photo provided shows my rice surprise side dish along with my version and take on Noir’s chicken with garlic and lime that I made with pork chops.

This is yet another little trick to sneak in some vegetables for your family to consume, the color of this rice dish is amazing and the taste can't be better.

Twice As Nice Rice - Rice Stuffing as a Side Dish

Got Rice? Get Twice As Nice Rice.

Sometimes, we have left over rice we all hate to throw out - this recipe brings new life to a staple side dish we have often. Frankly we were going to use this left-over rice as a rice stuffing/dressing for the rosemary orange roasted chicken I posted yesterday, but we ended up reheating the rice and adding the remaining ingredients as described below. The celery and toasted almonds add crunch while the sauteed onions add that "je ne sais quoi' factor - Besides the poor french, this dish was delicious.



Ingredients:

• 1 -2 cups left over cooked rice - We had out 'Basmati Oh So Nice Rice' posted here which we served the previous night with the added loads of fresh minced cilantro and scallions.
  
• 1 celery stalk - rinsed and minced
  
• 1 onion minced
  
• 1/4 cup fresh toasted almonds
  
• 1/2- 1 cup of raisins
  
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Take 1 cup of boiling water and reconstitute (big word here) raisins in a heat-safe bowl so they become plump.
   
2. In a skillet, sautee up the onions and celery with a little butter/olive oil or veggie oil - whatever your preference, till onions are translucent though celery still has some crunch to it. Remove from skillet and set aside.
   
3. Throw almonds in same skillet and toss till toasted and set aside.
   
4. Once rice is heated through, drain off raisins well then add to rice, add sauteed onions and celery and stir rice till all ingredients are combined.
   
5. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top - and voila - the rice is ready for round two.
   
6. You can easily put this all together and stuff your bird - add chopped toasted walnuts instead of the almonds and you got yourself one heck of a rice stuffing!
   
7. Rock on with your Twice as Nice Rice!
   

Technorati Tags: hot to make rice stuffing, what to do with left over rice, best rice side dishes

Basmati Rice Oh So Nice

Basmati Rice Oh So Nice

This technique for cooking up a dish of non-sticky naturally nutty basmati rice can be used with any type of rice, but I am now completely hooked cooking rice this way along with only using Basmati rice - I haven't had plain rice since my boyfriend turned me on...to this technique of cooking rice of course, just like his Greek Jewish Mom does.

• 1 cup basmati rice (we use the basmati rice from the Himalayan area - you can get a huge bag from BJ's for $12- much more affordable than the smaller bag amounts you typically find at the grocery store.)
• 2 cups water
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 fresh garlic cloves minced
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon "Better than Bullion Chicken" (optional but really makes it extra great)
• 2 stalks fresh scallions minced/chopped small (optional)
• 1-2 tablespoons freshly minced cilantro (optional)
• Juice of one lemon (optional when wishing a rice pilaf taste)
• 1/8 cup white wine (optional - but minus 1/8 cup water of total 2 cups of water)
• 2-3 paper towels - you will see why in a moment...
• wood spoon or wood spatula (spatula best)
• fork for fluffing the rice when its time
• Equipment Needed:
• 1-1/2 quart pot with tight lid.
• Hungry people craving rice but bad!

1. Measure out all your ingredients and have ready.
2. Slice onion if you haven't done that already and heat up pot on stove.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and let heat up in pot.
4. Add onion and let cook on medium till translucent, stirring often.
5. I prefer my onions to brown and caramel a little, but try not to burn your onions.
6. Once onions are cooked through, add garlic and cook for ONE minute - you do not wish to burn garlic.
7. Add rice (yes without any water), using wood spatula, stir rice until each rice has a little of the remaining olive oil on it.
8. (This is the little secret of his mom, in creating rice that does not stick)
9. Continue stirring rice for 2 minutes, put heat on low if you have to.
10. Add wine first if using that, stir then add the water, stirring again.
11. Add salt and pepper and any other optional ingredients except for the scallions - it's their turn at the end)
12. Put on lid and turn heat up.
13. Pay attention till when rice starts to boil, turn down heat at once and put on low.
14. Let cook and simmer on low for 10 minutes or until water has been absorbed.
15. To check for water absorption - take a spoon or knife and gently pull a little of the rice aside looking for any water - is water all gone?
16. Great! Once water has evaporated, turn off the heat and grab those paper towels.
17. Fold up paper towels, and place just under lid and let rice "sit" for 5 minutes.
18. Put lid back on pot sitting on top of paper towels.
19. The paper towels will soak up any of the extra steam that the rice will give Remember that the heat is off under the rice at this point.
20. During this time, it's great to plate your main dishes, call your peeps to the dinner table, etc. while the rice is "resting".
21. When ready, taking a fork, "fluff" up your rice, using a fork is essential. Serve with sprinkled diced scallions on top - and voila.
22. Basmati Rice Oh So Nice - time to eat!

Basmati Rice Oh So Nice @ Group Recipes