Rice pilaf

After a while, plain rice gets boring. White, brown, jasmine, there’s a hundred different types. But after a while, well, you want to turn it up notch. Rice pilaf is the solution to boring rice, and there’s a bunch of different ways to cook it

The Rice

Rice is the third highest produced agricultural commodity behind sugar cane and maize. It is the most widely consumed staple food in a large part of the world, specifically Asia and Africa. Because a major portion of sugar cane and maize production are not for human consumption, rice is worldwide the most consumed crop for nutritional intake. In simple terms, pretty much everyone eats rice.

I’m sure it doesn’t surprise anyone to say that rice, or domesticated rice was first produced in China approximately 8000-13000 years ago. There are many different strains of rice. But they fall into three different types: long grain, medium grain and short grain. Of the different types, medium grain is good for sticky rice and risotto and short grain is good for rice pudding. Cultivation of rice is relatively easy, but is rather labor intensive, which leads to its popularity.

The Pilaf

So what is pilaf? Well, although rice had been domesticated and grown for thousands of years. It was still processed for consumption in the same way, cooked plain. It wasn’t until the later part of the first millennia that things changed. That’s when the idea of cooking rice with stock, herbs and meat really took off. Think of Spanish paella. So, this dish is rich in history. We will keep it simple as a side dish, but still follow the original idea of cooking rice with stock and herbs

For this particular recipe I use orzo pasta. When cooked at the beginning with the garlic it will brown off a bit and add a nutty flavor to the dish, also the orzo grains will add a texture difference as well. I usually use chicken broth, however, I will use vegetable stock here to broaden the dishes appeal. Obviously, the star of the dish is the rice. I like to use brown rice, I like the flavor and the texture. But classic rice pilaf would use Basmati. You have options here as usual. White rice and brown rice have different cooking times. Using Basmati or jasmine rice, this dish only takes 20 mins for the rice to cook. Something to bare in mind. Remember to rinse the rice, please read my post on safe food prep, it’s very informative.

The method

So, start by cooking garlic in oil and butter. The reason for mixing the oil and butter is to raise the smoke point. When butter is cooked alone it can burn very easily, however, by adding oil, well, that’s less likely to happen. When the garlic is cooked, add the orzo and mix well with the garlic and butter, keep moving it around the pan. As the orzo heats up it will toast a little, the color of the grains will darken, that is where the nutty flavor will come from. Five or six minutes will usually be enough.

Now add the rice, again, mixing well. The idea is to get that garlicy buttery liquid in the pan to coat the rice. The individual rice grains will absorb some of it, making sure the flavor is throughout the dish. This is also when I add the salt and pepper to taste. Once all the liquid has been absorbed, and everything is mixed well, add the stock, bring to a boil, lower to its lowest setting, cover and walk away.

A couple of things here. You need to add extra liquid than the rice packet states, to allow for the orzo. Different rice takes different amount of time to cook, I use brown rice, that takes and hour. If the lid is glass you can monitor water absorption through the lid, if its not, check at 45 mins. Either way, when done, fluff the rice pilaf, I usually stir in a little fresh parsley for a color component, and, serve. Thank You