PERSIAN HERB RICE
I made this Rice dish to go with the Spiced Lamb and Apricot Stew and it was really delicious. Everyone who ate it specifically commented on how delicious it was. It was quite time consuming compared to the Stew but it was worth it. The crunchy base really added a lovely texture.
It is from Persiana, Sabrina Ghayour’s book. Even though it says it serves 4 – 6 I actually halved the recipe and it was more than enough for us and we had leftovers. I will give the amounts I made and the procedure I used. The baking paper tip was Sabrina’s and it was fantastic.
- 250 g Basmati Rice
- sea salt flakes
- 50 g Coriander leaves
- 50 g Flat Leaf Parsley leaves
- 20 g Chives
- 20 g Dill leaves
- 65 g Spring Onions
- Olive Oil
- 75 g Butter cut into generous chunks
Wash the Rice in cold water in a large bowl, rinse and drain it. Keep doing this until the water runs clear.
Cover the Rice with fresh cold water, add some sea salt flakes and leave it to soak for 2 – 3 hours. (This really makes a difference to the length of the rice and makes it look lovely).
Add your various herbs and your roughly chopped Spring Onions to a food processor and blitz until they are finely chopped. Pulsing works well here as you don’t want a mush!
Boil your water, drain your Rice from the soaking water, and add it to the saucepan of boiling water, along with some Sea Salt and the chopped Herb and Spring Onion mixture.
Stir well and boil for 7 minutes.
Drain the Herby Rice in a colander and put aside.
Line your saucepan with baking paper to prevent the Rice from sticking to the base of the pan. This worked really well. Screw up the paper before smoothing it out again and it is easy to keep in place in the bottom of the pan.
Return your saucepan to the hob and pour in some Olive Oil with approximately 1/2 of the butter chunks on top of the baking paper. Season with Sea Salt.
Scatter the Rice mixture into the saucepan a spoonful at a time. You do not want to pack it down, but keep it light and fluffy.
Add the remaining Butter knobs on top of the Rice.
Cover the saucepan with the lid wrapped in a tea towel to make a tight seal.
Cook the Rice on a medium high temperature for 8 minutes, then reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 25 to 30 minutes. This high heat at the beginning gives this lovely crunchy brown bottom to the Rice.
Once the Rice is cooked, tip it out onto your serving plate, so you can see the beautiful brown base. Mine came out of the saucepan really well due to the baking paper on the bottom.
I will definitely be making this Rice again !!!
