Rice Pilaf
Simple Recipes Budget Recipes Side Dishes Rice
As you've noticed, Greeks don't stress too much when it comes to food. Consequently, even at weddings they don't disappoint, so the main dish they serve is rice pilaf. A very simple pilaf, seasoned only with pepper and finished with goat butter and lemon juice. The result is creamy, especially since one of the essential rules for a successful pilaf is cooking the rice in homemade chicken or lamb stock. Since using goat butter would have made this recipe inaccessible to those of you who read my blog, I replaced it with a little olive oil flavored with oregano and pepper, plus I added a bit of paprika for color.
You can very quickly enrich this simple pilaf with other flavors, and I've noted some of my ideas in the recipe. The one with spinach and dill is my favorite.
Ingredients
1 cup long grain rice
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
1 level teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a few sprigs of parsley
salt
How to prepare rice pilaf
- Put the chicken stock in a pot, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. When it boils, add the rice, stir to distribute it evenly in the pot, reduce heat to low, and let it simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Check the rice - it should now be cooked "al dente" and the stock shouldn't be fully absorbed yet. Turn off the heat, put the lid on the pot, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until the stock is fully absorbed.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil and sauté the very finely chopped onion until well softened.
* at this point, if you want to enrich the pilaf, you can add: sliced kabanos/sausages, diced salami, cooked and diced chicken breast, sliced mushrooms, spinach leaves along with some chopped dill, etc.; sauté these a bit then proceed to the next step; if you opt for the spinach and dill version, you can skip the paprika - Turn off the heat and add the spices (paprika, pepper, and oregano). Stir.
- Add the rice to the seasoned oil above, add the finely chopped parsley, and mix well until the rice has a uniform orange color.
- Finish the pilaf with lemon juice to taste (I used one tablespoon).
