Roasted rice with nuts
A fragrant and festive rice dish that works great as a side dish especially during holidays.
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 356kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice uncooked
- ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons ghee
- 1 ¾ cups chicken or vegetable broth or water
- ½ cup raisins
- 1 cup toasted nuts
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste, divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Optional:
- 1 chicken giblets without neck boiled and chopped, see notes
- Chopped parsley for garnishing
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, melt ¼ cup of ghee then add basmati rice.
- Keep stirring the rice until it reach golden amber color.
- Reduce heat to medium, carefully pour in the broth. Mix broth with rice and season with salt to your liking.
- Bring the mixture to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until done.
Meanwhile make the nut mixture:
- In a dry skillet add the raw nuts and lightly toast on medium heat.
- Remove the nuts from skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet melt the remaining ghee and saute chopped onion.
- Add chopped giblets if using then add toasted nuts and raisins. Season with salt and pepper.
Assemble:
- When rice is done, remove from heat and leave it covered for 5 minutes, take lid off and fluff with a spatula or a fork.
- Transfer rice to a serving bowl the garnish with the nut mixture and chopped parsley.
Notes
- You can use ghee, butter or oil in this recipe.
- Basmati rice is the usual for this pilaf but any white rice will work as well.
- Use any combination of nuts you like but almonds and pine nuts are more traditional.
- Giblets are organs inside the bird. This usually include liver, heart, gizzard, and the neck. To cook the giblets, Place water in a saucepan with half a small onion, bay leaf and a cardamom pod. Bring water to a boil add giblets, make sure the water covers the giblets by a couple of inches. Cook on medium until done, takes about 45 minutes.
- Use raisins, sultans or even dried cranberries if you like.
- I’m used to making this kind of rice with water but chicken or vegetable stock/broth will make it even richer.
- To store: Place leftover rice in an airtight container and reheat as you usually do with normal rice. You might want to keep the nuts garnish in a separate container and reheat in a dry skillet to keep them crunchy.
- Please check the nutrition disclaimer policy.
Nutrition
Calories: 356kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 398mg | Potassium: 370mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 1mg