Recipes

Pilaf

Middle Eastern  Rice  Side Dish  Stove 

• Cooking Time: 30 min
• Servings: 4
• Preparation Time: 5 min
• 1 c Uncle Ben’s rice
• 2 c broth (chicken and/or beef - depending on what you're serving)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 c browned vermicelli pasta broken into pieces
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• Black pepper to taste

For the vermicelli, some people brown it in the pan with the butter, others brown a whole bunch in butter ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. We make pilaf a lot and have found it's much easier to just break it up on a baking sheet and brown it in the oven. Then we just throw it in a Tupperware container and keep it in the cabinet with the rice. No need to worry about it going rancid, etc. because no butter was used. We usually look for the vermicelli that is shaped into a bird's nest so you can just crunch each of the bundles over the tray. If we can't find it, we get the regular vermicelli and break it into about 1" pieces. Make sure to brown it pretty dark because it will lose color as it cooks with the rice.

Throw everything in your pot and bring it to a boil. Stir occasionally until the water starts to go down and holes start to form on top. Once that happens, turn the temp down to low, put the cover on and just let it sit until done; about 15" more. I know most people don't stir their rice at all, but I don't like when it sticks to the pan, and stirring it to that point doesn't make the Uncle Ben's mushy. It does with some other rices.

Don't worry if you don't have bouillon cubes. Those don't "traditionally" go in pilaf, but my sister started doing that for an extra flavor boost, and she got me doing it now too.

You can't grow up in an Armenian household without having Pilaf AT LEAST once a week. This is the basic recipe. Some people sauce onion in the butter before adding the rest of the ingredients, others add diced dried apricot, etc. I like it any way I can get it, but I usually just make the traditional. It's tough when you're Armenian and grow up with a bunch of Irish guys who always want potatoes. :)

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