Christmas has always been the best part of the year for me. Not only do I look forward to spending time with the family, and snuggling up to old movies, I also look forward to home-cooked meals. The old recipes from mama, the smokey flavours, the unending dishes to wash(not my favourite part), all these and then some make it the most wonderful time of the year.
And what’s a Christmas without rice? Good ol’ Jollof, fried or rice and stew with chicken and a side of orange juice.
This time, I decided to switch it up, go for the Oriental rice. The dish looks like a party cause it is adorned with meat, toasted nuts and raisins. And loaded with flavours from aromatics and warm Middle Eastern Spices. Chef Salma gave us this recipe to try out.
Let’s make Arabic Oriental Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups Basmati rice.
- ¼ cup peeled, boiled almonds.
- ¼ cup peeled hazelnut.
- ¼ cup raisins.
- 1 small chopped onion.
- 4 Tbsp veg oil.
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter.
- 1 tsp salt.
- ¼ tsp fresh pepper.
- ¼ tsp powdered cinnamon.
Instructions
- wash rice well and soak it in warm water for 20 minutes.
- heat oil and butter in a deep pan.
- now add hazelnuts and almonds and stir until golden.
- keep them aside then add onion and raisins in the same pan.
- stir until nicely golden.
- keep all nuts with onion and raisins in the strainer aside.
- in the same pan add one Tbsp of oil.
- now add rice, salt, pepper and cinnamon.
- add chicken stock and stir one more time.
- cover the pan and keep it on low heat for 15 minutes.
- serve rice with mixed nuts and fresh dill and parsley.
Now, you can serve this with any protein of choice. You can also ditch the nuts if you’re not feeling it but I promise, it bangs.
