SPLENDID idea with RICE
Heleen Meyer takes bland, boring white rice to a whole new level with her fragrant and aromatic Savoury rice recipe. This side dish will turn a simple piece of chicken or fish into a special meal. You can use any rice of your choice, but Heleen loves the aromatic flavour of white or brown basmati rice.
She starts by toasting a few whole spices in a pan and then sautés leeks and garlic with it, before adding the rice to the aromatics. These first steps in the recipe really brings out the best flavour. The rice is not just simmered in water, but she uses stock and a small amount of orange juice to complement all the spice flavours beautifully. The fragrant rice is then garnished with toasted almonds and spots of colour – what better to use than fresh pomegranate rubies (or dried cranberries) and mint leaves, making this an amazing side dish.
Savoury rice with almonds
Recipe by Heleen Meyer for her cookbook Make five/Maak vyf
Serves 6
2,5 ml (½ tsp) caraway seeds
7,5 ml (½ tbsp) cumin seeds
3 cardamom pods, crushed to expose the tiny seeds
½ cinnamon stick
20 ml (4 tsp) olive oil
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
500 ml (2 cups) uncooked white or brown basmati rice
750 ml (3 cups) mild vegetable or chicken stock
375 ml (1½ cups) water
125 ml (½ cup) orange juice
large handful pomegranate rubies or dried cranberries
50 g toasted flaked almonds
a small handful fresh mint leaves
1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and toast spices, without any oil, until aromatic.
2. Add half of the oil and sauté leeks and garlic with the spices until the leeks soften. Stir in about 80 ml (⅓ cup) water and allow to simmer until the water has evaporated. This process enhances the flavour of the spices.
3. Stir in the rest of the oil and rice and sauté for a few minutes. Stir in the stock, water and orange juice and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer white basmati rice for 10-12 minutes or brown basmati rice for 30 minutes or until just cooked and fluffy, but not too soft.
5. Stir in the pomegranate rubies or cranberries, almonds and mint and serve immediately.
For more recipes like this visit Heleen’s website https://heleenmeyer.co.za/.
Image by Neville Lockhart