Pilaf: now with cabbage
24 October 2021 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentric posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
gluten_freeAnd not made from a recipe on the back of an instant rice packet!
Additional influences are:
Samin Nosrat's recipe for tahdig, which kayloulee made for me back in... 2018 maybe? Something like this one from the saltfatacidheat website, except there was parsley involved and also meat, unsure how much was from the cookbook and how much from K.
Budget Bytes curried cabbage
The "Nine-Spice roast vegetables with couscous" recipe in Campion and Curtis' In the Kitchen.
This recipe is: Normally vegetarian; not particularly hot-spicy; stove-only; tomato-free; infinitely adaptable.
This recipe can be: Vegan; spicier or meat-containing if you like; one-pot if you skip the cheese.
This recipe requires: Time, mainly. And I think it would lose a fair bit without the alliums, but you do you. Minus alliums but plus meat would probably be okay.
A general note on pilaf / tahdig: if you wash the rice thoroughly, and then put it in the oil-base and (unlike risotto) do not touch it, you should get a nice crispy layer (per Samin Nosrat) called Tahdig in Farsi. I've futzed around and this is easier to achieve with meat fats: fry your meat briefly, put it aside, cook the pilaf, and then sort of ... sow the meat into holes in the rice to finish cooking. But you CAN achieve it with vegetable oils, especially if you have enameled or stoneware pots. My ikea fryingpan does not do the job.
You need:
1 cup long-grain rice
2 cups stock (possibly more / add water if needed)
1 large or two medium brown onions, sliced or diced
at least 3 cloves garlic, diced or minced
2-3 large carrots, grated (or vaguely equivalent)
Some shredded savoy cabbage (optional, but good. Usually about a quarter of the head? Maybe a third?)
Other vegetable options: capsicum; tinned corn; frozen spinach; green beans cut to 1 inch pieces; roundels of celery. WHATEVER YOU HAVE it probably works although I haven't tried east asian veg (chinese cabbage would work though) and tubers are a no-go.
A handful or two of a. sultanas or b. dried cranberries (I believe I've even used diced dried apricots)
Fresh parsley if you have it
1/2 tsp cinnamon or therabouts
3/4 tsp tumeric, maybe more, more yellow isn't going to harm you
Additional spices I tend to use include: a dash of ground cumin; a dash of fenugreek; ground pepper; some sweet or smoked paprika. I've been using smoked lately but I think the sweet was a better choice overall.
OPTIONAL PROTEIN ADD-ONS:
- fried halloumi slices
- cashew nuts (toast if you have energy)
- yoghurt or raita or some such (see the saltfatacidheat website link above)
- chickpeas, either straight from the can, or toasted
- meat (see above re using meat to increase your crunchy tahdig options; or leftover meat, in which case reheat it by sticking it in the rice like you're sowing seeds, about halfway through)
What you do:
If you have never made a pilaf before, but have made a risotto, this set if instructions probably makes sense. If neither, perhaps start with this recipe I used in 2009.
0. IF USING RAW MEAT: sear briefly, set aside, cook pilaf in this pan.
1. Sautée the olive and diced garlic, for 4-5 min or as much patience as you have.
2. Stir in the cronchier vegetables. Carrot, cabbage: yes. Green beans, save for later. Chinese cabbage: I THINK I'd leave it for the later stage. Anything else: eh, use your knowledge of vegetables. Would you stir-fry it in the carrot stage or the bean stage? Turn down to low.
3. Add the rice, stir to coat. Add the stock. Now LEAVE IT ALONE. For... oh, at least 20 minutes, but I don't time anymore. Skim a few grains off the top occasionally to check. FWIW I use a frying pan and a metal cover with vents in it, rather than a stockpot and lid, for this.
4. At about half-cooked rice stage, add: the lighter vegetables; any meat.
5. IF USING HALLOUMI: fry it now. IF TOASTING NUTS: toast now.
6. Check rice. Probably add more water/stock (this depends not just on whether your rice was par-boiled, but on how shallow a dish you use). Add chickpeas if using. Add frozen spinach if using. (in latter case you will need to stir it thoroughly, destroying the tahdig. Such is life. You could probably add froz spinach with the carrot, it doesn't care.)
7. WHEN ALMOST COOKED: stir in the parsley, cashews if that's your protein of choice.
8. WHEN COOKED: Serve with halloumi, or yoghurt.
Serves: eh... 2-3? 4 as a side?
ALTERNATIVE to incorporating meat: works as a good base/side for a not-leftover meat dish (eg, tonight I made venison in red wine sauce with leftover pilaf).
Honestly I'm not quite satisfied with the spice mix at the moment: it's pretty good with the saltiness of haloumi bit becomes bland if eaten alone. Sweet rather than smoked paprika, definitely; maybe a tiny dash of chili. Or just add salt? I never add salt, which is weird but also means that the most mundane restaurant soup entrée is exciting to me.
Additional influences are:
kayloulee made for me back in... 2018 maybe? Something like this one from the saltfatacidheat website, except there was parsley involved and also meat, unsure how much was from the cookbook and how much from K.This recipe is: Normally vegetarian; not particularly hot-spicy; stove-only; tomato-free; infinitely adaptable.
This recipe can be: Vegan; spicier or meat-containing if you like; one-pot if you skip the cheese.
This recipe requires: Time, mainly. And I think it would lose a fair bit without the alliums, but you do you. Minus alliums but plus meat would probably be okay.
A general note on pilaf / tahdig: if you wash the rice thoroughly, and then put it in the oil-base and (unlike risotto) do not touch it, you should get a nice crispy layer (per Samin Nosrat) called Tahdig in Farsi. I've futzed around and this is easier to achieve with meat fats: fry your meat briefly, put it aside, cook the pilaf, and then sort of ... sow the meat into holes in the rice to finish cooking. But you CAN achieve it with vegetable oils, especially if you have enameled or stoneware pots. My ikea fryingpan does not do the job.
You need:
1 cup long-grain rice
2 cups stock (possibly more / add water if needed)
1 large or two medium brown onions, sliced or diced
at least 3 cloves garlic, diced or minced
2-3 large carrots, grated (or vaguely equivalent)
Some shredded savoy cabbage (optional, but good. Usually about a quarter of the head? Maybe a third?)
Other vegetable options: capsicum; tinned corn; frozen spinach; green beans cut to 1 inch pieces; roundels of celery. WHATEVER YOU HAVE it probably works although I haven't tried east asian veg (chinese cabbage would work though) and tubers are a no-go.
A handful or two of a. sultanas or b. dried cranberries (I believe I've even used diced dried apricots)
Fresh parsley if you have it
1/2 tsp cinnamon or therabouts
3/4 tsp tumeric, maybe more, more yellow isn't going to harm you
Additional spices I tend to use include: a dash of ground cumin; a dash of fenugreek; ground pepper; some sweet or smoked paprika. I've been using smoked lately but I think the sweet was a better choice overall.
OPTIONAL PROTEIN ADD-ONS:
- fried halloumi slices
- cashew nuts (toast if you have energy)
- yoghurt or raita or some such (see the saltfatacidheat website link above)
- chickpeas, either straight from the can, or toasted
- meat (see above re using meat to increase your crunchy tahdig options; or leftover meat, in which case reheat it by sticking it in the rice like you're sowing seeds, about halfway through)
What you do:
If you have never made a pilaf before, but have made a risotto, this set if instructions probably makes sense. If neither, perhaps start with this recipe I used in 2009.
0. IF USING RAW MEAT: sear briefly, set aside, cook pilaf in this pan.
1. Sautée the olive and diced garlic, for 4-5 min or as much patience as you have.
2. Stir in the cronchier vegetables. Carrot, cabbage: yes. Green beans, save for later. Chinese cabbage: I THINK I'd leave it for the later stage. Anything else: eh, use your knowledge of vegetables. Would you stir-fry it in the carrot stage or the bean stage? Turn down to low.
3. Add the rice, stir to coat. Add the stock. Now LEAVE IT ALONE. For... oh, at least 20 minutes, but I don't time anymore. Skim a few grains off the top occasionally to check. FWIW I use a frying pan and a metal cover with vents in it, rather than a stockpot and lid, for this.
4. At about half-cooked rice stage, add: the lighter vegetables; any meat.
5. IF USING HALLOUMI: fry it now. IF TOASTING NUTS: toast now.
6. Check rice. Probably add more water/stock (this depends not just on whether your rice was par-boiled, but on how shallow a dish you use). Add chickpeas if using. Add frozen spinach if using. (in latter case you will need to stir it thoroughly, destroying the tahdig. Such is life. You could probably add froz spinach with the carrot, it doesn't care.)
7. WHEN ALMOST COOKED: stir in the parsley, cashews if that's your protein of choice.
8. WHEN COOKED: Serve with halloumi, or yoghurt.
Serves: eh... 2-3? 4 as a side?
ALTERNATIVE to incorporating meat: works as a good base/side for a not-leftover meat dish (eg, tonight I made venison in red wine sauce with leftover pilaf).
Honestly I'm not quite satisfied with the spice mix at the moment: it's pretty good with the saltiness of haloumi bit becomes bland if eaten alone. Sweet rather than smoked paprika, definitely; maybe a tiny dash of chili. Or just add salt? I never add salt, which is weird but also means that the most mundane restaurant soup entrée is exciting to me.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-24 06:04 pm (UTC)Samin Nosrat herself taught me that salt is the secret ingredient to EVERYTHING. I've been using more salt in my cooking now--especially on meat--and omg it's good.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-24 06:53 pm (UTC)In short I try to keep my home cooking salt down in order to eat delicious salts outside of home and have neither dietary worries nor boredom about it.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-24 07:05 pm (UTC)I hear ya. I have to avoid a lot of spices so I'm leaning extra hard on salt these days and am just continually surprised at what a huge difference it makes.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-24 07:12 pm (UTC)