How To Cook Rice Pilaf | Easy Rice Recipes

Alright guys, let's separate the root and green stems from one large spring onion or scallion and with the root end thinly slice it into small pieces. With the green stems do the same thinly slicing it but this time on a slight angle to create diamond or oval shaped pieces. Next here is 10 grams or 0.3 ounces of coriander or cilantro or the devil's lettuce whatever you want to call it but with this just give it a quick rough chop and for those who call it the devil's lettuce it can be left out. Place the side of your knife on top of two cloves of freshly peeled garlic with the blade facing down and push down to crush then give this a rough chop but chopping it up nice and small. Doing it like this allows the allicin compound to activate but not become too powerful in flavor leaving us with a nice mellow garlic infusion. Last but not least slice one large peeled brown or yellow onion in half and with it placed in the half moon position slice it into thin strips laying it flat once you get three quarters of the way across to continue slicing safely. Now to make the rice pilaf place a large saucepan over medium high heat add in two tablespoons or 28 grams of ghee or clarified butter allowing it to melt then add in the thinly sliced onion, the roughly chopped garlic, one and a half teaspoons or four grams of whole cumin seeds for that earthy warmth, one teaspoon or three and a half grams of whole caraway seeds for a nutty bitter sweet and pepper flavor, one quarter of a teaspoon or 0.2 grams of ground turmeric for color and a musky pepper flavor and of course sea salt flakes to taste. Give this a mix through with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula incorporating those spices into the onions and garlic and saute this for three minutes moving it around regularly just until we start to see a bit of browning on the onion. Add in one cup or 200 grams of washed basmati rice mixing it through and toast for 45 seconds which will create a nice nutty flavor on the rice increasing the flavor of the whole dish and we do want to keep this moving as rice sticks and burns quite easily. Next introduce two cups or 500 milliliters of chicken stock which is a two to one ratio with the rice also adding in three dried bay leaves for a piney infusion. Mix this through to allow those flavors to become friends removing any stuck rice from the side of the saucepan and bring this to a boil then once boiling place on a lid or aluminium foil if you don't have a lid. Reduce the heat to low and let this cook undisturbed for 12 minutes and once that's done let it sit off the heat with the lid still on for six minutes to finish cooking. In the meantime with a large pan over high heat add in one tablespoon or 14 grams of ghee or clarified butter allowing it to melt and add in 500 grams or 1.1 pounds of beef mince or ground beef. Break this up and cook for four minutes moving it around regularly and what we're looking for is for the meat to be browned all over and for the water content to start releasing but we're not going to evaporate it all as we're going to use it to complement our next ingredients. Also depending on how much fat is rendered out you do have the choice to leave it in or drain it but I do recommend leaving it in for additional flavor. After four minutes let's add in one and a half teaspoons or three and a half grams of curry powder which I get asked a lot about as to why I don't use this in my curries with the answer being it's more of a seasoning than a spice mix for curries. As for this we're going to mix it through the beef and cook for one minute moving it around regularly allowing the curry powder to slightly toast and incorporate into the beef. Next add in 80 millilitres or one third of a cup of sweet chilli sauce for the slightest of heat and a nice added sweetness, 60 millilitres or one quarter of a cup of water to help create a slight sauce, the thinly sliced root end of the spring onion or scallion for freshness, two thirds of the chopped coriander or cilantro also for freshness, 100 grams or three and a half ounces of frozen peas because why not and we can use up stuff we have in the freezer and a nice big pinch of sea salt flakes to taste. Let's then get back in there and give this a big mix through and cook this for a final one minute over medium heat just to allow the peas to heat up then we can remove this from the stove top. Going back to the pilaf carefully remove the lid, remove and discard the bay leaves and add in 50 grams or 1.7 ounces of dried currants or raisins to add a little sweetness and texture, two thirds of the green stem spring onion or scallion for color and freshness and the remaining chopped coriander or cilantro. We can now grab a fork or spatula and fluff up the rice ensuring all of those ingredients are well combined and this all can be added straight into the beef mix if you wish to do so then remove it from the stove top. To serve this up you can do it however you'd like placing it into a bowl, plate or alongside a curry which I recommend not making the beef part to this recipe if you go for that choice then I like to create a nice big mound of that rice pilaf placing the beef over the top but like I said earlier you can mix the beef and rice together before serving it up. Garnish this with remaining spring onion or scallion root end also adding over some more coriander or cilantro leaving us with this extremely delicious easy and cheap rice pilaf with that incredible full of flavor spiced beef. The only thing that's then left to do is make all of this worthwhile and that is we can then dig in!