7
Submitted by Rosie Posie 88
"Being of Armenian descent, I was raised on foods from that region of the world, and pilaf was one on which the children in my family cut their teeth. I never even knew rice was white until I was 17 years old as we always ate pilaf. My brothers and I had no grandmother to teach us, but we did have our great-aunt, our grandfather's sister, who filled that role, and passed-down the recipes from our ancestors to us, and now I prepare them for my own children. This pilaf recipe is it: just pilaf. Nothing fancy, no mushrooms, nor shallots or onions or pine nuts. It was our staple. We ate it with stroganoffs poured over the top, with grilled burgers on Saturday afternoons in the long, hot Summers in Long Island and then Southern California, with my mother's wonderful roasts on Sunday nights. It was the perfect side with Shish Kebob on Christmas day, and alongside our Thanksgiving turkey. This is the recipe for pilaf as Auntie taught us."
photo by Boomette 
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
4 cups
- Serves:
- 6
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ingredients
- 1⁄4 cup butter
- 1⁄2 cup vermicelli
- 1 cup rice
- 2 1⁄2 cups low sodium chicken broth, preferably homemade, heated till boiling
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground pepper
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directions
- In 2-qt. heavy saucepan with tight-fitting lid, melt butter over medium heat until foam subsides.
- Add vermicelli noodles and saute until dark and reddish in color.
- Stir in rice and saute in butter until rice is fragrant and nutty in aroma.
- Raise heat to medium-high; pour in boiling chicken broth and stir.
- Add salt and pepper, tasting a bit of the broth to ensure desired seasoning.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to keep broth at a simmer and cook for exactly 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove cover and taste a few grains of rice for doneness. If still a bit hard, replace cover and cook for two additional minutes.
- When rice is tender, remove pot from heat. Place a paper napkin directly on top of the pilaf and replace cover; let sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.
- After rest-time has elapsed, remove cover, discard the paper napkin, and stir the pilaf before serving.
Questions & Replies
-
How much sodium in this dish?
lobsinger
-
Does the rice need to be converted rice? And do you rinse and soak the rice first as I have seen in many other Armenian rice pilaf RECIPES? Thank you!
slgreene19662
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Reviews
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I followed your recipe to the T and the rice was perfect my family lived it will be cooking it again tonight
donna_hess
-
-
Great Recipe as written.
Greg Woods
-
This was excellent. The quality of the broth really makes all the difference with a recipe like this. I used a full-flavored chicken/pork broth that was left after cooking a pork roast. I left out the salt and pepper as it wasn't needed with the broth I used. Served with chicken, this was a lovely lunch today. Thanks for sharing!
flower7
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Pretty simple and tasty. Reminds me of Rice-A-Roni without all of the added sodium. I added some dried parsley to the hot broth. I am going to try this with low-sodium beef broth also. Made for Spring 2011 PAC game.
Outta Here
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Excellent. Easy, quick, delicious. Toasted pine nuts or almond slivers are a good addition.
dupree22
see 2 more reviews
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Tweaks
-
After making this a few times, I started doing the the following: I use orzo a lot simply because they never have vermicelli at my grocery store, but always have orzo. Sometimes I put a little Turmeric in the broth to enhance the color. (1/4 to 1/2 tsp). It gives the rice a very nice color, and gives a bit of depth to the flavor.
Greg Woods
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Rosie Posie 88
Northridge, 43
- 1 Follower
- 3 Recipes
- 1 Tweak
<p>I'm a mom of two teenage daughters, married to a great man for 26 years now, but he has huge dietary issues, so I'm always looking for ways to get around his restrictions (can't eat garlic, onions, cabbage, broccoli, spicy foods, the list goes on and on). Been cooking since I was 5, love recipes, food, drink, and everything having to do with it. I'm a former librarian, and still find the smell of books intoxicating. I listen to music all the time when I cook, love 'Taste of Home' magazine, and believe the simplest foods are the best.</p>
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