Lebanese Rice Pilaf

rollersgirl's Note:

This is my Lebanese grandmother's recipe. You can use chicken broth in place of the water if desired.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 cup thin spaghetti , broken up into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 ½ tablespoons clarified butter or 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups long grain rice
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Saute the spaghetti in the clarified butter or olive oil until light brown. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
2. Stir in the uncooked rice, then add the boiling water. Stir and allow to come back to a boil. Cover, turn the heat to low, and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.
3. Uncover and fluff the rice gently with a fork. Place in a serving dish and top with the pine nuts and a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

Reviews

[hadhoud]

Tastes perfect just like my mom's!

[UmmBinat]

5 stars with chicken broth instead of water, 1 tsp of cinnamon and a bit more explanation. First of all Id say break up the vermicelli noodles and make them more than a light brown but of course make sure they dont burn. Chef #186855 s picture has a good colour. Cook this in chicken stock, it will make all the difference. When I added the stock I shook in 1 tsp. cinnamon as well as the pine nuts and then cooked it for 15 minutes as directed. After that I fluffed up the rice with a fork and placed paper towels around the rim of the pot and tightly covered it leaving it on the same burner. This makes the rice fluffy and helps the grains be separate. I served this with Green Bean Stew (Arabic Recipe)

[Diana #2]

This was a nice rice dish, but I found it wasn't much different than having plain rice. I'm wondering now if maybe I should have cooked it in the chicken broth for added flavour. Unfortunately, I forgot to get pine nuts, so I garnished with sliced almonds. I will try it again and use the broth next time. Thanks rollersgirl for sharing your Grandmothers recipe with us. Made for Spring PAC 2009.