It's Thyme for Rice Pilaf

Submitted by PalatablePastime

"A delightful little rice dish packed with herbs and veggies- the broth can be changed to suit your needs: beef broth for meat; vegetable broth for vegetarians, etc. Very versatile!"

 

• Ready In: 48mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter or 4 tablespoons margarine
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup finely diced carrot
• 1⁄2 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1⁄2 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1⁄2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 3⁄4 cups fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1⁄2 cup frozen peas
• 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper, to taste

directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan; add onion, carrots, celery, green pepper, and garlic, cooking until tender.
2. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.
3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in pan; add rice and cook, stirring constantly, until rice is light brown.
4. Do not burn rice.
5. Stir in chicken broth, water, frozen peas, cooked vegetables, parsley, thyme, Tabasco, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
7. Fluff with fork before serving.
8. Tip: if rice seems wet, place clean dishtowel firmly between lid and pan; let rest for 10-15 minutes while towel absorbs excess liquid.

Reviews

[Charishma_Ramchandani]

Sue, this is so good, how do I thank you? This tasted like its come from the best hotel in the world. It was very flavourful and an extremely good comfort food. I did substitute the butter/margarine with cooking oil and the Tobasco sauce with Soy sauce as I didnt have that on hand. Otherwise, I stuck to the recipe. One thing that I wanted to point out was that after the veggies are cooked and kept aside, when the rice is added in, its not necessary to stir fry it for 7-8 minutes to obtain the light brown colour. The colour comes to the light brown shade within 2-3 minutes maximum. Keeping the rice without any liquid(stock/water) for 7-8 minutes would DEFINITELY result in burning the rice. This is otherwise a perfect recipe for a lunch party! Thanks, will make it the next time we have a party!

 

[Sandy Beach Walker]

Made this tonight for dinner to go with sauteed flounder. My family RAVED about it. I didn't have chicken broth so I just used water and it was still very flavorful. I also left out the peas, parsley and tabasco (personal preference). I only used 1 cup of rice (Jasmine) with 1.5 cups water and adjusted the veggie volume. Now I wished I'd made more because it was so tasty!

 

[Boinky]

This was really good! I followed the recipe exactly, except I reduced the amount of liquids (chicken broth and water) just like another reviewer suggested. The result was savory, fragrant deliciousness.

 

[Lucky in Bayview]

Excellent rice recipe! Love all the flavors and color. I added more veggies and had to skip the parsley because I was out. DH and I both loved it. I'm looking forward to making this as a side for kebabs. Thanks for sharing this keeper recipe.

 

[Satyne]

I enjoyed this very much, thanks for a great dinner.