While there, we ate at Lebanese Taverna, a Zagat rated restaurant hailed as being "consistently excellent and authentic Middle Eastern fare." I showed a (very bad) photo of my plate and gushed over the delicious rice that I could not stop eating, even though I was stuffed.
Later, my cousin told me it was called Basmati rice. Aha! I love when I get answers to questions I didn't even know I had! I tracked it down in my store and made it for the first time this week.
Basmati rice (on the left) has long, thin grains in comparison to the shorter, stubbier grains of white rice. When cooked, Basmati also remains free flowing, versus becoming sticky like other rices.The cooking instructions are similiar to white rice. It is still 1 part rice to 2 parts liquid. However, it is a shorter cooking time of about 12 minutes, instead of the white rice's 20 minutes.
I cooked mine in vegetable broth for about 12 minutes. Then I let it sit for a few minutes and fluffed it with a fork.
Served with baked butternut squash, and a mixture of roasted veggies seasoned with sundried tomato oil.
It was not as good as I remember the restaurant version to be, but still far superior to white rice, in my opinion. I have a hard time eating white rice plain, but this-- this I could shovel in my mouth with no problem or complaints! It's definitely a keeper!
Have you ever tried Basmati rice? If so, did you like it more or less than white rice?
Love it! I saute the rice for about 2 minutes dry in the pot or pan before adding the water. It seems to help cook it a bit better. The flavor of Basmati rice is really good on its own. For an even more flavorful rice, try jasmine rice, too. The only time I ever buy regular white rice is to add to my dog's food (ha!).
ReplyDeleteBasmati rice is definitely MUCH better. Try stir-frying it with some kind of fragrant spice...like coriander, turmeric, cumin, etc...and add raisins and nuts like cashews!
ReplyDeleteHee hee, is this going on your Friday First?
I love that restaurant and I love basmati rice!
ReplyDeleteYes, I love basmati rice! I can't remember, but TJ's has either basmati or jasmine ... can't remember which, but it is good.
ReplyDeleteI'm very loyal to my jasmine rice so I don't tend to venture very far from it. My other go to rice is brown rice now that I have figured out how to cook it properly. Perhaps some day I'll travel down the Basmati road. :)
ReplyDeleteI love basmati rice! You know what would good is adding a little feta cheese to it right after its cooked. It kind of gets all melty and stuff, so good!
ReplyDeleteGreat healthy dinner though!!
A good Lebanese rice recipe is to include ground lamb, toasted slivered almonds, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. This is what my family makes all the time. we usually serve it with chicken or add shredded chicken to the rice. Yum.
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