Food,  Grains & Breads,  Vegetarian

Moroccan Rice Pilaf

This is such a delicious way to have your rice, lightly spiced and full of dried fruits and nuts. You can eat this plain as is or serve it with any of the Moroccan curries and salad recipes that I’ve posted.

Moroccan Rice Pilaf

www.iamartsy.ca
Prep Time 35 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Moroccan
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion medium, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves or 2-3 whole cloves
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom or 5-6 cardamom pods
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 cups basmati rice or jasmine
  • 3 cups vegetable stock or water, you can also use chicken stock if you’re not vegan
  • 1/4 tsp saffron
  • 3 dates finely chopped
  • 3 dried apricots finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup raisins chopped
  • 1/4 cup roasted almonds crashed

Instructions
 

  • Place the onion and the olive oil in a large pot and sauté under medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add cumin, allspice, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, pepper and rice and stir until rice gets a white color, about 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the stock (or water), salt and saffron, cover the pot and wait until it starts to boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook covered until almost all of the water is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat, add the dried fruits and almonds and stir/fluff up gently with a fork. Cover the pot and let the pilaf rest for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

For a more “al dente” rice you can use 2 1/2 cups water.
Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick (and cloves and cardamom pods if used whole) before serving.

This recipe is from Yummly