Thursday, 6 December 2012

Arab-style Rice with Vermicelli and Chickpeas

From Quick Vegetarian Dishes, Kurma Dasa, Chakra Press, 2000.

I usually cook rice in a rice cooker but, for a change, I thought I would follow this recipe. The variation sounded interesting.

Some water with salt in it was put on and brought to the boil and kept on a simmer to be ready.


A little olive oil and the same amount of butter was placed in a pan. About ¾ cup of vermicelli was broken into small pieces and fried until it had coloured. Half a teaspoon of asafoetida was added and ¾ cup of rice (half the quantity of rice to the amount of water) and it was all stirred around until it was fully covered in the oil. Then the water was added, it was brought to the boil again, the pan was covered and the heat turned to low.

Ten minutes later ¾ cup of cooked chickpeas was added and the lid placed on again for another 10 minutes. The water had now all been absorbed so the heat was turned off, the rice was fluffed up with a fork and it was ready to be served.

This method cooked the rice really well and the addition of vermicelli and chickpeas gave a little more flavour, as did the little touch of asafoetida. This is a welcome change, especially if you have some cooked chickpeas waiting to be used.



Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

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