Rice Pilaf is just a staple in Europe. I remember my mom and grandma having their own Belarusian recipe, and my Yugoslavian friend making his own (rather his mother making it). The same goes for Persian, Ukrainian, and Indian Pilaf.
For me, pilaf is a staple not just because it’s from my past but also because it was one of the fancier recipes that I learned to cook for myself and my family when I was twelve years old. I haven’t made it in over three years now, due to one thing or another. But I thought today was a great day to start.
The recipe is pretty straight forward and aside from a few ingredients that really give it my own personal touch, it’s a basic recipe.
Rice Pilaf
- 1/2 cup basmati rice
- about 10 pieces of whole wheat pasta
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 can vegetable stock
- 1 small carrot, finely grated
- About 2 oz dry salami, if you’re getting the whole stick of salami about 5 rings, chopped up into quarters
- parsley, to taste
- pepper, to taste
In a saucepan that’s large enough to hold about 4 cups liquid melt the butter. Add the rice and the pasta (breaking it into 2″ pieces, like vermicelli). Stir to get it coated in the butter and brown for a bit, about 4 minutes.
Once the rice is lightly toasted, add in the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer till most of the liquid is absorbed.
Let the rice simmer, uncovered while you grate the carrots, or prepare the salami (if you haven’t already).
Add in the carrots and stir in. Let sit with heat still on low, stirring occasionally, about five minutes to cook carrots a little bit.
Add the salami.
At this point you can test the pilaf to see if it needs any more salt, but I found the stock had enough sodium for me. As well as the salami. Stir in the parsley and pepper to your liking.
I prefer the parsley to be fresh as it gives some bite with the carrots. however, you can add dried thyme and oregano as well if you don’t have parsley on hand.
