Cranberry and Pistachio Spiced Rice Recipe
Cranberry and Pistachio Spiced Rice Recipe
Every Sunday night dinner when our kids and partners come to eat I try and come up with something I’ve never cooked before because it’s fun to torture experiment on your kids and they can’t really talk back or complain too much when it’s FREE.
Most of the time the new dishes are a hit but trust me, there have been some epic failures too. I actually was quite intrigued by a new version of butterflied roasted chickens I watched Donna Hay make on her TV special Basics to Brilliance. She cut open lemons and whole bulbs of garlic before placing the split chicken on top and roasting it (oddly for a shorter time at a higher temperature) and then there were variations to take it to brilliance.
I bought the book and thought yep, no problem – I can butterfly a chicken. It’s easy! All you need to do is buy a pair of sturdy kitchen scissors and cut out that pesky backbone. Wrong!!! I bought the kitchen scissors when what I really needed was an axe. It was disgusting trying to crunch through the layers of skin and weird bones and spine etc to try and get rid of the freaking thing and I was feeling rather repulsed by the time I finally finished struggling with it.
Anyway, I put in the lemons and garlic and this version was criss-crossed with bacon strips in a lattice style of art and away it baked. Well for a start it took about 3 times the amount of time to cook through that Donna’s team recommended. The lemons and garlic on the bottom did nothing other than to serve as a resting spot for all the fat to drip onto and added nothing to the chicken (but of course cost me several bucks I could have saved) and apart from some crispy bacon on top it was pretty meah.
Thankfully…this rice dish saved the day and was the talk around the table and it got devoured.
The rice is soaked first in cold water (was this necessary? beats me, but I like to follow instructions at least the first time out), then par-boiled, rinsed and cooled before being tossed in the pan with some already cooked onion along with some spices and left to form a crispy crust (um, yum) and then some chewy, sweet cranberries get added in and it’s all topped with crunchy toasted pistachios and almonds. SO tasty! And easy and healthy and this could be like, a whole meal really. Make a lot.
Ingredients
300g Basmati rice
30g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground chilli
50g dried cranberries
40g toasted almond flakes
40g toasted pistachios
pinch of saffron
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
2 sprigs freshly chopped parsley
Method
Place the rice in a bowl of cold water and soak for 30 minutes, then drain. Then cook for 10 minutes in a pot of salted, boiling water. Drain, rinse and drain again.
Infuse the saffron with 100ml of hot water and set aside.
In a large saucepan/frypan with a lid, saute the onion in the butter until soft and golden. Add the spices and fry for a further minute, add half the rice stirring to combine, then spread evenly over the base of the pan over a medium heat for 8-10 minutes to allow a crust to form.
Sprinkle the cranberries over the top then pile the remaining rice on top to form a mound. Add the saffron and water, pop the lid on and steam for 15 minutes, then remove from heat for another 5 minutes, with the lid on.
Top the rice with the almonds, pistachios and fresh herbs and serve immediately.
Ingredients
- 300g Basmati rice
- 30g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ground chilli
- 50g dried cranberries
- 40g toasted almond flakes
- 40g toasted pistachios
- pinch of saffron
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
- 2 sprigs freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Place the rice in a bowl of cold water and soak for 30 minutes, then drain. Then cook for 10 minutes in a pot of salted, boiling water. Drain, rinse and drain again.
- Infuse the saffron with 100ml of hot water and set aside.
- In a large saucepan/frypan with a lid, saute the onion in the butter until soft and golden. Add the spices and fry for a further minute, add half the rice stirring to combine, then spread evenly over the base of the pan over a medium heat for 8-10 minutes to allow a crust to form.
- Sprinkle the cranberries over the top then pile the remaining rice on top to form a mound. Add the saffron and water, pop the lid on and steam for 15 minutes, then remove from heat for another 5 minutes, with the lid on.
- Top the rice with the almonds, pistachios and fresh herbs and serve immediately.
Carolyn Murphy
Carolyn Murphy is a married mother of three and regularly provides us with recipes and strange but true stories about her life. When she’s not here, she can also be found on her website pinkpostitnote.com where all her other recipes are located!
