Topic: Peterandjen's Pilau Rice

[Stephen Lindsay]

A quick question: what are your views on the 'easy cook' basmati?

It's a bit like putting go faster stripes on a Ferrari.

[peterandjen]

Im glad ite worked for you nai, i must admit its never failed for me, although i have noticed that if you follow my original recipe i have put the timings in SECONDS rather than MINUTES lol.
And as for easy cook rice, i wouldn't bother, it'll be shite, and i dont see the need, this recipes easy, quick and it works.
If it aint broke dont fix it.

[nai]

Thanks Peterandjen. This rice kinda improves once it's been on the plate for a minute or so too...not sure why. Great though...so simple to remember and does the job.  ;D

[Willyeckerslike]

I made this on Wednesday, it worked a treat.  I was out of fennel seeds so I added some cloves, cardomons & turmeric.  I have a ceramic hob & cooked it for 9 min & 9 min and out came light fluffy pilau rice ;D
thanks Peterandjen

[lardman]

I've done a couple of these today ... good results every time even when changing the spices around.  ;D

The only issue I have is the rice seems a little on the oily side. I did try reducing the oil to a desert spoon which was better but I also noticed a reduction in the flavour of the rice.
 
The taste is right but the local TA rice is very dry. 

[peterandjen]

Okay well the oil i use is just dirt cheap sunflower oil and you only need enough to fry the spices a little, i probably use about half a tablespoon for 2 portions, its just enough to heat the fennel and give the rice a LIGHT coating.

You might be able to remove the oil completely, just add the spices to your water and bring it to the boil, that might work, it might not but theres no harm in trying. As long as you've washed all the starch out of the rice i dont see why it shouldnt seperate when steamed at the end.

[Cory Ander]

the oil i use is just dirt cheap sunflower oil

Dirt cheap?    It's more expensive than high performance synthetic engine oil! 

I reckon the price of cooking oil is generally becoming quite prohibitive.....

[peterandjen]

I know cooking oil is expensive today, I was thinking of running my van on it but it wouldnt have worked money wise lol.
I said dirt cheap to get the point across that it was just no frills no added flavout oil, stops people asking you whether you use olive oil and the likes.

[chriswg]

I made this for the first time today and had a great result. We quadrupled the recipe but only had double the amount of fennel seeds but I though this was enough anyway. Very easy to cook and super tasty. Thanks for the recipe.

[nai]

This is still my fave recipe, but I amended it slightly to achieve the desired result. I use 1/2 tsp Turmeric with the spices, 100g of white pearl basmati, let it cook for 6 minutes and stand for 6 minutes. I only use 1 1/2 tbls oil. I was using some supermarket brand basmati, which never gave me much joy. Now that I've switched to the 'white pearl' I'm having much better results.