Pilaf for MENA Awareness

This week is MENA Awareness Week at our university. That is to say, our Middle East and North Africa program sponsored a series of special events to bring awareness not only to the region but to our center that studies the region and our U.S. Department of Education grant that is enhancing those studies.

I was gratified to be invited to give a talk about coffee in MENA as part of the virtual festivities. (See Qahua to Coffee on my Coffee Maven blog for a recording of my presentation.) As we started planning the week's dinners, I therefore decided to check Yashim Cooks Istanbul for ideas.

The book fell open to page 78: Hazelnut and Lemon Pilaf (findikli ve limonlu pilav). I have never been quite sure what "pilaf" means, but I knew this meant rice-plus-something and decided to have a look. The combination of savory flavors and simple preparation were appealing, so I added it to the menu, and we added a few items to the grocery list.

Some of the key ingredients, plus a side of apricots.
On our cow cutting board from a favorite Wisconsin cousin.
As regular readers of this blog know, food does not
always photograph well, so I often snap shots
of ingredients, especially if they are colorful.

I do not always put the full ingredient list on a blog post, but it seems worthwhile this time. The list as published:

basmati rice, 250g/8oz, well rinsed 
salt, 1 teaspoon
olive oil, 1 tablespoon
butter or ghee, 1 tablespoon
corriander seeds, 1 teaspoon
cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon
lemon peel, sliced into 3 "julienne" strips
fresh red chile, sliced into thin strips, 1 teaspoon (I used one jalapeño)
blanched hazelnuts, 4 tablespoons
parsley, bunch, chopped

I did not attempt to measure any of these, except the rice and water. I used 1 cup of the rice since we don't have a food scale, and used 1-1/4 cups of water (following package directions) even though it called for an "equal amount" of water. 

The instructions on lemon peel were especially confusing for me -- all of the peel or three little strips? I used about half the peel, making a couple dozen little strips. I do not regret my choice. 

I made a few minor substitutions as well, and completely overlooked the parsley. I will include it next time. Of the spices, we had one in seed form and the other already ground; this was fine. When I could not find hazelnuts in the store, I did that thing we now do instead of asking a grocer: I used my phone to Google substitutions and found that walnuts would work. When I got home and mentioned this to Pam, she reminded me that we had not only walnuts but also pine nuts. I was sure that this was getting farther from the author's intention, but it sure sounded good to me. (Note: after I wrote this, I read the page after the recipe, assuming that it was something about the cultural context of the recipe. It was ore about possible substitutions, and these included both orange for lemon and pine nuts for hazelnuts.) 

I am glad I followed the somewhat unusual preparation steps. I measured the water and brought it to a boil in a kettle while rinsing the rise in a sieve. I placed the rice in a small saucepan and poured the water over it. I added salted, put the lid on and was able to bring it back to a boil immediately. I lowered the heat and set the timer for 10 minutes. (I had gotten white basmati; the brown "Tex-Mati" we usually use has a much longer cooking time.)

While the rice cooked, I melted butter and oil over medium-low heat in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. I then added the spices, followed in a couple minutes by the lemon peel, pepper, and nuts. I continued to sautée these gently while the rice cooked, stirring frequently. I then "tipped" the rice into the pan, stirred while scraping the bottom, and then returned it all to a bowl (should have been the pan, but I had managed to scorch some of the rice). I gently fluffed the entire mixture and covered it with a dish towel, followed by the pan lid. I let this sit for 10 more minutes so that the flavors would meld.

The result: savory rice with perfect texture. We topped with delicious plain yogurt (Stonyfield Greek), the lemon wedges as called for, some apricots, fresh mozzarella, and some delicious basil muffins Pam had made a few days earlier, and which I grilled for this meal. Later, I learned from the page-after material that the author recommends apricots, currants, or other fruits as possible amendments.

We found that a chilled Chardonnay in place of our usual Malbec was a perfect pairing for this meal.