This One's For Kaite: Fancy Rice Pilaf

It has been way too long since I posted, but I love this blog. I think of it as a life-long pursuit. KMS asked for the recipe to this little (or huge) dish, it was a hit at a recent Charlotte Street sponsored performance by the Black House Improviser's Collective where both of our fabulous men performed.

If you are hungry and in a hurry, ditch the technique and just go for the fastest way you can get it done. It's gonna be good no matter what. I am converting this recipe from a huge improve batch, 44 0Z cup of rice (thank you QuikTrip for 44 oz ice teas) and 88 oz of water. This is my best guess about how that converts to something reasonable for a family dinner...

2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium red onion
1 medium sweet yellow onion
1 tbs iodized salt

-Dice onions into medium/small size. (the smaller the faster they will cook)
-Sprinkle salt over onions and toss around with your hands
-Heat Oil on medium high heat in 3 quart saucepan. (You are looking for the oil to start rippling. Test with a few onion pieces to make sure they really sizzle when you throw them in.
-add onions slowly, think of them as six small portions. Throw in first portion waiting until all the water has sizzled out of the most recent batch and they have begun to show a bit of browning. Scoot the cooking onions to the side, let your oil collect and heat up for about 30 more seconds, throw in an additional batch and repeat the process. Should take about ten minutes. When you are done, some of your onions will be tiny and caramelized, others will still be a bit crunchy and the red ones will still have some color.

3 cloves fresh garlic
2 cups dry rice (I used Egyptian Rice from the Al Habashi Mart in River Market)

-scoot all of your onions over, let the oil collect up and heat up for about 30 seconds,
-throw in pressed or minced garlic.
-after 45 seconds or if it starts to brown at all, mix in with onions
-throw in the dry rice.
Scrape as many onions and garlic bits off the bottom and let the rice soak up some of the oil and get a bit toasted. Maybe 90 seconds of constant stirring.

4 cups water
pinch sea salt

-add water, scrape anything sticky off the bottom, bring water to a boil, turn down to bare simmer, cover pot and cook to specifications for your chosen rice.

1/3 cup Pecans
1/4 cup Cashews
1/4 cup Hazelnuts
1/4 cup pistachio meat
Pinch sea salt
1 tbs dark brown Sugar
1 tbs butter or olive oil

-Toast nuts in broiler. This takes about 3 minutes, DON'T WALK AWAY, open oven every 45 seconds or less. Stir around so that the sugar and salt will candy the nuts a bit.
-Let the nuts cool for about 5 or 10 minutes
-Mortar and Pestle the nuts, crushing some and leaving other bits to be large

1/2 cup zante currants (tiny dark colored raisins; Al Habashi or the midtown Marsh's Sunfresh both carry them)

-Throw in the zante currants on top of the rice once it is fluffy but before it has finished cooking. This steams and plumps up the currants.

-Once Rice is finished, mix in the nuts, add salt and/or olive oil to taste

and....

YUM!