A rich pilaf from Thomasina Miers.
Ingredients
- 250 g basmati rice
- 30 g dried porcini
- 50 g butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large onions peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick broken in half
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp allspice berries ground
- 100 g shelled walnuts roughly chopped
- 300 g mixed wild mushrooms or sliced portobello mushrooms
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
- ½ bunch parsley leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 1 lemon
- To serve:
- greek yoghurt
- 1-2 tsp sumac
- 1-2 tsp Turkish chilli flakes
Servings:
Instructions
- Put the rice in a pan, cover with water, stir and drain. Repeat twice more, by which stage the water should run clear. Cover the rice with water a fourth time and leave to soak (this washing is the secret to great pilaf).
- Put the porcini in a bowl, cover with boiling water, soak for 15 minutes, until soft, then drain.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep pan on a medium-low heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Fry the onions, cinnamon and a few big pinches of salt for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and sweet; add the allspice and drained porcini after 15 minutes.
- Bring a kettle of water to a boil and drain the rice. Turn up the heat under the onions and, once sizzling, stir in the nuts. Cook for a minute or two, until starting to colour, then stir in the rice and another quarter-teaspoon of salt. Add boiling water to cover the rice by 2.5cm, and stir again.
- When the water begins to simmer, top the pan with a tight-fitting lid and leave the rice to cook for five minutes. Turn down the heat to low, cook for six minutes more, then take off the heat and leave the rice, still covered, to rest for 10 minutes. Resist any temptation to take a peek.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high flame, then fry the fresh mushrooms and garlic for about 10 minutes, turning the mushrooms as they colour, until tender (if your pan is on the small side, you may have to do this in batches). Stir in half the parsley and a teaspoon of lemon juice, and season.
- Once the rice has rested, fluff it up with a fork and serve with the fried mushrooms on top and wedges of lemon to squeeze over. Have yoghurt, parsley, sumac and Turkish chilli at the table, to spoon or sprinkle over.
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