Thursday, November 22, 2007

Wild Rice pilaf with peas, carrots and mushrooms



I didnt want a plain wild rice pilaf for the thanksgiving dinner. So I jazzed it up with peas carrots and mushrooms and a bit of indian touch and cooked the dish in an oven instead of the rice cooker. So here goes the recipe. The amount of vegetables and seasoning can be altered based on your taste.

Ingredients:
1. Uncle bens' wild rice and long grain original recipe (picture shown). This one comes with herb seasoning etc - 3 packets. Each packet contains approx 1 cup raw rice.
2. Peas (Frozen or canned) - 1 cup
3. Shredded Carrots - 1 cup
4. Mushrooms - 2 cups
5. 1 tbsp of coriander powder (Cannot get away with the indian roots :) love the coriander/ dhaniya powder)
6. chicken stock - 1 cup
7. Bunch of cilantro for garnish


In a non-stick pan, heat 1 tbsp of butter. Add the carrots and mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Meanwhile, wash and drain the wild rice and add to the carrots and mushrooms. Saute the mixture for 3-4 minutes until you notice the rice going dry.
Add the water at this point. For every cup of rice i add 2 cups of water - no less no more and I always stick to this proportion when i cook pilaf/pulav or biryani. For this one I added 6 cups (one cup chicken stock and 5 cups water). Vegetable stock can also be added instead. Every box of the wild rice has a seasoning packet. I added just one packet of seasoning for the 3 cups of rice and added 1 tbsp of coriander powder for a bit of indian touch. The seasoning packet already has salt. I added a tsp of salt. Adjust the salt content as per your taste.
Add peas at this point and then allow the mixture to simmer until all the water is absorbed by the rice. Garnish with coriander. Cover the pan and place in a pre-heated oven at 400 F for 25-30 minutes. The rice will be done perfectly.



I realize the "valli's kitchen" mark on my pictures might be annoying - but it is just to protect my work from plagiarism.


3 comments:

Sujatha said...

Hi Valli,

I'm just going thru Ur recipe...I liked it and would like to do this 'Wild Rice pilaf'.

just wanna know, whether U prepared the chicken stock or bought it?

Thanks,
Sujatha

Valli said...

hello sujatha,

i bought the chicken stock. I guess the dish with homemade stock will taste much better. I was unable access your blogspace or know yoru email - i hope this message reaches you

Anonymous said...

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