Tag: Rice

beet pilaf with dill

beets rice dill pilaf roasted vegetables basmati rice

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This recipe is based on one part of a three-layer Persian pilaf recipe in Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven, a great cookbook with lots of healthy, simple vegetable recipes. I never make all three of the layers at once, but often make them separately to go with vegetable and bean dishes. The rice is cooked using the lots-0f-water method, which I find works perfectly for brown basmati—it’s never gummy or undercooked this way.

Serve this pilaf with anything that has a slightly Indian flavor—like the carrot & mint salad with currants, for example, or the spicy green peas with onion and ginger, or the red lentils with zucchini. You could also serve it with broccoli, or any cooked green vegetable, tossed with the dip from the broccoli with ginger-tahini dip recipe, and sprinkled with chopped, toasted cashews.

1 1/2 cups uncooked brown basmati rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups roasted beets, peeled and finely diced (see roasted beet recipe), or 3 cups of beets peeled, finely diced and steamed until tender
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ cup minced fresh dill (or 4 teaspoons dried dill)
¼ cup raspberry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
2 tablespoons honey
freshly ground black pepper

1. If you haven’t cooked the beets yet, do that now.
2. Fill a medium-sized pot with 10 cups or so of water (it doesn’t need be exact) and bring to a rolling boil. Add the rice to the water, turn down the heat, and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the rice is just tender. Drain the rice in a strainer over the sink, and immediately dump back into the hot pot. Cover tightly with the lid and let steam OFF THE HEAT for 20 minutes. Fluff the rice. Now it’s ready to add to the rest of the ingredients.
3. While the rice cooks, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook over low heat for about 10 seconds. Add the beets and salt and sauté for about 5 more minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the dill, vinegar, honey, and black pepper to taste. When the rice is finished cooking, stir in the rice, taste again for seasoning, and serve.