Rice Pilaf

You never have to settle for plain rice again.  Use this recipe as a starting point and experiment with your own variations.

Rice Pilaf
Adapted from "The Language of Baklava" by Dianna Abu-Jaber

4 - 6 tablespoons butter (can substitute/blend with olive oil)
4 ounces spaghetti noodles, crumbled (can substitute any tiny pasta - orzo, pastina, etc.)
2 cups long-grain rice
4 cups water (or homemade/low-sodium chicken broth)
1 teaspoon salt (leave out if using broth)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pepper to taste

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in bottom of large heavy saucepan with lid.  Crumble uncooked spaghetti into warmed butter, stir until spaghetti just begins to "toast".  Add rice, and if needed additional butter.  Continue to stir until rice is coated and spaghetti begins to smell nutty.  Add liquid and salt and turn up heat to bring to a boil.  Once water is boiling, cover with lid and lower fire to simmer, approx. 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and let stand 10 minutes.

Melt remaining butter in small sautee' pan and toast pine nuts until golden.

Sprinkle butter and pine nuts over rice and dust with cinnamon.  Add pepper to taste.

Variations: 

• Add or substitute almonds or pecans for the pine nuts and/or add dried cranberries, golden raisins, dried cherries.
• To make a rice dressing or to make this dish a main course, add cooked crumbled sausage or ground beef/turkey.

Kibbeh

One of my favorite Lebanese dishes is Kibbeh (also, Kibby, Kibbe).  It is usually shaped like a football-ish meatball.  It is a shell of meat and bulgar containing loose browned seasoned meat and deep fried.  It is a great introduction to Lebanese food.  There are several variations of kibbeh, including a Raw Kibbeh (the raw kibbeh is shaped into a flat meatloaf shape and topped with the cooked filling, hashwee, and drizzled with olive oil), and Baked Kibbeh (ingredients layered in a baking dish, cut into diamond shapes and baked).

Kibbeh

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef (or lamb)

4 cups #1 cracked wheat (bulgar)

2 medium onions

1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon and allspice

1 teaspoon dried mint (2 tablespoons fresh)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Kibbeh stuffing (see recipe below)

Directions:

• Wash wheat and let soak about 20 minutes.
• In blender, put onions, mint, basil and 1/2 cup water, blend for a few seconds.
• Squeeze water out of wheat and place in large bowl.
• Season wheat with salt, pepper and spices, knead with hands.
• Add meat and blender mixture to wheat, knead.  Add a little water if necessary.
• Set aside and make stuffing.

Kibbeh Filling (Hashwee)

Ingredients

2 pounds ground chuck

3 onions, chopped

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon all spice

juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Brown meat until liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.  Drain fat.
• Add onions and seasonings, simmer until onions are tender.
• Add lemon juice.

Take about 1/3 cup of the shell ingredients and make a small patty.  Hollow the patty, fill with hashwee mixture and seal the hole. 

Deep fry kibbeh until done.

Serve with pita bread, hummus and yogurt sauce.



Yogurt Sauce (make the day before)

6 - 8 ounces plain yogurt (preferable whole milk, greek style)
1/2 cucumber, seeded
1/2 teaspoon dried mint

• Strain the yogurt overnight in cheese cloth or a coffee filter.
• Seed cucumber, chop into small pieces and dry with paper towels.
• Mix cucumber, mint and a pinch of salt into yogurt.

Enjoy!