Conference turris::cooks

This rice dish is a bit elaborate but good.

		ORIENTAL RICE
		=============

Preperation:  20 mins.
Cooking time: 20 mins.

	Ingrediants:
	============

	350g Rice			1 teaspoon coarse Salt
	100g Sultanas or Raisins	2 Mint Leaves (dried will do)
	some Safran			1 teaspoon Cinnamon
	60g Butter			Cayenne Pepper
	1 Clove				1 Lemon
	12 whole black Peppers		Salt
	1 Tablespoon of Honey 
	a piece of fresh\ Ginger (ground Ginger is a very poor substitute)
	100g Almonds (shelled and skinned)

Wash the Sultanas/Raisins and leave them soak in lukewarm water. Measure the
rice and put one and a half times the amount of water in a pot to boil. Wash 
the rice under running water until the water clears and add to the boiling 
water. Add salt and safran. Cover the pot, placing a folded teacloth between 
the cover and pot. Cook on a very low heat for 15 minutes. Do not stir the 
rice while its cooking.

Crush the clove, pepper corns, the shredded ginger, the coarse salt, the 
shredded mint leaves and the cinnamon in a mortar until you have a homogenous
mess. Add the spoon of honey and stir in the lemon juice.

Roast the almonds in a tablespoon of butter until the turn golden brown.

Put the rice into a pre-heated shallow dish. Add the almonds, the sultanas/
raisins( which have been shaken dry), the spice mixture and the remainder
of the butter which has been chopped into little pieces. Check for taste,
add a little cayenne pepper and give it a good stir before serving.

/dermot

g = grams

350g rice is about 3/4 lb. (who knows how many cups?)
100g sultanas/almonds is about 3.5 oz.
60g butter is about 2 oz, or 1/2 stick


						     
							- JP

    I make this at least once a week. If it weren't so easy, I wouldn't
    bother.
    
    1 cup water
    1 tbs butter
    1/2 to 1 tps curry powder (or to taste)
    dash onion powder (maybe 1/8 tsp or to taste)
    saffron to taste - maybe 6 or more little pistils
    1 chicken bouillon cube
    1/2 cup long grain rice (basmati good too)
    
    Put everything except the rice in a small covered saucepan. Bring to
    boil. Put rice in, stir a bit with a fork, turn down to simmer, cover,
    wait 15-20 minutes, depending on your stove and how you like your rice.
    Watch out when you cover it - if it's too tight, it will probably boil
    a big yellow mess out onto the stove. Serves 2. Scales up linearly
    (i.e., for rice for 20, multiply everything by 10).

    - Mike

    I do it the ultra lazy way.  Using Uncle Ben's Converted white
    rice, just cook as instructed, and add curry powder to taste.
    
    Theresa.

...an addition to the "lazy way" would be to add:

o  parsley
o  sauteed onions and celery
o  a good couple of table spoons of lemon juice

the key to this recipe is the lemon jice, curry powder,
and chicken boullion.  without the boullion the curry overpowers
the rice.  the lemon adds a nice twist...

  Some variations:

  You can save some money by leaving out the saffron. Its flavor is
  fairly subtle, and, in this recipe, serves mainly for color -- unless
  you're crazy about the flavor of saffron.

  Try adding one to three whole cardamom pods to the recipe. They give a
  little interest to the flavor. Remove them before serving, or warn
  your guests (or don't, if you want to have a little fun -- they're
  safe to eat).

  As curry fans know, "curry" is a generic term for a mixture of spices.
  In the US, it usually has cumin (the main flavor), turmeric (for the
  bright yellow color), often cayenne pepper, sometimes anise, allspice,
  cinnamon, cardamom, and many other things. The particular blend of the
  curry you use will determine the flavor of the dish. Most supermarket
  curries are reasonably tasty, but often a curry from a specialty shop
  gives an nice change of taste. Of course purists would prefer
  fresh-ground spices. That's too much trouble for me to bother with on
  most occasions, but I have tried it, and the flavors are definitely
  different.

  Another tip from a Pakistani friend is that, in the East, the spices
  are usually cooked briefly in the fat (ghee in India -- cooked
  clarified butter) before the other ingredients are added. This is also
  too much trouble for me (talk about lazy), but if you were really
  trying all out to make a special dish, you'd want to do this.

Many far eastern groceries carry curry pastes.  These are curry spice blends 
already cooked in oil.  They can be used just like the powdered blends for 
cooking.  And, they can be added directly to the mayo to transform a regular 
chicken, pasta, or whatever salad into a great curried salad.  

						     
							- JP

   Curried cream of rice soup with apples (from Scotland)

   4 tbsp butter
   1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
   1 cup finely chopped celery
   6 tbsp curry powder
   1 pound red, ripe tomatoes, cored & cubed (3 cups) 
   	(or imported canned tomatoes)
   1 bay leaf
   2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
   1 cup rice
   7 cups chicken broth
   1/2 cup heavy cream
   salt & pepper
   1 1/2 cups peeled, cored green apple cut into quarter-inch cubes

   Melt butter in large saucepan; add onion, celery & garlic.  Cook,
   stirring, until wilted.  Add curry, cook, stirring about 1 minute.

   Add tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, & rice; stir.  Bring to boil; add chicken
   broth.  Return to boil and simmer 30 minutes or until rice is tender. 
   Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs.

   Pour soup into food processor or blender; blend until smooth.

   Return soup to saucepan; bring to boil.  Add cream, salt & pepper.

   Serve piping hot; add apple cubes to the top of the soup.

    Where's the curry?

	>    Where's the curry?

	In the rice pilaff... ready mix flavouring I assume...

			CHICKEN CURRY RICE RECIPE

	1 pkg Near East Rice Pilaf (cooked)
	2 chicken breasts (cooked and chopped)
	1/4 c. almonds (slivered)
	1/2 c. mayonaise
	12 green olives (chopped)
	1/2 tsp curry powder
	marinated artichokes (chopped)
	leftover artichoke marinade
	
	Just mix and serve cold.  

	Note: I serve this on a bed of chopped lettuce with sliced tomatoes.
	      I also reduced the mayonaise.