The Freshman Cook: Fruit Studded Rice Pilaf

Our side dish this week is a tasty dish overflowing with flavor from raisins and dried apricots.It’s simple to make and goes great with the entree we cooked yesterday, Orange Chicken, but just as delicious all by itself.
 

2 tablespoons Butter

1 cup Long Grain White Rice

2 tablespoon finely Onions

2 cups Water

1 teaspoon Beef Base

1/3 cup chopped Apricots

1/3 cup Golden Raisins

1 tablespoon packed Brown Sugar

Let’s cut our onion first.

Cut the onion in half, and then in half again.

Cut off 2 slices of onion.

Cut the slices from the bottom up, 

into slices creating chopped pieces.

Measure out 2 tablespoons.

Set the onions aside.

Let’s make our rice.

Put 2 cups of water in a pot on the stove.

Make sure to measure the 2 cups.

It’s important that there not be too much water when you

are cooking rice. It will end up soggy and unusable.

Bring the water to a boil.

Add 1 cup of rice.

Cover the pot and let it cook for 20 minutes.

Let the rice cool down , then scoop out the 

1 cup that we need.

Let’s chop our apricots.

Take 3 pieces of apricots,

stack them up,

Cut them down the middle,

and chop in the opposite direction.

Now you have your small chopped pieces.

Melt butter in a large skillet.

Add the rice and onion.

Cook for 3-4 minutes until rice is slightly brown.

Add water, beef base, apricots, raisins, and sugar.

Bring to a boil.

Then reduce heat to low, and cover.

Cook, stirring a few times, until the rice is soft and the 

majority of the liquid has diminished. Keep the 

rice covered. This should take about

20-25 minutes, but if it takes longer, don’t worry.

Keep an eye on the liquid.

(The cookie sheet you can barely see on the right side

of the pic is my cover. Anything works as long as it covers

the entire pan)

All done!

Enjoy!

Thank you for joining us tonight.

Tomorrow we will be making our dessert for the week:

Apple Bread Pudding

w/ Vanilla Sauce

See you then!!

Leave a Comment