rice

All posts tagged rice

A Trio of Fishy Dishes.

Posted by annauk1 on March 23, 2015

Posted in: Cypriot recipes, fish. Tagged: crab, prawns, rice, squid. 8 Comments

Having the family round for Sunday dinner is one of life’s great joys! It warms my heart to cook for them and have them around my table chatting and laughing together.

The typical Cypriot family doesn’t really ‘do’ formal three-course dinners. No measured amounts for us….more a meal served ‘family style’, with dishes served in large serving bowls, or platters, passed around the table for appreciative appetites to share.

Don’t fancy this one? Let it pass you by…want more of another dish? Help yourself, that’s the idea.

Yesterday I had the family round for my daughter’s belated birthday party. The first Sunday in March that we were all free. It was great – my parents, children, daughter-in-law, brother with his son, old family friends that we grew up with, free flowing wine, giggles, chat…..perfect. ❤️

Along with the typical Cypriot dishes- keftedhes, pasticho, kleftiko, we had some rather more unusual fishy dishes, which I’d like to share here with you….

Crab Salad (Kavourosalata)

(Makes enough for 1 serving bowl)

3 dressed crabs (white and brown meat)

1 very finely chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Olive oil, salt and lemon juice to taste.

Mix the crab, onion and parsley, add salt, olive oil and lemon juice to taste.

Squid stuffed with rice, prawn and chorizo.

(Makes between 35-40 tiny stuffed squid..Allow 5-6 per person if serving as a main course)

35-40 small (3-4 inch) cleaned squid tubes

2 cups cooked rice

2 small chorizo cooking sausages, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

200g small prawns, chopped

3 pepper (bell pepper) halves- red, yellow, green

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 knob of butter (1tbsp)

1. Heat the butter in a small pan, add the garlic and onion and sweat for a few minutes.

2. Add the chopped chorizo and the peppers and cook for a few minutes until the chorizo is cooked through.

3. Add the cooked rice and finally the prawns. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Allow the mixture to cool enough to handle. Stuff the squid tubes and place in a baking tray, snugly.

5. Sprinkle with olive oil (2-3 tbsp) and a few glugs of white wine.

6. Cook at 180 deg.C for 20 minutes.

(Thankyou to my friend Regan, for her help with this recipe)

Crevettes in a cream, garlic and tomato sauce topped with Fetta.

18-20 large Crevettes (large shell-on prawns)

1 large knob butter (2-3tbsp)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g sieved tomato pasatta.

4 tbsp double cream

1tsp sugar

1 block of Greek Fetta cheese.

1. Heat the butter, add the garlic and stir.

2. Stir in the pasatta, cream and sugar.

3. Lay the Crevettes, single layer, in a baking tray. Cover with the tomato cream sauce. Top with crumbled Fetta cheese.

4. Cook in a 180 deg.C oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy with your loved ones.

And enjoy spoiling them.

Rice Pilafi with Pork Belly

Posted by annauk1 on June 5, 2014

Posted in: Cypriot recipes, easy, Family recipes, pork, rice. Tagged: pilaf, pork, rice. 3 Comments

I’ve been absent for a little while, but am glad to be back with this traditional Cypriot family recipe.

Rice Pilafi with pork belly is ideal for a simple, delicious midweek meal.
And all done in one pan, in under an hour.

Rice Pilafi with Pork Belly
Serves 4.

Pork belly slices (1-2 per person)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup toasted vermicelli noodles (in short threads)
3 tbsp garlic oil
2 cups long- grain rice
200g chopped tomatoes (tinned is fine)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Place the pork belly slices, in a single layer, in a large oven pan.

2. Sprinkle with the garlic oil.

3. Bake for 30 mins at 180deg. C until lightly browned.

4. Add the chopped onion, vermicelli noodles, rice, tomatoes, cinnamon, salt and pepper and about 5 cups of boiling water.

5. Stir around a little, so that the rice grains are submerged under the liquid and the belly slices are on top (no need to be too precise!) 🙂

6. Bake for an additional 30-40 mins until the belly slices are nicely browned, the water has evaporated and the rice grains are cooked and tender.

7. Serve with Greek yoghurt. And maybe a fresh Greek salad.
Delicious!

From one obsession to another (Or, Sushi making for beginners!)

Posted by annauk1 on April 17, 2014

Posted in: Asian, fish, rice, salmon, Sushi. Tagged: prawns, rice, salmon, surimi. 14 Comments

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but dare I presume that being as you’re perusing my little blog, you and I share a love of food? Perhaps you are like me, flitting from one food obsession to another. In love with one ingredient yesterday (Lotus biscuit spread, anyone?) and another today.

Sushi.

Sushi has been on my brain, on my brain I tell you!! And just will not go away.

Now, we like going to ‘Yo! Sushi’, we really do, but we come away (two of us) yes, satisfied, not over-stuffed, but noticeably lighter in pocket. Very noticeably.

So, I decided to try making my own. I read from books, heard from friends, perused YouTube and Googled for all I’m worth.

It didn’t look too difficult. In fact the being difficulty seemed to be finding out what ‘Sushi Grade’ fish actually is.
From what I’ve gathered, it’s fresh fish which has been commercially frozen for a period of time and at certain temperatures which renders it fit to be eaten raw.
For want of a ‘nicer’ way of saying this –
Any bugs or parasites present on or in the fish are killed.
So, the fish needs to have been pre-frozen.

I had a little talk with the fishmonger at the supermarket and walked off happily with 1 salmon fillet, a small back of beautifully plump Tiger prawns and a packet of Surimi (crab sticks)
These were my choice, but you could just as easily use smoked salmon, cooked tuna, hot smoked trout, in fact any seafood which takes your fancy!
Of course, if you’re going to be using anything raw, then speak to a knowledgable fishmonger first.

You can see from the photos, that we made a decent amount of sushi. Perhaps 35 pieces, if you take into account the first few which were a bit of a disaster! (I cut the Nori seaweed sheet too short, and as such it wasn’t long enough to wrap around the filling)
Also, I didn’t have a traditional bamboo mat to help with the rolling, but I used a clean tea-towel to help me roll and this seemed to work just fine.
I must admit I preferred the seaweedless sushi; the Nigiri (rectangular) and the balls.
The Nori was kind of chewy. Google suggested that it need toasting, or was stale, but as it came out of a sealed pack which included one of those little moisture-removing little sachets I don’t think it could have been stale.
And surely, if it needed toasting, wouldn’t the pack directions state this?

Sushi for Beginners
Makes approximately 35 pieces.

500g Sushi rice
3 American cups (250ml each) of water.
2tbsp Rice vinegar
4tbsp sugar
1tsp salt.
1 pack of Nori (contains 5 sheets)
Variety of seafood (as above)
1/2 an avocado thinly sliced
Chives or thinly sliced spring onions
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced.

1. Place the rice in a sieve and rinse under running water, for 3-4 minutes until the water runs clear.

2. Place the rice and water in a pan with a lid on and leave for 30 mins.

3. Place on a high heat, when it boils, turn the heat to low, simmer for 9 minutes. Then, turn the heat off and leave undisturbed for 15 minutes.

4. Place the cooked rice in a large baking pan, so that it has room to cool down quickly, add the rice vinegar, salt and sugar mixture which you have previously simmered together until the salt and sugar have dissolved.
Stir well through the rice.

5. Fan the rice with cool air from a fan or hair dryer (yes, really!)
This cools the rice down quickly and produces perfect, glossy, sticky rice 🙂

6. Place the nori sheet, shiny side away from you, on a clean tea-towel or on a bamboo mat covered in cling film.

7. Wet your hands (very important so the rice doesn’t stick to you!)
Place enough rice on the nori sheet to cover the half of it nearest to you. Not too much, as otherwise it will be too difficult to roll.
Place your filling of choice on, try to vary the filling on different rolls.

8. Roll the Nori tightly into a cylindrical shape. If you find the end of the Nori doesn’t stick, dampen it with water.

9. Cut each roll into 4, using a very sharp knife.

10. For the Nigiri- dampen your hands again, form rectangular shapes and top with seafood of choice, perhaps with a little cucumber, chives or avocado for decoration.

11. For the balls, place the salmon or prawn on a square of cling film, place a ball of rice on top (the size of a walnut) and squeeze the cling film into a ball shape. Leave for a few seconds and take out of the cling film.
There, perfect balls.

Easy! (And you haven’t broken the bank either!) 😀

Serve with Soy sauce, pickled ginger and Wasabi. You know the drill.

Quick & Easy Marmite Mushroom ‘Risotto’.

Posted by annauk1 on April 8, 2014

Posted in: easy, rice, Risotto. Tagged: cream cheese, Mushrooms, rice, risotto. 5 Comments

Look, I know I’m completely obsessed about risotto and making it an ‘easier’ job in any way that I can; it’s not that I mind the stirring, in fact it can be a relaxing ritual – time to think of the day’s events, a slowing down of the brain into an evening frame of mind, it can even be enjoyable!

But there are times I don’t want that, hurried times where my tummy’s rumbling and I really, really fancy a huge bowl of restorative risotto – quick.

This recipe fits the bill perfectly; it’s quick, easy, deeply umami-rich and savoury. A real kick-in-the-teeth taste wise, but still manages to also be creamy and comforting.

Quick & Easy Marmite Mushroom Risotto
serves 3-4

2tbsp. Butter
250g mushrooms, quartered
1 medium leek, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly across
Dried Porcini mushrooms, 20g pack.
100ml Marsala
1 chicken or Porcini stock cube, if you’re not using stock
2 x 250g pouches of ready cooked brown rice
100g garlic & herb Cream cheese
To Finish: 1tbsp butter mixed with 1 heaped tsp marmite
(Yes, marmite- the name gave it away, surely?!!)

1. Heat the 2tbsp. Butter in a pan, add the mushrooms and leek and stir for a few minutes until softened.

2. While the mushrooms and leek are cooking, empty the dried Porcini into a bowl, pour over the Marsala and about a cupful of boiling water, leave to soften.

3. After a few minutes, when the Porcini have softened, pour off the liquid (through a tea strainer, to collect any grit) into a measuring jug.
Chop the Porcini finely and add to the pan.

4. Make up the Porcini liquid to 1 pint, add the stock cube to it (if using) and pour onto the mushroom and leek mixture.

* note: the dried Porcini add a very ‘mushroomy’ deep taste, they can easily be left out if you so wish*

5. Let it bubble away for a few minutes for the strong smell of alcohol to evaporate.
Add the rice, enough water to give a ‘risotto’ consistency, and keep it bubbling away for a few minutes for the rice to heat through well.

6. Stir in the cream cheese; this turns it beautifully creamy and comforting – we’re almost there!

7. Take it off the heat and stir in the ‘Star of the Show’ marmite and butter ‘mantecatura’.

8. Let it cool down enough that you don’t burn your tongue! I speak from experience here 😉

Mmmmmmm 🙂 Quick, easy supper. And no trouble at all.

Quick smoked salmon & cream cheese brown rice risotto.

Posted by annauk1 on March 21, 2014

Posted in: easy, fish, rice, Risotto, salmon. Tagged: cream cheese, rice, risotto, salmon. 8 Comments

I feel I ought to tell you from the off, that this risotto is based on a pouch of ready cooked rice. Tilda to be precise.

I hope you’re still with me dear readers.

Let’s begin.

I love risotto.
Ditto the wholegrain rice, smoked salmon and cream cheese.

But I wanted lunch quick.

And we all know that brown rice takes an absolute age to cook, right?

That’s where my inspiration comes from this time – greed, lack of time and a love of smoked salmon and cream cheese. Mmmmmm 😀

Serves 2.

1. Fry 1 small leek, chopped in a small knob of butter until softened.

2. Add 100 ml of white wine and stir for about a minute, until the strong alcohol smell evaporates.

3. Add the 250g pouch of wholegrain rice and stir for a couple of minutes until the rice has heated through.

4. Add 200 ml of water, 1 chicken stock cube and freshly ground black pepper.

5. Stir around for another few minutes until the rice takes on the wet risotto appearance.

6. Take it off the heat and thoroughly stir in 100g of cream cheese and 120g of smoked salmon which you have sliced into ribbons.

7. Leave it for a minute or two to settle down, adjusting the consistency with a little more water if need be.

8. Tuck in and enjoy. 🙂

Creamy, comforting and delicious, the cream cheese lending the dish an authentic creaminess. And ready in just a few minutes!

Cypriot Stuffed Peppers and Okra Yiahni.

Posted by annauk1 on February 25, 2014

Posted in: Cypriot recipes, Family recipes, Greek, Recipes using mince, rice. Tagged: mince, okra, onions, Peppers, rice, tomatoes. 12 Comments

These two Cypriot dishes came about being made together to form our Evening meal, by a rather fortuitous trip round my favourite ‘Waitrose’ today. I love Waitrose!

Love just spending as long as I want going up and down the aisles, having a good mooch at all the products…today I found pearled spelt, farro and wholewheat couscous amongst other goodies, largely due to my obsession with Megan Gordon’s great book ~ ‘whole-Grain Mornings’. 🙂

And everything is so much nicer when the sun shines, isn’t it? Makes you happy just to be!

The okra was just sitting waiting for me on the reduced rack. Yay! 😀

Now, I know okra’s a bit like marmite. Love or Hate. No in between camp! And it can be a little gloopy, especially when simmered in a stew, but here we want to embrace the okra’s ability to somehow magically ‘thicken’ the sauce, all on it’s lonesome.

But first let’s make the Cypriot stuffed peppers together shall we? A lovely, filling family meal.

I use the same filling that I use in my stuffed vine leaves, just so you know 🙂

first we need 6 beautiful, colourful peppers, with the tops and seeds removed.

We also need 500g minced pork:

(Don’t panic please! It’s not out of date! I had it in the freezer! 😉

place the minced pork in a large bowl and to it add 1 cup of long grain rice:

Brown 2 chopped onions in about 2 tbsp vegetable oil, until nicely browned.

Add 1, 400g tin of chopped tomatoes to the browned onions and simmer together for a few minutes:

Until the tomatoes have become nice and thick:

Add the tomato and onion mixture to the rice and mince and also add: 1 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp dried mint and 2 tbsp lemon juice:

Mix well:

Use this mixture to stuff the peppers. Any remaining mixture can simply be placed in the same pan as the peppers, to the side.

Use a pan which will give you a snug fit, I used my glass Pyrex oval dish, the one I use for the ‘One hour Cinnamon rolls’ 😀

Pour about 400g Passata over the peppers (or another 400g tin of chopped tomatoes) pour boiling water into the pan, until it comes half-way up the peppers, into the peppers too, this will help with the rice cooking.

Cover with foil and cook at 180 deg C (160 deg C Fan oven) for about 1hr 10 minutes. Uncover for the last half an hour or so, to allow the peppers to brown and burnish. You may need to turn up the temperature towards the end if the peppers haven’t browned.

I know it looks as though the peppers are swimming in liquid, but the rice continues sucking this up even after they’ve finished cooking, I had hardly any liquid left by the time the family ate.

Okra Yiahni –
A true Cypriot peasant dish, great for a meat-free day, you can add potatoes to this dish which have been cut into 1 inch cubes and fried until golden.

Start off in the same way as the stuffed peppers, by frying 2 chopped onions in a little oil until golden brown.

Top and tail the okra:

Add 1, 400g tin of chopped tomatoes to the browned onions. Simmer for a few minutes, before adding the okra (and potatoes if you are using them, though I didn’t on this occasion)
one and a half cups of water, salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 minutes until the okra (and potatoes)are tender (test with a fork)

Add about 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to counteract the richness of the dish.

Serve with the stuffed peppers. Oh, and lots of lovely, crusty bread. 😀