This goes with anything: from a couple of grilled lamb chops, to roast chicken, grilled or roast fish, or spicy sausages. All it needs is a dollop of creamy yoghurt to help it along.
I often make it to serve with roast leg of lamb or chops dusted with cumin, smeared first with a little oil, giving the meat an enticing smoky taste with a whiff of the kasbah.
Tomorrow’s recipe for spicy little lamb meatballs would be perfect with the pilaf, again with yoghurt or maybe a thick tomato sauce.
Although I’ve just been raving about the things that go well with this pilaf, I’d also like to point out that it is great on its own and leftovers will keep happily, covered, in the fridge for several days.
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Make one of Lindsey’s Dinner Tonight recipes and send us a photo of the dish to food@thetimes.co.uk
Serves 4-6
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 45 min
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Ingredients
50g flaked almonds
50g butter
Handful of broken vermicelli or fine-thread egg noodles
300g brown rice
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50g raisins
1 chicken stock cube, dissolved in
750ml boiling water
2 decent-sized onions
2 garlic cloves
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2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Greek yoghurt to serve
Method
Sauté the almonds in a little butter in a medium-sized, lidded pan until browned. Set aside. Sauté the vermicelli until golden and set aside. Add the last of the butter and stir in the rice, tossing until glossy and golden. Return the nuts, raisins, vermicelli and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat immediately, cover the pan and simmer gently for about 45 minutes until the rice is tender. While the rice cooks, halve and finely slice the onions and garlic. Cook gently, stirring often, in the olive oil, in a spacious frying pan, adding the cinnamon and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very limp. Fork the onions into the cooked rice and tip on to a platter to serve.