Syrian White Rice Recipes

SYRIAN RICE WITH MEAT

Steps:

• Heat 1/4 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and mix in salt, allspice, cinnamon, and black pepper. Cook until beef is browned, 7 to 10 minutes.
• Add chicken broth and rice to the saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add pine nuts and cook until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Mix pine nuts into rice and meat mixture before serving.

SYRIAN RICE

Steps:

• Wash the rice in strainer.
• Soak rice for 15 minutes in hot water.
• Put butter in pan, melt, and then brown Spaghetti pieces or Orzo using a medium heat.
• Be careful not to burn the butter.
• Now drain your rice that is soaking and add it to the butter/ Spaghetti (or Orzo) in your pan.
• Saute the rice for approximately 5 minutes with medium heat stirring frequently to avoid burning the rice.
• You want a nice light brown color.
• After rice is browned, add 4 Cups Hot Water and Salt.
• Cover and bring to a boil.
• You want it to boil briskly for about 5 minutes.
• Turn heat to LOW and cook until all the water is absorbed.
• This should take about 15 minutes with Very Low heat.
• You might want to stir once or twice to make sure it is not burning.
• Uncover when you are ready to serve and make sure to stir it again at this point.

TURMERIC RICE

Steps:

• Melt 1 tbsp butter in saucepan, add onion and garlic, cook until softened.
• Add rice and turmeric; stir to coat.
• Add remaining ingredients,bring to boil, cover and simmer 17 minutes.
• Stir in remaining butter, remove bay leaf, serve.

SYRIAN-STYLE SHAKRIYA WITH RICE

Steps:

• Boil meat in a stock pot until fork tender in broth or whatever seasings you usually use. Boiling time will vary depending on type of meat used and cut of meat chosen. Obviously, chicken will not take as long as beef or lamb. This step may take up to 3 hours.
• Get an 8 QT non-stick pot ready. In a blender, blend one container of yogurt, one tablespoon of corn starch, 1/2 cup of milk and one egg until well blended. Pour into waiting pot.
• Repeat with second container of yogurt.
• Place 8 QT pot on medium heat and stir continually until thickened. DO NOT LET IT BOIL! During this time, add the buillon cube, but crush it first to make sure it dissolves faster. You will know it is done when it is really starting to stick to the sides of the pan and coats a spoon. This step should be about 15 minutes.
• Salt the yogurt sauce to taste, but be careful not to cover its natural sourness. That is the heart of the dish. If you feel it may be a tad too thick, add some water, 1/4 cup at a time. This also helps if you have added too much salt. Add the meat to the yogurt sauce at this time.
• In a large pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat it just enough to melt the butter. Add the vermicelli and stir. Turn up heat so the vermicelli begins to "fry" and turn a golden-brown color. Remove from heat if it burns or gets too dark brown. This step should be about 5 minutes.
• Drain the white rice thoroughly and add it to the browned vermicelli, mixing them together well. Follow the cooking directions on the bag of rice from this point out. Salt to taste. This step should be about 30 minutes.
• To serve, place a generous helping of rice to one side of a shallow bowl and fill the other half of the bowl with the yogurt sauce and meat.