A pilaf of rice or bulgur is an essential component of an Armenian dinner. Like risottos, pilafs can be simple or fancy, adorned with few or multiple embellishments, and served as either entrée or side dish. This chapter presents basic recipes for each kind of pilaf and some more involved compositions. For another, different kind of pilaf, see Wild Rice Pilaf (page 176). Here are the simple guidelines for pilaf making:
For rice pilaf, long grain rice is essential. I use basmati rice because I like its nuttiness, but long grain rice from California or Carolina also works and is more the norm. For bulgur pilafs, a coarse grind is preferred, so that the granules fluff as they absorb the liquid, but the more available medium-grind bulgur will also do.
The choice between broth or water for cooking depends on the other components: For basic pilafs, water is the choice. For grander compositions, broth is used to add flavor to the mix.
Pilafs may be prepared early in the day, but they are best if not refrigerated. If preparing in advance, set the pot aside at room temperature, then reheat in a bowl in a microwave oven or over very low heat on the stove top.
Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish
The basic pilaf of my family was of rice with vermicelli noodles, cooked with water, not broth. Other than the simple flourishes of salt, pepper, and a pat or two of butter at the end, there were no other trimmings. It’s the way I make rice pilaf still.
1½ tablespoons butter
½ cup broken-up vermicelli or angel hair pasta
1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra butter
Heat the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until melted. Add the vermicelli and stir until beginning to turn golden, about 1½ minutes. Add the rice and continue stirring until well coated and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and simmer without lifting the lid for 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked through.
Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper over the rice and place 2 or 3 pats of butter on top. Cover again and set aside to steam dry for at least 10 minutes, or up to several hours.
When ready to eat, gently reheat if necessary. Use two forks to fluff up the rice and mix in the pepper and butter. Serve right away.
THE SIZE OF THE POT MATTERS
It’s easy enough to expand a pilaf recipe to serve more, even many more, by straightforwardly multiplying the ingredients. But there’s an important point to keep in mind. For pilaf, or any other rice dish, the pot should be the size to accommodate the rice and called-for liquid so that the liquid comes about ½ inch above the grains when you start cooking. For example, a batch for 4 should be made in a smallish pot no more than 6 to 8 inches wide. To serve a crowd, you can use a larger pot, so long as it holds the rice and liquid in the same way. In other words, don’t make a small batch for 4 in a large pot because the water evaporates before the rice is cooked.
Serves 4
Pilaf that includes liver is popular in Armenian cuisine. Though lamb or calves’ liver is more typical, I prefer chicken liver, and always save it from the giblet package that comes along with a whole chicken so that I can make this pilaf. The liver and scallions may be served as an appetizer on their own with soft Armenian Cracker Bread (see page 63) or a warm baguette.
Pilaf
¾ cup long grain white rice
½ cup dry lentils
¾ teaspoon salt
2½ cups water
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1½ tablespoons butter
Topping
2 tablespoons butter
4 chicken livers
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 scallions, white and light green part, finely chopped
Combine the rice, lentils, salt, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice and lentils are tender, 20 to 22 minutes. Gently stir in the pepper, dot the top with the butter, and, without stirring again, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
To prepare the topping, melt the butter in a small pan over mediumhigh heat. Add the livers, season with salt and pepper, and sauté on both sides until golden and firm but still pink in the centers, 5 to 7 minutes.
To serve, slice the livers and set atop the pilaf. Sprinkle with the scal-lions and serve warm.
Serves 4
In this versatile entrée pilaf, the shrimp shells play the important roll of enriching the stock and making it extra delicious. As well as cilantro, you can use oregano, tarragon, parsley, or dill for the herb; use saffron instead of tomato paste for the color; and/or add a feta cheese topping to make an even more sumptuous dish.
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, with shells and tails
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil ¾ cup chopped yellow or white onion
1½ cups long grain white rice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese, for topping (optional)
To prepare the shrimp, remove the shells, leaving the tails intact and reserving the shells. Devein the shrimp, if necessary, and set them aside in the refrigerator.
Place the shells and broth in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to maintain a brisk simmer and cook until the shells are pink, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
To make the pilaf, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and rice and sauté until the rice is translucent, about 2 minutes. Strain the reserved shrimp shell broth into the pot through a fine-mesh strainer. Add the remaining ingredients, except the feta and shrimp, stir to mix, and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 22 minutes, until the rice is tender.
Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and stir in the shrimp. Cover again and let sit for 5 minutes, until the shrimp are barely pink. Serve warm, garnished with the feta cheese, if using.
Serves 6 to 8
Wedding pilaf is an impressive dish served with grilled or roast lamb on many festive occasions (see box, page 258). I always add the scallion garnish, though it is atypical, because it adds color and a welcome piquance to the elaborate fruity, nutty composition. Dried sour plums are available in produce stores and farmers’ markets; dried apricots or dried pears can substitute.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup broken up vermicelli or angel hair pasta
1½ cups long grain white rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup whole blanched almonds
⅓ cup currants
⅓ cup dried sour plum halves (not prunes), quartered
2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions, white and light green part, for garnish (optional)
Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the vermicelli and stir until lightly golden, about 1½ minutes. Add the rice and continue stirring until the rice is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, allspice, salt, and pepper, stir to mix, and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer very gently for 25 minutes, until the rice is tender but still a little moist. Turn off the heat, leaving the pot on the burner, and set the lid ajar. Leave for 10 minutes, until the moisture is gone.
In a sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the almonds, currants, and dried plums to the pan and sauté until the almonds are toasted and the fruit is soft, about 5 minutes.
To serve, spread the hot pilaf on a platter and top with the nut and fruit mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped scallion, if using, and serve right away.
SPIT-ROASTED WHOLE YOUNG LAMB TO ACCOMPANY WEDDING PILAF: A STORY
When I married my husband, Rick Wise, on a beautiful Fourth of July in 1977, the featured menu item was whole young lamb, spit-roasted over a deep-pit charcoal fire. Our friend Willie Bishop, artist and master cook, came to the wedding site in Orinda, California, early in the day with his assistants to dig the pits—three, because there were three lambs—and set up the spit-grilling apparatuses over the pits. However, like all weddings, this one had some melodrama. The lambs had been delivered from Dal Porto Ranch in Amador County and hung in the refrigerated locker at Chez Panisse Restaurant, across the street from my Pig-by-the-Tail delicatessen, in Berkeley. On the wedding morning, I was in Orinda, preparing to look lovely and welcome everyone to the wedding. Even though it was a holiday, a health inspector showed up at the restaurant unannounced on a routine inspection and noticed the lambs didn’t have an official stamp on them. Because the carcasses were so cleanly slaughtered and perfectly dressed—Frank Dal Porto had grown up raising lambs for the family table and took great pride in that part of the job—the inspector suspected he had stumbled onto evidence of an illegal slaughterhouse operation and impounded the lambs! Fortunately, my future brother-in-law, Jerry Budrick, at the time maître d’ and part-owner of Chez Panisse, was on the spot preparing a roasted peacock, fastidiously refeathered after cooking, for presentation at the wedding feast. Even more fortunately, he happened to know the head inspector (maître d’s have a penchant for making good connections), whom he immediately called. All was well that ended well. The head inspector arrived and released the lambs, and they were duly delivered to the wedding site. Willie had the lambs on the fire by 11:00 A.M., in plenty of time for the aroma of grilling lamb to waft through the air, wrapping around our ceremony, and by 2:30 the feast was ready.
Serves 4 to 6
Wheat has been cultivated in Armenia since ancient times. As bulgur—cooked, dried, and cracked wheat—it was the original cereal of pilaf, preceding rice by many centuries. Though sometimes considered less glamorous than the later arrival, bulgur is nonetheless honored for its nutritional content—it is high in protein, phosphorous, and potassium as well as calcium, iron, thiamine, and riboflavin— and beloved for its nutty, grassy flavor. It remains a basic grain for pilafs throughout the Caucasus, in the Middle East and Greece, and in my home.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow or white onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup medium or coarse bulgur
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in the bulgur and continue cooking until the bulgur is toasted, about 2 minutes. Add the broth and salt and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes, until fluffy and no longer moist. Serve warm.
Serves 4 to 6
Bulgur and walnuts go together like ducks and water, tomatoes and basil, rhubarb and strawberries, love and marriage, and much more. They’re just a natural pair, age-old born companions. Together in pilaf, they serve as a side carbohydrate dish for almost any meal, or as the meal itself when amended with yogurt and a few offerings from the Armenian maza table.
2 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
⅓ cup finely chopped yellow or white onion
1 cup medium or coarse bulgur
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the walnuts and onion, stir to mix, and sauté, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the walnuts are lightly golden. Stir in the bulgur, decrease the heat to medium, and continue sautéing for 2 minutes, until the bulgur is lightly toasted. Add the broth and salt, stir to mix, and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes, until fluffy and no longer moist. Serve warm.
Serves 4 to 6
Instead of spring onions, you can use scallions. Instead of grapevine tendrils, substitute pea tendrils (available in Asian markets) plus a spritz of lemon juice. This pilaf is also good made with rice.
2 tablespoons butter
1 spring onion, white and light green part, chopped (about ¼ cup)
1 cup medium or coarse bulgur
½ cup cooked chickpeas (page 35)
2 cups water
¼ cup chopped fresh grapevine tendrils
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 1 minute, until wilted. Stir in the bulgur and chickpeas and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes, until the bulgur is lightly toasted. Add the water and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 25 minutes, until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from the heat and set aside to steam-dry for 10 to 15 minutes, until no longer moist. Stir in the grape tendrils and serve warm.