serves 4
There are a few highly aromatic rice-based pilafs that come from the heady, urbane cooking of the Greeks whose ancestry is in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). I have taken a cue from those flavors to create a pilaf using the same spice palette. It’s delicious with a little Greek yogurt on the side, too.
½ cup (120 ml) extra-virgin Greek olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
1 small fennel bulb, diced
1 red onion, diced
Scant 1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 star anise pod
1 garlic clove, chopped
Peel of 1 orange, peeled with a vegetable peeler into 1-inch-wide (2.5 cm) strips and julienned
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup (170 g) dried quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to the package directions
2 cups (320 g) cooked or good-quality canned chickpeas
½ cup (75 g) golden raisins
½ cup (25 g) chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, fennel, and onion, cover, and cook until soft and glistening, about 8 minutes. Stir in the cumin, cinnamon, and star anise and cook all together for a minute. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute. Remove from the heat. Remove and discard the star anise.
Bring 1 cup (240 ml) water to a boil in a small pot. Add the orange peel and blanch for 1 minute. Drain in a fine-mesh sieve and repeat two more times to remove the bitterness from the peel. After the third round of blanching, leave the peel in the sieve and place the sugar and ½ cup (120 ml) water in the pot. Bring to a simmer and add the orange peel. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then drain.
In a bowl, combine the quinoa, onion-fennel mixture, orange peel, chickpeas, raisins, parsley, and remaining olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.