Brown rice and thin noodles simmered in a fragrant chicken broth, it is a simple rice pilaf with an Arabic twist. Rice is staple for people world-wide. There is little I enjoy more than a steaming scoop of flavourful rice.
Last year I spent two weeks traveling through Israel with a few close friends. The first night there our bus driver Joel, invited us to eat dinner in his home in a small Arabic village. To say that we were tired would be an understatement. We dragged out jet lagged bodies up the stairs to the eating area of his home and were instantly greeted by the most wonderful aromas.
His cheery wife beckoned us in and had us settle on the floor to begin our meal.
What a feast she prepared! Chicken, rice, humus, mint tea, coffee, pita and date-filled bread rings were presented on humble platters for us to enjoy family style. I was so impressed by the dishes that were prepared in her humble kitchen. That lovely woman kept giving us food until we could honestly eat not a bit more, yet she continued to encourage us to eat.
One of the dished she prepared for us that stuck out the most in my memory was the RICE. I decided right then and there that I needed to recreate it. I searched the internet for a while finding different recipes, Wardeh’s was my greatest inspiration. I took a bit of this and a bit of that along with my own recollections and voila, my arabic brown rice was created.
Other Israeli Inspired Dishes:
Arabic Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups brown rice
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 TSB acid medium (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or kombucha)
- 1/4 package (about 4oz) brown rice noodles
- 1 1/2 tsp unrefined salt
- 4 TSB butter
Instructions
- Combine rice, water and acid medium of choice in a bowl or pot. Cover and let soak for at least 7 hours.
- Drain off water into a measuring cup. Rinse the rice. Add the same amount of chicken broth (plus a little water if necessary) as water drained off. Bring broth to a boil.
- Add the rice, noodles, salt and butter to the pot. Return to a boil and then turn down heat. Cover and let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, undisturbed.
- When done turn off heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Fluff and serve.
One day a few friends and I got together to cook a meal. Two of my friends are Messianic Jews, one has been to Israel and the others know about my obsession with all things Israel or Jewish. They helped me recreate some of my favorite dishes that I ate in Israel, one of them was this rice. To top it off it just happened to be Yom Kippur.
This post is part of Fat Tuesday, Hearth and Soul, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link Up, Pennywise Platter Thursday,
Hi Katie, can you tell me why the rice is soaked in the acidic solution? If I understand correctly, brown rice is low in phytic acid and does not need to be soaked according to WPF. I find that eating rice or potatoes causes me to retain water (whether brown or white). I was wondering if doing it this way would alleviate the problem. Also, does the “TSB” mean tablespoons or teaspoons?
Brown rice is lower in phytic acid but it is still better for your gut to soak it in and acid medium and lower it even further. I know that Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions advices to soak brown rice, she also mentions if you do not soak it then it should be cooked for 2 hours in bone broth. Most nourishing/real food bloggers still soak brown rice. I now tend to be more of a white rice gal to avoid the aresnic found in brown rice, there is some in white rice but at much lower levels. I haven’t read WAPF’s stance on rice in awhile so I will go check it out.
It is possible that soaking the brown rice as well as cooking in a bone broth might help with retaining water but I am not sure as I have never had that problem.
It is one tablespoon, thank you for pointing that out. I will go fix it.
Thank you so much. I pulled out my Nourishing Traditions book and, sure enough, there was the recipe for the brown rice, soaked — never noticed it. I’ll have to try this way next time.
You’re welcome!
Your rice sounds delicious. I like the addition of the acid ingredient, I am sure it gives a lovely tang.
Actualy I rinse the rice before cooking so there is little to no acidic taste left in the final product.
Looks delicious! I can never have too many rice recipes, we eat it constantly.
Until I moved to Mexico I rarley ate rice, now I eat it several times a week!
pretty sure that flat bread would be my favorite! : )
It was yummy, now I just need to remember how I made it…. 🙂
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-february-21-2012/