Gluten Free Pilau Rice

Pilau Rice

I had always loved rice of any kind but about a month or so ago I totally went off of it, I'm not sure why. I started to avoid making meals that required it as a side dish or just stopped serving it with the those meals, that's how Hasselback Chilli took form.

In search of new recipes for Free From G I decided to make something Indian, a cuisine that I love but have never really experimented with. I made Tandoori Chicken with Pilau Rice, a first on both counts for me. No longer am I anti rice and it's all down to a new way of cooking it.

This may seem obvious to some but to me this is a completely new way of cooking rice (outside of making a Risotto in a slightly similar way), I won't be reverting to my now understood novice rice cooking ways anytime soon.

This makes 2 decent sized portions, one portion is shown in the main photo at the top.

Ingredients:

200ml Basmati Rice

400ml Boiling Water

1 Knorr Chicken Stock Pot

1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds

1 Teaspoon Cumin

1 Small-Medium Onion

1 Tablespoon Oil (I use Groundnut or Corn, any oil with a delicate flavour)

Bed Of Pilau Rice With Tandoori Chicken Pieces

Directions:

• Put the coriander seeds and cumin into a mortar and grind until it's a fine powder
• Peel and chop the onion finely
• Measure your rice in a jug then transfer to a bowl
• Boil a kettle, put the water into the measuring jug and add the stock pot, stir until dissolved
• Heat a dry frying pan on high and add the spices
• Toast for a minute or so until you can smell them
• Add the oil and heat
• Add the onions to the pan and fry until soft

Smells Lovely

• Add the rice

Soft Onions Dry Rice

• Stir until all the grains are covered in oil

Slightly Fuzzy As It Happens Action Shot

• Once all the rice is coated spread the rice out to cover the entirety of the pan bottom
• Add the chicken stock and cover

Just Before The Lid Goes On

• Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes

Don't Remove The Lid

• Don't stir either
• Once the 15 minutes are up remove the lid and serve

Fluff Up With A Fork

Perfect Pilau Rice every time, I've gone from hating rice to getting a little bit hooked.

Typically you would find Cardamon Pods in Pilau Rice but I don't like them so I don't bother using them. This recipe is purely to my own personal taste so it was never going to be truly authentic. Add what you like I say.

If you want to add salt do so, I don't because I find that the Stock Pot seasons the rice wonderfully, but again, it's all down to personal preference.

I'm finding this a really easy, even a bit of a lazy way of cooking rice. No straining works for me.

In other news, there's going to be a new addition to Free From G quite soon, it's going to give a big insight into my gluten free diet, what I eat and when. I'm quite excited about sharing this as it's something that I would have loved to been able to check out when I was new to being gluten free.

That's all for now, Easter fast approaches!