spoon

Rice with Roni!

Category : Side Dishes

We enjoy middle eastern food, particularly lamb with hummous. The rice dishes we get at these restaurants frequently have the most delicious rice side dish. I had a taste for the rice, so I set out to try and make it. What I ended up with was essentially Rice-a-roni, only better because I got to control the ingredients and the sodium levels. My husband, who normally thinks it’s too much work to reinvent the culinary wheel thought that I had jazzed up the basic chicken Rice-a-roni and made it better. He is now a believer!

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup angel hair pasta
broken into 1/2″ to 3/4″ pieces
9 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup raw long grain rice
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of salt
Dash of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Optional:
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
slivered almonds

Melt the butter over medium heat until it froths. Add the pasta and brown. This will only take a few minutes. Stir frequently and make sure that you take it off the burner when it’s a golden brown so the pasta doesn’t singe and ruin the dish.

Add the chicken broth, then the rice and seasoning and lemon juice and return to the heat. Keep it on low and cover the pan. A non-stick works best. Check the dish after 10 minutes, and then every 5 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Add slivered almonds as you serve this dish. The great thing about this dish is that there are so many things you could add to make it even tastier, like chopped green onions. I used Basamati rice and whole wheat angel hair pasta. The best part is that you use the quality ingredients you want for a much healthier version.

Post a comment