{"id":16729,"date":"2021-01-06T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=16729"},"modified":"2020-12-29T13:56:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T18:56:30","slug":"perfect-pilafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/06\/perfect-pilafs\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect Pilafs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/VRG_Pilaf_wCurry-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/VRG_Pilaf_wCurry-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/VRG_Pilaf_wCurry.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><figcaption>Long grain brown rice pilaf shown with vegan chickpea-sweet potato curry and vegan naan\u00a0bread. This rice was made by saut\u00e9ing 1 cup rice with 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet for about 2 minutes. Two cups of vegetable broth were added, the skillet covered, and it was cooked over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Fresh chopped cilantro was added to serve. Photo by Rissa Miller. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Chef Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pilafs originated in Persia, traveled\nthrough the Middle East and the Mediterranean and made it to the New World via\nthe Caribbean. It is the preferred method of rice cooking in many parts of the\nworld. Pilafs are most popular with long-grained rice, but they can be done\nwith any rice, grain, or vegetable (such as mushrooms) that can stand up to\nheat and liquid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the basic technique:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Saut\u00e9 the rice (or barley, quinoa,\nmushrooms, couscous, etc.) stirring constantly, in a small amount of vegetable\noil or vegan margarine, until all grains are coated and mildly toasted<\/li><li>Simmer, covered, in just enough liquid\nto allow the grain to become tender. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>You can add fresh or dried herbs,\nminced garlic or vegetables, saffron threads, or a favorite seasoning mix. To\nserve about 5 people as a side dish, use 1 cup of rice (or grains) and about 2\ncups of heated water (or vegetable stock). Spray some vegetable oil in a pot,\nadd rice and saut\u00e9 for about 2 minutes or until most of oil is absorbed and the\ngrains are coated. Pour the heated liquid over the rice and allow it to simmer\nuntil it is soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Some people like to cook the rice on the\nstove until it is just soupy and then bake it, covered, until it is dry and\nfluffy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perfect Pilaf tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is better to make a pilaf in a wide\npan than a tall pot. The surface area aids in better absorption of liquid.<\/li><li>If using onion, dry it on a paper\ntowel after its cut, so there\u2019s not a lot of extra moisture added to the pilaf.<\/li><li>To prevent sticking, stir as little as\npossible during the simmering phase.<\/li><li>If you have to stir when the pilaf is\nsimmering, use a fork. This incorporates more air and makes for fluffier pilaf.<\/li><li>If adding vegetables to pilaf, cut\nthem up as small as possible. This ensures consistent cooking.<\/li><li>You can prepare pilaf up to two days\nahead of time and just reheat as needed.<\/li><li>If you like, you can make a \u201cdry\u201d\npilaf, simply toasting the rice (or grain) in a hot pan, without the addition\nof oil. When the rice grains are toasted, add the liquid and proceed as\ndescribed above.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Chef Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD Pilafs originated in Persia, traveled through the Middle East and the Mediterranean and made it to the New World via the Caribbean. It is the preferred method of rice cooking in many parts of the world. Pilafs are most popular with long-grained rice, but they can be done with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16731,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16729\/revisions\/16731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}