Simplest Rice Pilaf

Welcome to Frugal Homemade! This week, I am going to share one of my favorite goes-with-anything side dishes. Everyone here loves it and it is beautifully uncomplicated.

See? Totally simple. Not pictured: water. All you need is an onion, some basmati rice, butter (or oil, if you don’t do dairy), salt, pepper, and water. Useful equipment: deep saute pan with a tight fitting lid, medium fine-mesh strainer, and a thin cotton kitchen towel.

If you don’t regularly buy basmati rice, that will be your only real cost. The good stuff is imported from India and a decent sale price will be about $12 for a 10 lb bag. If you are skeptical, I understand, but trust me that it is totally worth it. It is the rice that makes this dish and so many others. This is essentially plain rice, but the aroma and delicacy of this stuff makes it delicious.

Even the prep is ridiculously easy. Rinse a cup of rice a few times. Basically, you can stop when the water doesn’t immediately become opaque white. I usually do it about 30 minutes before I am going to cook and leave it in the strainer to dry. I do this partially because it toasts faster that way and also because I don’t want to worry about residual water in there messing up my rice to water ratio.

Finely dice a small onion.

Heat 1 2/3 cups of water to boiling. I just use the microwave, for about two minutes. To the hot water, add a teaspoon of salt and ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground black pepper.

• Melt two tablespoons unsalted butter over medium heat.
• Add the onion and saute until soft (but not browned!).
• Add the rice and saute a few minutes, until it all looks a little toasted.
• Add the salt and pepper hot water and bring it to a boil.
• Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.

Now this is a trick I learned from America’s Test kitchen: Cover the pan with a folded kitchen towel, replace the lid, and let it sit for ten minutes. The towel absorbs any excess water keeps the rice from being too wet and clumping at the bottom.

Fluff with a fork. That is really it.

We serve this with a lot of things, but the meal that immediately comes to mind is salmon and creamed spinach. It is the perfect non-rich starch to go with the spinach and it is simple enough not to compete with the salmon. But seriously, it is rice, onion, salt, pepper, and a bit of fat, so it will be hard to find something it doesn’t go with. And it smells SO good!

What are YOUR go-to simple side dishes?

Simplest Rice Pilaf, printable recipe

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Simplest Rice Pilaf

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A simple side dish to go with almost any meal!

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or your choice of oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Rinse the rice 3 or 4 times, then allow it to drain and dry out a bit.
• Heat 1 2/3 cups water to boiling, then add salt and pepper.
• Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
• Add the onion and saute until soft.
• Add the rice and saute a few minutes, until toasted.
• Add the salt and pepper hot water and bring to a boil.
• Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.
• Off the hear, cover the pan with a folded kitchen towel and replace the lid. Let sit for 10 minuted.
• Fluff with a fork