Rice & Grains
2019 recipes found
Coconut Basmati Pilaf
Adapted from a recipe by the Indian chef, cooking teacher and cookbook author Julie Sahni, this pilaf is an excellent accompaniment to a vindaloo or other Indian main dish. In addition to the coconut milk, it’s flavored with cardamom and ginger.
Chestnut Risotto
Chestnuts fried in olive oil taste like soft, meaty nuggets of holiday cheer when stirred into creamy rice. A big pot of risotto is always a good time, especially when it’s the centerpiece of a D.I.Y. toppings bar. Roasted mushrooms and onions, quick-pickled celery, sour cream and dill can be offered as crispy, crunchy, salty and creamy toppings to go with the savory risotto. Risotto tastes best when made fresh, but you can — and should — prepare the toppings ahead of time, storing them in the refrigerator up to a day or two in advance, then cook the risotto just before your guests arrive.
Rich and Buttery Corn Muffins
Made with plenty of melted butter and sour cream, these golden, lightly sweet corn muffins are moist, rich and delicately crumbly. If you can find coarsely ground cornmeal (as opposed the fine stuff that’s on most supermarket shelves), you’ll also get deep corn flavor and a pleasantly grainy texture. Serve these warm from the oven, slathered with even more butter, or halved and toasted under the broiler to crisp the surface. They’ll even keep for a few days if you store them in the fridge, and freeze perfectly for up to a month.
Risotto With Smoked Mozzarella and Escarole
Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey brought this recipe to The Times in 1988, when a properly-made risotto was still a relatively new dish for the home cook. It would make a wonderful meatless main dish or as an accompaniment to roast chicken or grilled steak.
Fried Eggs With Garlicky Green Rice
Fried eggs are a simple vegetarian staple. But set them on top of garlicky kale- and herb-flecked rice, and they form a deeply satisfying supper. This recipe is endlessly customizable: Go with what you have — reheated leftover rice works equally well as a fresh pot — or use any whole grain you have. The secret here is locking flavor into the grains by stirring in garlic herbs while the rice is warm. To finish, be generous with the lime — the acid brings all the flavors up a notch — and play around with your tolerance for garlic and heat. Lastly, don't be afraid to raid your fridge: Avocado or leftover beans would be right at home here, too.
Steak Salad With Fish Sauce and Mint
This salad, with Southeast Asian flair, takes mere minutes to make, even with cooking the beef. Its base is mesclun and a handful of flavorful, mild herbs, like parsley or mint. Because steak doesn't need any seasoning, cooking it takes only 10 minutes. You could substitute chicken, pork or shrimp. The vinaigrette that accompanies this salad is light but assertive, based not on olive oil but on a neutral-flavored oil like canola. I use relatively little oil, as its job is only to help the remaining dressing ingredients coat the greens. To this I add rice vinegar or lime juice, both of which are high in flavor but low in acidity. The vinaigrette is rounded off with mustard, shallots, and nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy sauce.
Baked Chicken Tenders
Chicken tenders may be known as a kid favorite, but it's hard to find an adult who doesn't enjoy them just as much. And there's a lot to love when a crisp, golden brown coating meets juicy, tender chicken strips. This weeknight version strays slightly from the traditional deep-fried recipe: It can be pan-fried (see tip below), but it shines when baked in the oven. Proper chicken tenders, or the smaller muscle underneath the breast, can be hard to find, but boneless, skinless breasts — from chicken, or even turkey — sliced into thin strips are an excellent stand-in. For a little punch, feel free to add cayenne, crushed red-pepper flakes or fennel seed, or ground cumin to the flour mixture. Lastly, this version is paired with an herbed yogurt dip, but it can also be served with ketchup.
Cold Pork Rice Noodles With Cucumber and Peanuts
Sometimes you want dinner to be cold. For those evenings, there's this make-ahead pork and rice noodle dish, offering a robust infusion of zing from garlic, fish sauce and tons of fresh herbs plus plenty of flexibility. Add more peanuts and basil, or go heavy on the mint and lime. Use pork tonight, and ground turkey or chicken the next time; it’s your choice. This basic formula is easily adapted, and the components pack up easily for a work lunch or another night’s dinner. To make this vegetarian, substitute semi-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, for the pork, and substitute a few tablespoons of soy sauce for the fish sauce.
Hoppin' John
In her cookbook, “Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking,” Toni Tipton-Martin writes about the Carolina lowcountry tradition of the dish Hoppin’ John, as recorded in the “Penn School & Sea Islands Heritage Cookbook.” The dish was described as brown field peas cooked with rice to be eaten for good luck throughout the year. In African American communities, the tradition of eating rice and cowpeas dates to a celebration on Dec. 31, 1862, Freedom’s Eve. On that day, enslaved Africans congregated in churches in the south, eager to hear the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had set them free. The tradition of eating peas and rice for the new year is now deeply held across cultures throughout the United States and ties to centuries-old folklore that might just lead to better health, prosperity and maybe, just maybe, a bit more luck.
Leek Risotto With Sugar Snap Peas and Pancetta
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to stir risotto constantly, but achieving a creamy risotto with slightly toothsome grains does require some attention. During the cooking process, the rice should always be lightly coated in liquid and bubbling energetically, and the liquid needs to be added gradually: Add just before the rice threatens to stick to the bottom of the pan. For the creamiest results, stir more frequently and more vigorously during the second half of the cooking, when the grains begin to release their starch.
Baked Mushrooms and White Beans With Buttery Bread Crumbs
Not really a ragout and not quite a gratin, this hearty meatless casserole has it all: deeply browned mushrooms, creamy white beans, salty feta and crisp bread crumbs. The result is rich, comforting and perfect for a cold night in. Fresh bread crumbs are worth making or seeking out for texture’s sake, but panko will also work nicely. Toss the bread crumbs with melted butter, then briefly broil them for a golden, crunchy topping, a nice contrast to the dish’s silkiness. Paired with a bright salad and a hunk of good bread, this dish works well as a vegetarian main course, or as a companion to sausages and other roasted meats.
Creamy Cauliflower Pasta With Pecorino Bread Crumbs
Equal parts cauliflower and pasta, this one-skillet dinner is a vegetable-forward version of macaroni and cheese. A whole head of cauliflower browns and caramelizes in a skillet before being simmered with heavy cream, pecorino cheese and a bit of lemon zest, breaking down into a special (and yes, decadent) sauce to coat the pasta shape of your choosing. For those looking to make it their own, this pasta could absolutely handle a bit of chopped bacon sautéed with the cauliflower, or handfuls of leafy greens tossed in at the end to wilt. Whatever you do, do not skip the bread crumbs — they are a not-so-stealthy vehicle for more cheese, and also add much-needed texture to the finished dish.
Shrimp and Kimchi Rice Bowl
If you want dinner with ease, make it a rice bowl. You can cook the rice in advance and reheat it, or employ a rice cooker. (A small one doesn’t demand much space, and it cooks perfect rice while you go about other business.) But even if you make rice on the stovetop, you’ll have 30 minutes to pull together the rest of this meal, so it’s hot and ready all at once. Kimchi is the heavy lifter here, since it has tons of crunch and tang, which gives you space to add in other vegetable without doing much to them. They could be grated and raw, or make use of yesterday’s leftovers. If shrimp isn’t your speed, try this marinade on beef chuck or tofu. Or top the rice with an egg fried in a mixture of canola and sesame oil.
Goan Coconut-Milk Pilaf
Mushroom-Barley Soup
Soup made without meat or meat broth can be insipid. That's why most people think pea soup needs ham and mushroom-barley soup needs beef. But it's possible to make a satisfying, even hearty, vegetarian soup if you choose your ingredients carefully and extract every bit of flavor from them. Enter this mushroom-barley soup, a vegetarian dish with real body, texture and depth of flavor. The key ingredient here is dried porcini, which can be reconstituted in hot water in less than 10 minutes, giving you the best-tasting mushrooms you can find outside the woods and an intensely flavored broth that rivals beef stock. Don’t forget to toast the barley while really browning the mushrooms and carrots — it lends a deep warmth.
Ground Lamb Pulao
The aroma of fresh mint and spices permeates this bright, turmeric-painted pulao made with basmati rice and ground lamb. This recipe, which has origins in the ground meat pulaos of India, is quite flexible and open to additions: a handful of fresh dill, a generous sprinkling of fried peanuts or other nuts, or crispy, fried onions tossed in just before serving. It also works well if you substitute beef for the lamb, and really needs no sides, except maybe some raita, creamy plain yogurt or a salad.
El Minuto’s Cheese Crisps
In Tucson, Ariz., a late night out is often punctuated by a stop at a local Mexican restaurant for cheese crisp. Linda Ronstadt grew up eating the version at El Minuto, which was across the street from the building where her brother worked as the chief of police. She included the recipe in her hybrid memoir-cookbook “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands” (Heyday, 2022). The ingredients are ridiculously simple but it is essential to search out an approximation of the large, nearly translucent flour tortillas that are a mainstay of Sonoran cooking. The trick is to let the tortillas cool and harden before topping them with cheese and sending them under the broiler. Chopped green chiles are a nice way to add some character to the snack, but a good hot sauce will do.
Cheesy Breakfast Egg and Polenta Casserole
If you’ve had the pleasure of a cheesy polenta dinner, topped with a creamy-yolked egg, you can imagine how good that combination is at breakfast. This quick casserole for a crowd is exactly that, made elegant and easy so you can have a perfectly cooked portion for each person with very little work. Layer your polenta with anything you desire, whether salami or ham — or keep it vegetable-centric with spinach or oven-roasted tomatoes. Make nests between your toppings and the polenta where the eggs will cook slowly, giving you a soft-cooked finish that’s loaded with flavor.
Herby Rice Salad With Peas and Prosciutto
This bright, lemony salad laced with fresh herbs is a passport to spring. Simmering the rice in plenty of salted water just until it’s al dente and then cooling it well is key. Blanched fresh peas are terrific if you can find them, but frozen work just fine. The trick is marinating them in lemony olive oil, a technique borrowed from the Michigan chef Abra Berens, who uses it in her comprehensive book “Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables” (Chronicle Books, 2019). The prosciutto adds a nice salty hit, but you could sub in a dollop of creamy ricotta or leave both out for your vegan friends. Either way, the recipe delivers a bright salad that can stand in for a light meal.
Rice With Tomatoes and Black Olives
Salmon Fried Rice
It’s always a clever idea to cook extra rice so that you can make fried rice the next night, or the one after that, using various bits and bobs in your fridge. Allowing the rice a day or two to dry out makes it doubly flavorful: Since the grains have less moisture, they’ll absorb even more flavor from whatever liquid you add to them. Plus, the dry grains remain separate, which means more surface area to soak up any seasoning. When it comes to fried rice, anything goes — leftover meat or fish, or whatever stray vegetables are lurking in your produce drawer or freezer will do. Just make sure you don’t crowd the pan, or your rice will steam instead of crisp.
Any Vegetable Stir-Fry
It’s always a shame to let precious vegetables go to waste. Once they pass their prime, they can form the foundation for a tasty stir-fry. Wrap mature greens like kale, Swiss chard and spinach in a damp towel and refrigerate them and they will keep for about seven days. Once they start to become limp, they may no longer shine raw in salads but they are perfect for stir-frying. This recipe works with what you've got, building an easy stir-fry with any combination of toasted nuts, crunchy vegetables and sturdy greens.
Bryant Terry’s Millet Cakes With Smoky-Spicy Green Sauce
Bryant Terry is the chef in residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he creates events that celebrate the African-American intersection of food and culture. With millet, lentils and potatoes, these vegan cakes are a nod to ’70s-style macrobiotic dishes — but upgraded with a smoky, garlicky sauce built from roasted green peppers. They are also good on their own if you don’t have time to make the sauce, and are delicious topped with an egg as a non-vegan alternative.
Vegan Mushroom Étouffée
This clever vegan re-creation of a Southern Louisiana étouffée comes from Jenné Claiborne, who included it in her 2018 cookbook "Sweet Potato Soul." Succulent oyster mushrooms stand in for the shrimp or crawfish used in a traditional étouffée. The seaweed called dulse brings a smoky, savory note and a mix of Creole and Old Bay seasoning provides the familiar flavors. Ms. Claiborne suggests spooning this over brown rice instead of the traditional white.