We made this dish for our Christmas dinner; it instantly became one of my collective recipes. Though I did made a couple modifications from the original one, it still turned out to be outstanding. Since I don’t have Basmati rice on hand, I used my normal brown rice. I also eliminate the coconut from the recipe since we are not big fans of coconut. Ok, here it goes -
Ingredients: · 2 cups brown basmati rice · 2 cups dried apricots, cut into quarters · 1 cup dried sweetened cranberries · 2 cups slivered almonds · ¾ cup butter (I cut it to ¼ cup, next time I might try olive oil) · 2 cups chopped onion · ½ cup chopped red bell pepper · ½ cup chopped green bell pepper · 2 tsp grated fresh ginger · 2 tsp minced garlic · 2 tsp curry powder · 2 tsp ground cumin · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp pepper · 1 tsp ground cardamom (don’t cut this one, very fragrant smell) · 1 tsp grated orange peel · 1 tsp grated lime peel · ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Preparation: Cook brown rice according to instruction, set aside.In a bowl, combine dried apricots and cranberries. Cover with boiling water and let stand until fruit is plump, about 15 minutes, drain. Roasted almonds in a sauce pan, stir frequently, until it turns lightly brown, remove from heat, set aside. In a 6- to 8- quart pan over medium-high heat, melt butter.Add onion, red bell pepper and green bell peppers; stir until onion is limp,about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add ginger, garlic, curry powder,cumin, salt, pepper, cardamom, orange peel, lime peel and cinnamon; stir just until spices are aromatic, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked rice, dried fruit, and almonds. Spoon into a shallow 3-quart baking dish and cover with foil. Back in oven under 350F for 30 minutes.
|