Basmati Rice Dressing with Dried Fruit, Toasted Almonds (圖)

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.