Middle Eastern Fried Rice, Perfect Every Time

As long as I can remember, my mom made this delicious rice. She told me that her mother made it for the family when she was growing up in Cairo, but she does not know how her mom came about the recipe. One day, I happened to be visiting a friend of mine named Shirin who is from Iran, and guess what she was making for dinner…yep, the same rice!

I watched how she made it and it was the exact same way that we have made it all of these years. The only thing Shirin did differently, was that she sauteed some chopped onion in the olive oil before adding the rice. It is totally optional to do that because the rice is perfect without it. So, if you get a hankering for something really comforting to serve as a side dish and steamed rice just won’t do it for you, definitely try this recipe. It comes together in a flash, and the rice cooks before you know it. It is also delicious the next day!

Middle Eastern Fried Rice (serves 6-10 people)
1 cup olive oil
4 cups long grain rice (we use Canilla brand)
7 to 7 1/2 cups boiling water
2 Tablespoons dry vegetable boullion powder or 2 cubes (I use Knorr or Maggi chicken flavor or you can use Vegeta)
Salt (if the bouillon powder has salt in it, do not add any extra, if it does not have salt, add 1 1/2 Tablespoons)

Boil water separately in a kettle. Add olive oil to a large pot and heat well on medium high, throw in rice all at once (DO NOT rinse in water). Stir rice continually for about 5 minutes, and you will see some rice grains turning an opaque color as you sautee it, like this…

Continue to stir until about half of the rice starts to turn opaque, solid white color. This part is important because the oil cooks the starch in the rice and prevents it from sticking together in the final result. Continually stir the rice and mix it well with the rest, and be careful not to let it burn. It should look like this…

At this point, measure your bouillon powder into a one cup measure, and if it does not have salt, add that now also. Pour some of the hot water from the kettle into the cup and mix well to dissolve the bouillon powder. Pour this into the pot of rice, but be careful because a lot of steam will come up from this first addition of water. Make sure to keep your face away from the pot. Quickly measure out the rest of the water and pour it into the pot, stir well to make sure that all of the rice is mixed well. Taste the liquid to see if it needs any more salt, and if it does you may want to add a teaspoon or so. Lower the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pot with a lid. Do not open for at least 5 minutes. The water will slowly evaporate and leave a lovely rich taste from the oil and the bouillon.

The rice will be completely done in 10-15 minutes, when all the water has evaporated. At this point, taste the rice to make sure that it has cooked through and if it not completely done, cover it again and turn off the heat. The steam will continue to cook the rice for another 5 minutes or so. The rice is perfectly delicious this way, and it will remain delicious for 2-3 days if you store it in the fridge. If you have some leftover, and want to do something else with it, you can try our Cheesy Arancine (rice croquettes) recipe to keep things interesting.

 


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