Gluten Free Middle Eastern Rice Food Families.com

As promised in my first food blog here is my recipe for Gluten Free Middle Eastern Rice. Try it I’m sure you’ll like it and have people asking for more. The recipe below serves 4.

Middle Eastern Rice
1 Pound Kent or Jap pumpkin, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

2 gluten free vegetable stock cubes mixed with water to make 3 cups.

1 and a half cups of brown rice (brown rice gives a much better flavor though you could use white rice if you have a finicky family- but try them on it with brown first. You might be pleasantly surprised.)

1-2 cloves of garlic

I teaspoon of powdered saffron

2 teaspoons of cumin seeds

1 large capsicum cut into pieces around one inch by half inch (I used green because they were cheaper but red would work as well, if they are on special – or a combination of the two)

Three quarters of a cup of salted cashews

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 cup of chopped coriander leaves (another name for coriander is cilantro)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Aussies will need 180 degrees C)
Put the cut pumpkin on a greased baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast 25-30 minutes till golden brown. Set aside.

Put the stock cubes mixed with water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Add the rice, reduce heat and simmer covered for 40-45 minutes or till stock is absorbed and rice is tender. Rinse and drain. Set aside.

Heat the remainder of the olive oil in frying pan, add garlic, cumin seeds, and saffron and cook for 2 minutes. Add capsicum and cashews and cook for 5-7 minutes.

Then add the pumpkin, and the rice mixture. Stir together till all ingredients are mixed and heated through. A couple of minutes before serving add roughly chopped coriander leaves. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Serve hot.

The best part is for those like me, who are wheat and gluten free, this is ideal. However if you don’t have to worry about that allergy you could simply substitute the gluten free stock cubes for normal stock cube.

This dish goes particularly well with Middle Eastern Chicken. A recipe for my version of that recipe will appear next week.

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