Rice a roni sans box

 

Those of us of a certain age remember the jingle from the tv advertisement - “Rice, a roni, the San Francisco treat! Rice, a roni, the flavour can’t be beat!”

As kids we never had the chance to find this out for ourselves, since we were firmly a short grain Asian rice family. So I never encountered this boxed delight till university, when one of my housemates made it on the regular.

Apparently there is an entire origin story for this dish - the originator learned how to make it from an Armenian neighbour. So it was obviously make-able without the branded box. I googled around for Armenian pilaf, and have made it a number of times since. Here’s an easy uncomplicated version, which I mostly winged, but it turned out a bit better than usual, so I’m noting it down before I forget.

1/2 medium white onion, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1-2 Tbsp butter 

2/3 c of fine vermicelli pasta broken (or it comes like that, see pic)

2/3 long grain white rice, any kind. We happened to have basmati around 

1/2-1 Tbsp Knorr chicken bouillon powder 

A few shakes of red pepper and garlic seasoning (see pic)

3 c water 

Method: 

In a large sauté pan, sauté minced onion in olive oil till lightly browned and softened. Add a little water if browning too fast. Once moisture is evaporated off, add butter and let foam. Add dry noodles and rice, and toast till pasta is golden brown. Keep an eye on it,  and stir occasionally but not too often - you want to leave time for the noodles to turn colour. Once they’re nearly ready, shake a few dashes of red pepper and garlic seasoning, stirring it in so the heat releases the aroma. 

Now add about 3 c hot tap water, and the chicken bouillon powder, stirring well to dissolve. You could of course add homemade or paste boullion instead, but then it won’t taste like it came from a box, which is the result we’re going for here. Stir everything well and adjust seasonings, with salt and pepper if needed.

Cover with a lid and turn the heat to low and allow to steam and absorb liquid for 18-20 min. You can check earlier to make sure it’s not drying out too fast. Add liquid if needed. It’s done when both rice and noodles are tender. If there’s a little extra liquid, just keep cover on and take it off the heat to allow it to be absorbed.

The result will be very beige, so serve with a green vegetable or garnish with green onion and/or parsley for a nicer presentation.

 This is the noodle we used tonight, but any other kind would work as long as it’s your basic durum wheat type pasta (ie not rice vermicelli)

 This dehydrated garlic and pepper seasoning is a new discovery that the woman who runs the local Colombian restaurant told us about. It gives a great flavour boost to the pilaf.