David’s Top Tip: Use crispy fried shallots from the supermarket rather than frying your own. Our weather is too humid for the fried shallots to stay crispy. Store-bought ones are salty, oily, crunchy and cheap.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dish.
Ingredients
50 g wild rice
2-1/2 Tbsp olive oil
220 g basmati rice
330 ml boiling water
2 tsp cumin seeds
1-1/2 tsp curry powder
240 g cooked chickpeas, (or tinned), drained
180 ml sunflower oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Tbsp plain flour , (or cornstarch for gluten-free version)
100 g currants
2 Tbsp flat leaf parsley , chopped
1 Tbsp coriander, chopped
1 Tbsp dill, chopped
salt and black pepper
Method
1)
Put the wild rice in a small saucepan, cover with a plenty water, bring to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes, until cooked but still quite firm. Drain and set aside.
To cook the basmati rice, pour a teaspoon of olive oil into a medium saucepan and place on high heat. Add the rice and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and stir as it warms up. Add the boiling water, reduce the heat to minimum, cover with a tight lid and leave for 15 minutes, until all of the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat, lift off the lid, cover the pot with a tea towel, then put the lid on top and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
2)
Meanwhile, prepare the chickpeas. Heat the remaining olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the cumin and curry powder, and after a couple of seconds add the chickpeas and sal, act fast, or the spices may burn. Stir for a minute or two, just to heat the chickpeas, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
3)
In a clean pan, add the sunflower oil and place on a high heat. Once the oil is hot, mix the onion and flour (or cornstarch for a gluten-free version) with your hands. Take some of the mix and carefully place in the oil. Fry for two or three minutes, until golden-brown, transfer to kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. Repeat in batches until all the onion is fried.
4)
Finally, add both types of rice to the chickpea bowl, along with the currants ( I soak them in hot water for 5 minutes), herbs and fried onion. Stir and season to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tips and Tricks:
The main ingredient in this dish is basmati rice, here is the best way to cook it:
The first thing to do is to wash the rice until the water is almost clear. In a saucepan put butter or oil. heat before adding the drained rice, season with salt. Stir a few minutes before adding hot water or stock (1 quantity of rice = 1.5 quantity of water for example 100g of rice should cook in 150ml of water or broth). Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, lower the heat and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes all the water will be absorbed, remove from the heat. Remove the lid, cover the pan with a clean tea towel then replace the lid and let rest for 10 minutes.
It is very important to lift the lid and cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel, then put the lid back on top. The tea towel will absorb all the vapour, to avoid the vapour turning into water dropping down on the rice.
