Cherry and Raisin Pilaf

This post will look one out of 1970's. When microwave was an innovation :)

Well I guess I am appreciating microwave's 'true value' forty years later. What can I say?  

Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time will know that I am notorious with rice. Simply notorious. One of the reasons there are so few recipes I write about rice. Till recently I could not make rice at all. Rice got mushy/burnt...any number of things that should not happen to rice. Whether on the stove top or the microwave.  Till of course my good blogger friend Shab (of shab's cuisne) told me the magic ratio. 1:2 for Rice:water Ever since I have had good success with making rice in the microwave. Freinds and R have appllauded me on the good quality rice I was churning out :)

proud proud me!

However white rice is as far as I went. No pilafs, no paellas and no risottos. None of that fancy things.

But....

A couple of weeks I took rice cooking in a microwave to a level I am preening every time I am thinking about . Really. Its super clever.  I mean can you think? A Turkish pilaf in a microwave. Who ever could have thought of that? And you know the quality was great. All I did was fry the ingredients together in a skillet and then added water in that magic ratio and stuck in the microwave. Oh the simplicity and elegance of the technique will blow you. Wait till you try it. You will be addicted to it.

So a  post saluting the microwave technology, forty years delayed ...but  comes with a Cherry (pilaf) on top

Raisin-cherry Pilaf

Ingredients:

1 cup of long grained white rice. Soaked in water for 5 mins.

1 cup of mixture of raisins, cherry and some cranberry. You can use all three, any one or any combination.

 1 big onion finely sliced

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of cumin

2 tbsf olive oil

1 4/5 th cup of water

Salt for seasoning

Micro away !

Well heat oil in a skillet. Add the cumin and onions and fry till translucent. Add the rice and coat well in the oil (~ 2 mins). Add the sugar and cherry-raisin-cranberry mixture. Mix well together. Transfer to a microwave friendly bowl. Add the water. Some salt for seasoning. Stick in the microwave for 20 mins. Mine has a 'rice' mode. So I just hit that one. After the pilaf finishes cooking, fluff with a fork and redistribute your fruits which may accumulate in the center of your bowl

Good old cherry Pilaf ready! I love technology :)

Happy eating and healthy living!