Rice Pilav With Tomatoes and Rocket
I took this recipe from a famous Turkish chef, Yunus Emre Akkor. It's just a fresh summer/fall recipe. Tomatoes is supposed to be a summer vegetable but you can find the most delicious tomatoes in fall in most af the countries. This doesn't change for Turkey or Spain.
I generally prepare my canned food in fall. It's because the weather cools down a little bit and the temperature comes to an appropriate degree for storing cans at room temperature. And the second reason is it is easier to find delicious and cheaper tomatoes.
You can see the tomatoes I used for the recipe in the pics. They are big, nicely red, have dense flesh, outstanding taste and few seeds. Just the best tomatoes for a tomatoes based dish.
The consistency of the pilav is not the same with the regular Turkish pilavs. It's much more like risotto actually. The regular pilav should not be sticky (there are a few exceptions of course), on the contrary it should be grainy.
But the taste is anourmous. You feel like you are not eating the tomatoes but injecting it to your vessels.
It's a perfect dish to serve with kofte and any other meat or chicken dishes. As it's served hot, prepare it just before dinner. It can be cooked in around 30 mins. I guess.
Enjoy the recipe...
Ingredients
- 1 cup of rice, rinsed,
- 500 g tomatoes,
- 1 clove of garlic,
- Half a bunch rocket,
- Salt,
- Pepper,
- 4-5 tablespoons olive oil.
Preparation
- Heat olive oil in a deep pan,
- Add into the chopped garlic and stir,
- Add rice and rsautee for a few minutes,
- Add tomatoes and salt according to your taste and mix,
- Cover the lid and cook until the rice is completely soft,
- Add black pepper and finely chopped rocket and stir well,
- Serve hot or warm.
Bon Appetit...