Oven Pilaf

Oven Pilaf

One pot, 40 min, 170°C, serves 4

Ingredients

basmati rice     300g
onion            1, chopped
butter           50g
chicken stock    600ml, boiling
bay leaf         1
salt             to season

Long grain only. Arborio and other short grains are a different starch and head for porridge no matter what you do.
Ordinary long grain drinks more than basmati, go to 650ml.
Eight minutes of this is hands on, the rest is the oven.

Recipe

1. Heat the oven to 170°C. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear.

Washing the loose starch off the outside is what lets the butter coat the grain itself. Skip it and they clag together.

2. Soften the onion in the butter in the Dutch oven, 5 minutes:

[onion 1 chopped, butter 50g]

3. Rice in. Stir it around in the butter for 2 to 3 minutes, until the grains go from clear to chalky and it smells nutty. Don’t let it brown.

This is the whole recipe. Dry heat toasts the starch on the outside of each grain, which is where the nutty taste comes from, and the butter seals the grain so it can’t hydrate and burst.

4. Boiling stock in with the bay leaf. Stir once:

[chicken stock 600ml boiling, bay leaf 1, salt to season]

Boiling, not warm. Cold stock drops the temperature of the pot and the grains cook unevenly.

5. Lid on tight, oven, 25 minutes.

6. Out of the oven, lid still on, 10 minutes.

Part of the cook, not a rest. The trapped steam finishes the grains off.

7. Fork it through.

Measure the stock rather than eyeballing it. Baked rice is less forgiving than a pan on the hob, and a splash too much is soggy.
Nothing should be pooling in the bottom. If it is, lid back on and give it 5 more minutes off the heat.
Best fresh. Cool leftovers fast, fridge within the hour, and reheat once only.