Make Ahead

Iç Pilav - Sweet Turkish Rice with Currants and Pine Nuts

by:
November 25, 2009
1
1 Ratings
Iç Pilav - Sweet Turkish Rice with Currants and Pine Nuts
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

This is my favourite rice... It comes from Turkey and is often used as stuffing, or served with turkey. It is cinamony and sweet because of the spices used. The rice goes very well with a Thanksgiving meal, this is why I'm going to bring it to my friends tomorrow... It has to be prepared a day before and can be eaten at room temperature, no need to heat it again! —Jace

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Baldo Rice (or Arborio rice for risotto), washed
  • 3 medium size onions, minced
  • 3 tablespoons currants
  • 2 medium size tomatoes, minced
  • 2.5 teaspoons fresh mint, chopped
  • 5 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 3 teaspoons all spice
  • 3.5 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup sunflower oil
Directions
  1. Heat the sunflower oil (high heat), add a pinch of salt and saute the onions until they become yellow
  2. In another small pan, saute the pin nuts in some oil until they become golden brown (be careful, they tend to burn very fast)
  3. Add the previously washed rice to the onions and stir for at least 8 min, until the rice becomes almost translucent
  4. Add the pine nuts, currants, all spice and sugar. Continue to stir.
  5. Add the tomatoes toward the bottom of the pan
  6. Cover the rice with boiling water, add a tablespoon of salt and taste the water. Adjust sugar and/or salt if necessary.
  7. Put the chopped mint and stir gently, then reduce the heat by half.
  8. Bring to a boil again, stir, and low the heat, add some more boiling water to cover the rice, then cover the pan and let the rice cook for 20 minutes (depends on the rice)
  9. Check from time to time, stir gently. When the rice is cooked remove from heat and wait until tomorrow...
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2 Reviews

Dude
Dude November 18, 2023
Possibly the worst-written recipe I’ve ever seen. Don’t use Arborio rice; it’s a pilaf. How about saying at the start that it should be made a day in advance?
 
Jace
Jace November 18, 2023
First comment in 14 years!
It’s written in the notes that it should be made a day in advance.
Also, pilaf means rice in turkish, and the rice recommended for the recipe is baldo rice, the most used in turkish recipes.
Arborio has almost the same properties as baldo. Baldo is actually a cross between Arborio and another rice variety called Stirpe 136.
Hope it improves the recipe I didn’t even remember posting on Food52 in 2009.