Vegetable Pilaf

We've always liked pilaf and middle eastern food in particular, but the large amount of rice causes problems for my diabetic control, so for this dish I used Carmague rice as we had some in the cupboard, but you can use any rice - brown rice is absorbed more slowly if you need to avoid a high glucose spike.

Ingredients

A dessert spoon of dried sultanas.
Vegetable stock - about 500ml, but you may need more.
300g carmargue rice (can use any rice you like).
Olive oil for frying.
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced.
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed.
½ tsp saffron threads, roughly crushed.
1 tsp ground cardamom.
1½ tsp ground cinnamon.
400g tin of chick peas, drained.
A dessert spoon of dried apricots.
6 or so dried prunes.
Salt and black pepper.
Dill, flat leaf parsley, fennel fronds, mint roughly chopped to taste.
A dessert spoon each of pine nuts and toasted pistachio nuts.

Method

1) First, put the dried sultanas in a bowl and cover with freshly made tea - any black tea will do, I used Earl Grey.  Leave it for at least 15 minutes for the sultanas to plump up, then drain and throw the tea away.

2) Boil the rice in the stock, if using brown rice this can take a while and you may need to add more stock as you go along.  Once the rice is soft, drain and set aside keeping the cooking liquid for later.

3) While the rice is cooking, in saute pan big enough to hold all the ingredients, add a little olive oil and when hot add the thinly sliced read onion and fry until softened and lightly caramelised, then add the crushed garlic and fry for a further minute.

4) Next, add the cooked rice and spices and stir well to combine everything.

5) Now add the drained chick peas, drained sultanas, apricots. prunes, salt and pepper to taste, stir and heat gently.

6) While the chick peas and rice are heating up, toast the nuts in a dry frying pan until they start to brown, but be careful not to burn them!

7) once everything is nice and hot, add the herbs and nuts to the pan, give another quick stir and check for seasoning and put it in a large pan so everyone can help themselves.  Sprinkle with sumac and serve with Harissa if you wish.