Recipe by Diana Henry
A blueprint for baked rice. Just stick to the same quantities of rice and liquid, the same size of pan and the same oven temperature and you can produce endless variations. Change the herbs, use spices or add nuts and dried fruit.
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serve 8
300g basmati rice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp ground cumin
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
850ml boiling chicken or vegetable stock
100g good-quality green olives, preferably pitted, roughly chopped or left whole
150g feta cheese, crumbled
Leaves from a small bunch of dill, roughly chopped, any coarse stalks removed
Preheat the oven to 200C(400F) or 190C(375F) fan/Gas 6.
Wash the rice in a sieve in cold water until the water running through it is clear, to remove the excess starch. Leave it in the sieve to drain.
In a 30cm ovenproof sauté pan or shallow casserole, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions over a medium-low heat until they’re soft and pale gold.
Add the garlic and cumin and cook for another two minutes, then add the rinsed and drained rice, orange juice and boiling stock. Season.
Bring to the boil on the hob, transfer immediately to the oven and bake, uncovered, for an hour.
When there are 10 minutes to go, break up the crust that has formed on the top and stir in the olives. By the end of cooking time, the rice should be tender and all the stock absorbed.
Scatter the orange zest, feta and dill over the top, drizzle with olive oil and serve. You will find that the rice has formed a delicious crust on the base of the pan.