Sweet Spiced Mushroom Rice Pilaf with Miso & Cinnamon
One tray baking! A delicious main or side which scores major flavour points for its liberal use of warming spices, miso and mushrooms.
Thanks to Ottolenghi for this recipe which I altered slightly to my liking upping the flavour of the stock.
The recipe, although easy, is NOT QUICK, you will need 1 hour for the recipe from start to finish so probably not the best recipe to attempt midweek when the juggle is real!
The perfect foundation recipe
I love how this recipe can from the base (the foundation) for a happy spread. The rice is the perfect make-ahead dish and will happily sit in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Serving suggestions:
Serve alongside the following for the perfect spread:
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Smashed Cucumber
- Thai Green Vegetable Curry
- Asian Green Rice Bowls with Kimchi Miso Dressing
A note on swapping basmati rice for brown basmati
I wanted to make my version with wholegrain basmati rice to up the fibre and because I prefer the chewy taste of brown to white. If you are like me, wanting to give wholegrain rice a go, a few pointers to keep in mind.
Brown basmati rice takes longer to cook and needs more cooking liquid. To give your rice a head start you can simmer the rice for 15 minutes prior to popping in the oven, which I know defeats the point of a one tray recipe but it will cut the normal cooking time of brown basmati rice by half. I used 1,2 litres of stock instead of the 850ml per recipe below.
Sweet Spiced Mushroom Rice Pilaf
Equipment
- 34 x 26 roasting tin
- foil to cover
Ingredients
- pinch chilli flakes
- 400 g brown portabellini mushrooms stems removed, kept for the stock, shrooms roughly torn by hand
- 150 g shimeji mushrooms tops roughly chopped, bases kept for the stock
- 2 red onions, trimmed, finely sliced, trimmings kept for stock
- 10 garlic cloves peeled, kept while
- 3 tbsp ginger minced, keep peels for the stock
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 whole star anise
- 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 350 g basmati rice or brown basmati rice - see recipe intro
- 1 cup Turkish apricots the plump kind, quartered
- 1 tbsp brown miso to season
- 4 spring onions finely sliced, as a garnish, optional
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley or coriander garnish, optional
Miso Mushroom Stock
- 1 tbsp brown miso
- ¼ tsp salt
- 850 ml veg stock
- mushrooms stems and bases as above
- onion trimmings
- ginger peels
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220c
- For the stock, add all the ingredient together in a saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer, after 15 minutes, strain, discard solids, add the liquid back to the saucepan and keep warm. (if making the wholegrain version as above, you will use 1,2l veggies stock and you will precook the rice for 15 min in a separate saucepan, drain).
- Meanwhile, in a very large roasting tin (34cm x 26cm) add the mushrooms, chilli flakes, whole spices, garlic, ginger, apricots, 120ml (only), 1 teaspoon salt and a good grind of pepper. Give everything a good stir and bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through, roast uncovered, until the veggies are well browned and a bit 'jammy' looking. Remove from the oven and reserve about HALF of the veggies to a separate bowl.
- Stir the rice into the remaining mushroom mixture in the roasting tin, add the stock and without stirring, cover tightly with foil. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through. Leave to sit, still covered, for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the foil, watch out for the steam, gently mix everything together.
- Stir in 1 tbsp miso and the remains 2 tbsp oil, taste and season if needed with salt & pepper. Top with the reserved mushroom mixture, spring onions and chopped herbs. Enjoy!
