Herbed Basmati Rice

Another one of the eleventh hour recipes that Cathy sent me was for Herbed Basmati Rice. This happens to be a very good thing, because I am a big fan of rice. Namely the boxed 20-minute kind you buy at the grocery that Josh says is stripped of all its nutrients and is just therefore empty calories, i.e., what has come to be known as 'candy rice' in our house (as in 'it's as good for you as candy.')

Josh is happy to never eat candy rice again. I, on the other hand, adhere stubbornly to the idea that it has some sort of value and make it a lot. Plus, he doesn't like potatoes, so what's a girl to do? Plus, it tastes good.

So a recipe for rice that isn't going to take a hundred years to make, but might actually still retain some nutrients is perfect. Plus, Cathy got it from Cooking Light, so it might not make us fat. Even better. It turns out that finding the ingredients for it, however, isn't as easy as I would expect. After all this time, why I would expect it to be easy I don't know, but there you go.

I mean, we've all heard of basmati rice, right? I presume so. Somehow my grocery store hadn't. I stared at every box and bag of rice for like 10 minutes, probably making the woman next to me also looking at rice pretty sure I was trying to hit on her, but there was no basmati to be found. This makes no sense, but there you have it. Finally, I found an overpriced container of 'Texmati,' which it claimed was American basmati rice, and I figured would have to do. There was also something called Mahatma rice, which I wagered could have been basmati, but nowhere on the package did it specify which kind. Apparently the vagaries of rice are quite challenging. At least at the ghetto grocery. And with my little pea brain.

Making the rice itself was much less challenging. Except Cathy kept throwing in weird ingredient measures -- 1 tsp of butter? and measurements for fresh herbs when all I have are dried -- but I prevailed. And by 'prevailed' I mean I just threw in random amounts and hoped for the best.

In the end, the rice came out: okay. It was weirdly a little harder than I expected. Like physically harder, not difficult to make. This doesn't exactly make sense as it had drunk up all the water as it was supposed to. Maybe basmati is just tiny, compact, kind of hard rice? Or at least Texmati is?

Also, I think the rice was a little thyme-heavy. I don't think this is the recipe's fault, though (see previous paragraph); I'm just discovering I like a really light touch with thyme, so doing things like actually doing the proper measurements is probably a really good idea.

Josh hoovered it (and the rest of dinner) up with his favorite, "I hated it!" proclamation delivered with glee over his empty plate. I will for sure make this again, I'm just going to have to do things like: measure it right.

Little. Yellow. Different.

Cathy's Potential-Having, More-Nutrient-Than-Boxed-Version-Possessing Herbed Basmati Rice

2 tsp butter*
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice (Texmati?)
1 cup water (or 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup chicken broth)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp thinly sliced green onion tops
2 tsp minced fresh basil**
1 tsp minced fresh thyme**
2 tbsp grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Go to cut 2 tbsps of butter off the stick when you realize it says 2 tsps, not tbsps. Think: WHAT? This makes no sense. What is two tsps of butter? Think: I have had this issue before and determined it must have been a typo. Plus, most of the candy rice recipes call for 2 tbsps, so that makes sense. Think: But this recipe is from Cooking Light, which would indicate that they might actually go for less butter. Plus, Cathy isn't so much the typo type.

Contemplate calling Cathy, but realize that given the time difference it is probably too late there. Realize you could use olive oil in the handy 2 tsp dose, but reject that because you strongly prefer butter in your rice. Take a quick peek in your conversion thing on the binder of your Recipe Book, which says there are about 3 tsps in 1 tbsp. So decide you will cut off 1 tbsp of butter and call it even. Ish.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boy, all that stress this early on.

Add garlic; saute 1 minute. Add rice; stir well. Still good. Add water and salt, being sad that you don't have the chicken stock in the house because you figure that would give it good flavor. Next time.

Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Can do, chief.

Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. This is sounding more and more like the Candy Rice routine, and familiarity breeds a happy Heather.

Stir in green onions, which you suddenly realize you forgot to get. Damn it.

Stir in basil and thyme mixture and pepper. Go for the dried herbs since the beloved herb garden is sadly defunct, but realize Cathy told you the measurements for fresh herbs. Neglect reading Cathy's note below, that she usually uses about 1 tsp of the mix of both (which is at a 2:1 basil: thyme ratio) for this entire recipe. Recall that you saw somewhere recently a nice note that tells you the general dried herbs to fresh herbs conversion, but fail to recall where you saw it (note now as you write this: Moosewood Cookbook, numskull). So basically go crazy and decide you are going to just wing it spice wise, and do 1 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp thyme, which, while it does preserve that 2:1 ratio, in the end turns out to be more than is necessary (see my 'I don't like too much thyme taste' sentiment above).

Sprinkle with cheese. Or forget that and mix it in. Whatevs. I'll get it right next time, damn it. And there will be a next time. You haven't seen the last of me, Texmati!

*Cathy says: You can use olive oil. I would never use margarine because I think it's evil, but there you go.

**Cathy says: I used dried herbs and just mix in a small plastic jar, which I then keep in the pantry. When I make this dish, I just sprinkle enough in so that it looks like there are herbs throughout the rice; about 1 tsp of the dried mix is about right--you can change it to suit your tastes. However, if I remember correctly, you have a real herb garden, so you might want fresh!

Heather says: Yes, I did have a real herb garden. Until the raccoons (or possums or skunks or neighbors) raped it one weekend while we were away and we came home to find it completely shredded. We're on dried herb patrol (save for the rosemary and mint in pots out front) until we can construct a more wildlife-proof herb garden.

Final Cathy note: I have an updated version of this recipe in my notebook, but typically work off the one I have here. I usually need at least double for my (4 person) family. The kids are split 50:50; one likes the rice before adding the spices and cheese, one likes the full recipe. I often skip the green onions because I don't always have them on hand (word, girl). The other recipe adds toasted pine nuts...do whatever you think is best after you've tried it once.

Final Heather note: Did you ever notice that Cathy likes her notes?