Rice Pilaf Question

[Porthos]

I had it in my mind that rice pilaf had both rice and pasta in it. When I started looking at recipes I found none with pasta. What dish am I thinking of?

[pbear]

Rice-a-Roni.

[pbear]

By the way, my understanding is that it's originally an Armenian dish.  If you google for "rice vermicelli pilaf," you'll find lots of recipes.

[huiray]

I'm just curious.  Yes, really.  What made you think that pilaf had pasta in it in the first place?

[NEPolarbear]

A variation has orzo in it.

[Porthos]

I used orzo and basmati rice. I am pretty sure that when my wife and I made it maybe 30 years ago we used long grain rice and vermicelli.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I don't think I've ever actually tasted Rice-a-Roni, but I do remember the jingle for it: "We like Rice-a-Roni, it's made with macaroni."

Edited February 18, 2015 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[btbyrd]

I don't think I've ever actually tasted Rice-a-Roni, but I do remember the jingle for it: "We like Rice-a-Roni, it's made with macaroni."

 

That would be "BeefaRoni." Rice-a-Roni's jingle was: "Rice! a-Roni... The San Francisco treat!"

[SylviaLovegren]

There are many varieties of pilaf with pasta.    Here's one based on a Sephardic recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/basmati-pilaf-with-vermicelli-onions

Here's a Turkish one:  http://www.food.com/recipe/turkish-pilaf-with-vermicelli-sehriyeli-pilav-424105

And an Armenian one:  http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/arm_pilaf.html

And a Lebanese one:  http://thelemonbowl.com/2014/10/lebanese-rice-pilaf.html

[huiray]

There are many varieties of pilaf with pasta.    Here's one based on a Sephardic recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/basmati-pilaf-with-vermicelli-onions

Here's a Turkish one:  http://www.food.com/recipe/turkish-pilaf-with-vermicelli-sehriyeli-pilav-424105

And an Armenian one:  http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/arm_pilaf.html

And a Lebanese one:  http://thelemonbowl.com/2014/10/lebanese-rice-pilaf.html

 

Interesting.  Thanks for posting these, I learned something new.

When I think of "pilaf" I think of the dish called "pilaf" from South Asia, SE Asia, also southern West Asia - which can have meats, herbs, vegetables, other stuff in it - but not pasta to my knowledge.  Pretty much like what is described in the Wiki article, from a quick scan of it.  (It looks like the article also does not describe pasta as being an integral part of "pilaf" dishes but it does illustrate a "typical" Turkish pilaf dish with one that has orzo.)

[Naftal]

There are many varieties of pilaf with pasta.    Here's one based on a Sephardic recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/basmati-pilaf-with-vermicelli-onions

Here's a Turkish one:  http://www.food.com/recipe/turkish-pilaf-with-vermicelli-sehriyeli-pilav-424105

And an Armenian one:  http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/arm_pilaf.html

And a Lebanese one:  http://thelemonbowl.com/2014/10/lebanese-rice-pilaf.html

Hello- The Sephardic recipe looked interesting. I thought it was a bit ironic that there was an ad for a well-known brand of sausage on the same page as the recipe.

[Shalmanese]

America's Test Kitchen did this recipe on their most recent season. You can watch the video on the site.

[patrickamory]

"Pilaf (also known as polo, pollo, pilav, pilau, plov, pulao, polu and palaw) is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth" - Wikipedia.

 

Clearly all these words are cognate (Indo-European? or perhaps even more common beyond that language family), but I don't know if the above characterization is strictly correct…

 

When I hear "pilaf" I think of rice cooked with pasta (or perhaps barley), a Mediterranean dish, as described above. 

 

Whereas when I hear "pilau" I think of a seasoned rice from a region of India, Pakistan or perhaps Bangladesh.

 

And "plov" means rice cooked with lamb, something more akin to a biryani, but from Central Asia - Uzbekistan primarily when I've had it in New York restaurants.

 

Finally...

 

The key to all this may be that "polo" I believe is just Farsi for "rice."

[huiray]

 

When I hear "pilaf" I think of rice cooked with pasta (or perhaps barley), a Mediterranean dish, as described above. 

 

Whereas when I hear "pilau" I think of a seasoned rice from a region of India, Pakistan or perhaps Bangladesh.

 

 

Whereas your "pilau" is my "pilaf" so when I think of "pilaf" it is a rice dish (no pasta) in particular from the Indian sub-continent.  Biryani is just a form of pilaf, so far as I am concerned.  No pasta.

[SylviaLovegren]

I think it was Karen Hess's book, Carolina Rice Kitchen, that traced pilaf's origins to Iran, from whence it and it's variations in name and recipe spread east and west. 

[Hassouni]

"Pilaf (also known as polo, pollo, pilav, pilau, plov, pulao, polu and palaw) is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth" - Wikipedia.

 

Clearly all these words are cognate (Indo-European? or perhaps even more common beyond that language family), but I don't know if the above characterization is strictly correct…

 

When I hear "pilaf" I think of rice cooked with pasta (or perhaps barley), a Mediterranean dish, as described above. 

 

Whereas when I hear "pilau" I think of a seasoned rice from a region of India, Pakistan or perhaps Bangladesh.

 

And "plov" means rice cooked with lamb, something more akin to a biryani, but from Central Asia - Uzbekistan primarily when I've had it in New York restaurants.

 

Finally...

 

The key to all this may be that "polo" I believe is just Farsi for "rice."

 

Not to get too off-topic but the various words all derive from Persian polow, which does not mean rice generically (that would be berenj*), but rather "rice cooked with stuff," such as zereshk polow, albaloo polo, etc (rice with barberries and sour cherries, respectively). The variations are nearly endless, but to my knowledge, broth is NOT involved. The Turkic and Indic worlds were HEAVILY influenced both linguistically and culturally (including culinarily) from Persia and polo-pilav-pilau-plov is just one tiny example. In non-Iranian cultures it seems that the word came to mean something more specific, but in the Iranian world it's a pretty generic term.

 

 

 

*Plain cooked rice in Persian is chelow or kateh, but if I recall right, you cook a lot of Iranian food so I'm guessing you knew that.

[CatPoet]

I buy a rice mix at the Arabic store with rice and tiny noddles in it. I check for the name when I get there tomorrow.

[Hassouni]

for everyone's info: the Levantine Arabic dish is called "ruz bil sha'riyya" (transliterated about a thousand ways). 

[Porthos]

I'll be trying the ATK recipe after my current mild illness is behind me. I also bought some carnaroli rice for another run at risotto.

[patrickamory]

Thanks for the corrections Hassouni! It's my partner who's of Persian descent and is the master of that culture in our household, so I should have checked with him… I have heard the word 'chelow' on many occasions.

[Naftal]

Not to get too off-topic but the various words all derive from Persian polow, which does not mean rice generically (that would be berenj*), but rather "rice cooked with stuff," such as zereshk polow, albaloo polo, etc (rice with barberries and sour cherries, respectively). The variations are nearly endless, but to my knowledge, broth is NOT involved. The Turkic and Indic worlds were HEAVILY influenced both linguistically and culturally (including culinarily) from Persia and polo-pilav-pilau-plov is just one tiny example. In non-Iranian cultures it seems that the word came to mean something more specific, but in the Iranian world it's a pretty generic term.

 

 

 

*Plain cooked rice in Persian is chelow or kateh, but if I recall right, you cook a lot of Iranian food so I'm guessing you knew that.

So... a person who loves to mix rice  with stuff is a polow-player!