Rice and pasta roasted in butter and then cooked in chicken stock: the perfect side dish for any meal.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Achki Chop | 2022-10-16 18:00:18 |  6,569 Views |
ARMENIAN PILAF | RICE WITH VERMICELLI
Serious Mealtimes / Andrew Janjigian
Rice pilaf—long-grain rice and a handful of stringy broken pasta toasted in butter and cooked with chicken broth—is absolutely fundamental to diasporic Armenian cuisine. “Diasporic” is an important qualifier because as with most things related to Armenian culture and history it’s complicated. Rice wasn’t widely eaten in eastern Armenia the country now known as the Armenian Republic. But for people like me whose ancestors emigrated from western Armenia here’s what I mean when I say rice pilaf is fundamental: At family gatherings no matter what’s on the menu—a Thanksgiving meal say—and no matter how much food has already been prepared—a 22-pound roast turkey and mountains of butter-laden mashed potatoes say—my mother will ask “Should I make pilaf?” Sometimes we can talk her out of adding pilaf to the already crowded table sometimes we can’t but we all understand the impulse: For many Armenians a meal of any kind just doesn’t seem complete without it.
Most non-Armenian Americans are now familiar with this style of rice pilaf thanks to Rice-a-Roni the “San Francisco Treat” the boxed side dish that introduced rice eating to the United States in the 1950s. (The story of how an Italian-American pasta company began selling a packaged version of the Armenian dish thanks to the efforts of a Canadian immigrant was told a while back by NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters and is definitely worth a listen.) While I love that Rice-a-Roni has brought a small part of Armenian cuisine into American culinary history and appreciate the value of this kind of convenience food here’s the thing: Homemade rice pilaf is way better than anything you’ll find in a box and it’s almost as easy and quick to make!
