Rice is the perfect side to tons of dishes because it's simple and easy to cook. But if we're talking Christmas, Hanukah, New Year or any celebration then... please forget plain white rice. It's not worth your holiday table. It doesn't have to become much more complicated but at least we have to dress it up a little bit. I love this recipe for cranberry and pistachio rice because it's simple and in my opinion, side dishes should always be easy to prepare, especially if you have several to make. We're talking efficiency in the kitchen here! We don't want to sacrifice the flavor though and this rice dish totally delivers in this department. Made with very tender sweet onion, cranberries, pistachio and orange zest, it will instantly give your meal a festive flair! Enjoy!
Cranberry and Pistachio Rice
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion sliced very thinly
- 1 tbsp honey maple syrup or sugar for vegan
- 4 tbsp dried sweetened cranberries I used this brand
- 4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock for vegetarian and vegan
- 2 cups Jasmine rice
- ⅓ cup dry roasted unsalted pistachio roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp orange zest
Instructions
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Heat olive oil in a non stick skillet. Add onion and cook very gently for about 20 minutes. Add honey and stir to cover onion. Add cranberries and cook for 10 minutes or until onion is very tender and cranberries are soft. Set aside.
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Bring stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add rice and simmer for 12 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Drain and transfer to a serving dish. (Tip: prepare rice while onion is cooking)
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Stir in onion, cranberries, pistachio and orange zest. Adjust salt if needed and serve.
Susan
This recipe sounds absolutely delicious, and I'm looking forward to making it (I've been wanting an excuse to buy pistachios…).
Did you change the print set-up for recipes? When I clicked the print button I got something that would take up 3 pages, which should only need one (don't need the huge photo). Since I end up printing quite a few of your recipes, I would be happier if you went back to the old format. 🙂 It is simply more practical.
marie
Thank you Susan!I love pistachios too, especially in savory dishes!
ZipList (the system I used for the Print and Save buttons) has closed down on December 10th and they let their partners know pretty much at the last minute. This might be the reason why the format changed. I will look into it and see what I can do! 🙂
Larry Kelley
What is a brown onion? A white or yellow onion has a brown outer skin, but I don't know of a brown onion. A shallot is almost purple. A red onion is red. Brown???
Marie
Hi Larry. White or yellow onion - I was referring to the outer skin color.