Baked Rice with Cherry tomatoes, Garlic and Shallot

 
 
 
 

This week on Dak and Ju, we’re—quite literally—taking a page out of Ottolenghi’s book, Simple. Dak made this dish several months ago and promptly texted Ju to try it out. Ever since, it’s been a mainstay for both of us.

Cooking rice in the oven seems like it shouldn’t work—wouldn’t it get gummy and turn into a cake? Wouldn’t it get crispy (there is a time and place for that obviously hellloooo tahdig)? But no, somehow, this method manages to produce perfect rice that can be easily fluffed with a fork. Adding roasted garlic, shallots, tomatoes, cilantro stems and cinnamon sticks gives the dish a worthy punch of flavor. The roasted cherry tomatoes, shallots and garlic cook down in the oven for nearly an hour, melting into themselves, creating an almost-sauce to coat the basmati rice.

If you’re not a tomato or cilantro person, no problem, just leave those ingredients out. You can flavor this rice however you prefer and just keep the cooking method the same. The ensure this recipe works without issue, make sure to use basmati rice and properly seal the 9x13 dish with tinfoil. You don’t want the steam to escape and leave you with uncooked rice.

This dish is perfect for entertaining: roast the vegetables in advance and then ~30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, add the rice and bake so that it’s piping hot when you sit down for your meal. We eat this alongside nearly any protein and veg combination, but it works flawlessly with our roasted chicken recipe (check out the video) and a simple salad.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 lb cherry tomatoes

  • 4 shallots, halved (or quartered if large)

  • 12 cloves of garlic

  • About 1 1/4 cups cilantro stems, cut into a fine dice

  • 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (for garnish on top)

  • 4 small cinnamon sticks

  • 3 Tbsp thyme leaves (fresh or dried)

  • 7 - 8 Tbsp olive oil

  • salt and pepper

  • 1 1/2 cups basmati rice

  • 2 1/2 cups boiling water

 

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Peel and halve shallots (or quarter if large) and peel garlic. Place in 9 x 13 baking dish.

  3. Add the cherry tomatoes, cilantro stems, cinnamon sticks and thyme into the the baking dish with the shallots and garlic. Coat with 7 to 8 tablespoons of olive oil and stir. Add a couple of generous pinches of salt (about 1 tsp) and several cracks of fresh pepper.

  4. Place baking dish in the middle of the oven uncovered, for one hour.

  5. After an hour, remove the dish from the oven and turn the oven up to 450 degrees. Add the dry basmati rice to the baking dish and pour the boiling water on top. Cover the baking dish with foil and be sure to seal down all of the edges - this is important! We want the rice to steam itself while it is baking and not dry out.

  6. Once the oven has been brought up to the new temperature, place dish in the middle of the oven and bake again for 25 minutes.

  7. After 25 minutes, remove dish from oven and set aside for 10 minutes. Remove foil, and fluff with a fork. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro leaves and a generous pinch of flake salt, stir again. Serve warm.

Makes 4 to 6 servings