Rice Pilaf With Pumpkin, Currants and Pine Nuts
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2cups pumpkin or hard squash, such as butternut, cut into ½-inch chunks
- Kosher salt
- 1medium onion, diced
- ¼cup pine nuts
- ½cup currants
- ½teaspoon black pepper
- ½teaspoon ground allspice
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2cups Bomba, Arborio or long-grain white rice, rinsed well and drained
- 3cups hot chicken broth or water
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
380 calories; 15 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 55 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 496 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Warm olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pumpkin, season with salt, and cook, stirring, until pumpkin begins to brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove and set aside, leaving oil in pot.
- Step 2
Add onion and cook, stirring, until quite brown, about 5 minutes. Add pine nuts and let them brown a bit. Add currants, pepper, allspice and cinnamon.
- Step 3
Stir in the rice and cook for 2 minutes more, making sure rice is well coated with oil. Add broth or water and 1½ teaspoons kosher salt and bring to a boil.
- Step 4
Reduce heat to a bare simmer. Taste broth and adjust for salt — it should be quite well seasoned. Add reserved pumpkin, cover with a lid, and cook over very low heat until all liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat, and let rice steam with lid on for 10 to 15 minutes. Add butter and fluff rice gently with two wooden spoons.
Private Notes
Comments
For those who have a tree nut allergy, pumpkin or sunflower seeds work just as well as the pine nuts (and are also less expensive).
Turkish cooks making this traditional pumpkin pilaf years ago would not have used chicken stock, and most wouldn't use it now either. Pilafs in Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and elsewhere are made with water. Industrialization and factory farming of poultry, resulting in canned chicken soup, changed some patterns of cooking, especially for Americans. Want to make this the way cooks in Turkey do? Use water.
I have always made perfect long grain rice using a ratio of 2 cups of rice to one cup of water. And so I am always puzzled by recipes like this, which call for a whole cup less of water than I would normally use. However, I followed the recipe. The result? CRUNCHY undercooked (albeit tasty) rice. Why, NYT, why?? This would have been a great dish. The flavors were delicious. And it will be the next time I make it - with the correct amount of water.
I made this with kabocha squash and long grain white rice and the texture was divine. I would up the spices quite a bit if I did this again. More pepper for sure and even some chile flakes. I left out the butter and served it with lamb chops and had a really nice dinner.
This was fantastic- even better a few days after I made it. I used 4c (vs 3) of broth made from Better Than Bouillon no-chicken base based on comments, Bomba rice, and golden raisins instead of currents. This would be a great main with the addition of chickpeas. I will definitely make again.
This will be a go-to recipe for me. A wonderful way to bring fall flavors to the table in new ways. I used squash, and paired this with glazed salmon. Wonderful.
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