Turkish Tomato Rice - Domatesli Pilav

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Most Turkish food is mildly flavored and this lovely tomato rice is no exception. It lends beautiful color to a plate and it is a perfect foil to those dishes that are more highly spiced. It is wonderful accompaniment for Turkish meatballs, chops and kebabs. I have, of course, returned from our trip with recipes and cookbooks galore and have three possible versions of this dish on hand. I've chosen the easiest of them to share with you in order to keep translation to a minimum. Metric conversion is not the problem. Most Turkish recipes are written in the same way our grandmother's recipes were written and it is commonplace to see measurements given in forms that can bedevil an unsuspecting cook. A recipe may call for a tea cup of this or a coffee cup or glass of that. Then there is the distinction between the spoon, tea spoon, soup spoon and dessert spoon, each of which designates a unique quantity. At first, I thought it would be fun to post these recipes as they were written, but then realized the humor would be fleeting and your patience short-lived. So, I'll be translating the recipes I share with you and use measurements that you are more familiar with. Believe it or not, some of my new cookbooks actually have conversion tables to assist in this task. That's how I know a Turkish tea cup is equal to 4/5 of an American measuring cup, but only 2/3 of a British breakfast cup. I won't even go into the spoon thing because the conversion tables are contradictory. Fortunately, I brought home a complete set of Turkish spoons and will use them when there is confusion. The food makes all of this worthwhile and there are truly glories that come from the Turkish kitchen. I know those of you who try this recipe will really like this rice. Here's how it is made.

Turkish Tomato Rice - Domatesli Pilav...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Neset Eren

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups long grain rice
Salt to taste
4 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
6 tablespoons butter
2-1/2 cups beef or chicken broth
Pepper to taste
Directions:
1) Place rice in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cover with hot water. Stir and allow to cool. Once it's cool, drain and set aside.
2) Cook tomatoes in butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally until a paste forms, about 30 minutes. Stir constantly towards end of cooking to prevent tomatoes from burning. Add broth, salt, and pepper, and boil for 2 minutes. Add rice while the broth is still boiling. Stir once, then cover and cook on high heat, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Turn heat down to low, keep covered, and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and discard tomato skins with a slotted spoon. Place a cloth napkin over saucepan, and then recover pan with lid. Let it sit, covered, for 40 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish. Yield: 6 servings.









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