Today's dish is Vermicelli Rice, rice cooked with fried vermicelli that is eaten on nearly all middle eastern tables. I thought I would make a post about this recipe as it's eaten with most middle eastern dishes and I served it alongside the Molokhia/Jute leaf stew I made a few weeks back.
This post is a little late but please enjoy regardless. I have a very special Eid recipe coming next week
What is Vermicelli Rice:
Vermicelli is a thin noodle or pasta that is commonly eaten in east Asian countries including China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. In most Asian countries the vermicelli is made from rice flour and is extremely thin in size. Vermicelli is also the name given to a pasta in Italy that is similar in shape to spaghetti but is slightly bigger. Vermicelli is actually used in both sweet and savoury dishes, and is a common carbohydrate in many Asian cuisines. Some of the easily recognizable dishes that utilize Vermicelli are Vermicelli Pudding and Singapore Noodles. Although Middle Eastern vermicelli and Asian vermicelli look a lot alike, the kind used in the Middle East is generally made from wheat flour or semolina as opposed to rice flour.
Vermicelli rice consists of soft rice and fried vermicelli cooked together. The two carbohydrates work great together, their textures complement each other nicely, the softness of the cooked rice works great with the slipperiness and slight chewiness of the vermicelli. To cook the dish vermicelli is lightly fried in fat before being cooked with the rice using stock, this results in a delicious side dish that has a slight flavour of meat or chicken as well as a light baked or nutty aroma from the fried vermicelli. Although it is largely associated with Egyptian Cuisine, these days rice with vermicelli is eaten in nearly all middle eastern countries and is one of the main ways of cooking rice for most meals. In some countries such as Egypt, it's uncommon to be served plain white rice at all unless it is a component of another dish, throughout my childhood I was always fed vermicelli rice. It is served as the main side dish with most vegetable or meat dishes, the fluffiness and moist texture means it is also served next to drier main dishes such as grills and fried foods as opposed to only alongside saucy foods.
History:
There is no source which can 100% claim where vermicelli reached the middle east from, however vermicelli seems to have been a component of cuisines in the region since the 10th century. It's likely that the pasta travelled to the middle east along the silk road as part of the exchange of spices and foods, but this is just stipulation. Vermicelli has been mentioned under two different names from this time period, Rishta and Itriya. These two pastas were then used in stews and desserts including a chicken stew in the 10th century Kitab al Tabeekh cook book. When the rice and vermicelli marriage actually happened is unclear.
Flavor Profile:
Vermicelli develops a nutty almost baked aroma when fried which gives a nice background flavour to the dish, I have found that toasting it till just lightly browned works best, any more than that and you risk adding some burnt notes which aren't nice. There aren't many components in this rice dish to give it a strong flavour, however the use of stock when cooking the rice as opposed to water imparts the flavour of the stock on the rice. The general rule with cooking this rice is to use stock that compliments the protein you are serving it next to. Most stocks in the middle east will be seasoned with Cardamom, Pepper, Bay Leafs, Garlic, Onions and sometimes Mastic or Cinnamon. The stock I used was a chicken stock I had made previously and contained all of the above spices except for the cinnamon. If you want a good middle eastern stock recipe, then check out the one I did in my Musakhan Post.
Rice variety choice:
Depending on the country in the middle east you go to, this dish will be made with different types of rice. In the Arabian Peninsula, the most commonly used rice is Basmati and you can use it for this dish, though I feel the texture of Long Grain Basmati with Vermicelli kind of misses the point as you have two similar shapes and textures in the same dish. In the Levant you tend to get more Long Grain rice, think Uncle Bens Long Grain white rice. This works good for the dish but the rice tends to have a bit of a more chewy consistency than I like in this dish. My personal favourite for this setting aside my biases is Egyptian Rice.
Egyptian rice is a Medium-Short grain rice similar to Arborio rice in shape. The grain of the rice is about three quarters the size of Arborio and crucially does not have the same starchy layer on the outside. Both Arborio and Egyptian rice are thought to have been bred from Japonica rice and so that would explain the similarities. If you don't have a middle eastern supermarket near you, then you can just use Japanese Ordinary Rice instead. This is a class of Japanese rices that are used in things such as bento boxes and with meals. The texture of this is very similar to Egyptian Rice, make sure to get ordinary Japanese rice and not glutinous rice.
Notes and tips:
- Frying vermicelli is quite easy and only takes a few minutes, but you should stay by the pot as it can burn really easily
- Try get the short straight kind of vermicelli, there are whole long vermicelli noodles which work but you will have to cut them. Try not to get the curly kind of vermicelli as this has a tendency to break when frying
- I use both butter and oil when frying the vermicelli and rice. This is because it's traditional to use ghee which has a higher smoke point yet still contains the delicious butter flavour. Instead of ghee I use butter and oil which results in a similar flavour and texture than either one alone
- If you are a huge fan of crispy rice, you'll be pleased to know that sometimes you get a delicious layer of crisped rice stuck in the bottom of the pot. It's my favourite part and if you want to make even more you could increase the oil a bit so more rice fries
Ingredients:
Makes 2 large (3-4 small) servings
1 Cup Medium Grain Rice (preferably Egyptian, but Japanese works too)
1/3 Cup short Vermicelli
500ml (17 fl oz) of stock (match the stock flavour to the main dish you are serving)
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp White Pepper (Black works fine too but it gives a stronger taste than white pepper)
Directions:
Place your rice in a large bowl and fill with room temperature water
Mix the rice with the water and agitate it to rinse off the surface starch
Pour out the water when it gets murky and repeat the washing process 3 more times (4 total times for Egyptian rice, wash until water runs close to clear)
Pour washed rice out into a sieve or colander to drain for 30 mins - 1 hour (you should move it around a few times during this period so it can all drain)
Prepare your stock by adding the salt and pepper to it and mixing to dissolve (even if your stock is seasoned, you need it to be quite salty so the finished rice is well seasoned)
When the rice has dried (it should be pearlescent white), add the butter and oil to a pot with a tight fitting lid over medium heat (non stick or stainless steel work great, make sure to use a pot with a thick bottom)
Let the butter melt then add the vermicelli and fry for 2-3 minutes until a medium brown in color
Add the dried rice to the vermicelli and mix well to combine. If your rice hasn't fully dried then fry it for a few minutes until it turns pearlescent white
Flatten the rice out into a single flat layer and scrape down any stray grains from the walls
Pour enough stock over the rice to cover it, you want to pour it to about 1.5cm or 1/2in above the level of the rice
Cover the pot with the lid and turn the heat up
Leave the pot to come to a boil, and then wait until the water has all boiled off (try not to open the lid too many times, wait for the sound of boiling to subside before checking)
When the water has evaporated, turn the heat down to the lowest setting, and leave the rice to steam with the lid on for 20 minutes
After 20 minutes, check the rice for doneness, if cooked set the lid ajar for excess steam to escape
Spoon out onto a platter to serve, if you like the crispy rice, divide it into equal pieces and place around the plate
If you want to request a Middle Eastern recipe write up or video, leave a comment for me. As usual there is a detailed video recipe in my post history
bon appetit
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