You May Be Tossing an Ingredient That Might Immediately Enhance Your Rice

We have been stanning pickles for therefore lengthy now, we’re operating out of concepts for what else to do with them. The opposite day, I discovered myself within the dustiest nook of the web, searching for a brand new approach to make use of my leftover jars of pickles and olives. There are infinite makes use of to your leftover pickle juice, together with salad dressing, sauces, martinis, marinades, and cheffy tips, like making gelées. I hate tossing out completely good pickle juice, and rice appeared like the fitting clean canvas for absorbing all that briny taste. So, the place I finally landed was the extremely easy trick of including pickle juice and different brines to the cooking water for rice. 

As questionable of an thought as it could appear, utilizing pickles in and on rice is not completely new. Southeast Indian dishes like Achari Pulao embrace pickled greens or mango so as to add taste to the rice whereas it’s cooking, and naturally, pickled greens are a wonderful addition to rice bowls and kimbap, however the thought of utilizing leftover pickle brine as a cooking liquid for rice was new to me. So I gave the tactic a attempt with the liquid from a jar of primary grocery retailer dill pickles, in addition to with olive, caper, and candy purple pepper brine. Each condiment was suspended in a brine primarily composed of water, vinegar, and salt and there have been no lacto-fermented pickles in my checks.

My Methodology

For every of the 4 checks, I cooked a small batch of basmati rice utilizing my mini 2-cup rice cooker. For every take a look at, I used 100g of rice, 50g of brine, and 100g of water for this take a look at, however to do this at residence, simply make a customary pot of rice, changing the water with a 2:1, water-to-brine ratio. Initially, I thought of changing all of the water with brine, however I didn’t wish to threat making the rice overly salty.

Carry on the Brines

B&G Kosher Dill Pickle Spears

Once I opened the jar of pickles, I used to be reminded of strolling right into a deli—these spears floating in yellow brine have the briny pickle odor and taste I grew up with. Given the sturdy odor of the pickles, I anticipated the rice to style extra vinegary, however itonly had a faint style of pickle and barely salty-sour aftertaste that I began to note after just a few bites. This was not my favourite rice—the bitter style was one-note, and lacked complexity. 

Divina Natural Castelvetrano Olives

There are far too many kinds of olives to select from, so I simply chosen my favourite—Castelvetrano. The rice took on the delicate, buttery taste of the olives virtually as if the slightest little bit of olive oil or butter was added to the pot. I anticipated it to style like a unclean martini, nevertheless it was much more refined. This was the saltiest rice—not overly so, however noticeably. I loved it, and would eat this rice with delicately cooked white fish or shrimp. 

Roland Capote Capers 

Once I opened the jar, these capers had such a briny aroma I assumed it might utterly overpower the rice, nevertheless it didn’t. The caper-flavored rice tasted well-seasoned and never overly acidic or salty. As somebody who doesn’t normally go for capers, I used to be pleasantly stunned by this rice. I might serve it with baked salmon, add it to stuffed greens, or serve it with one other dish that wants a little bit punch of vinegar.

Hellenic Farms Greek Roasted Pink Peppers

There have been just a few choices of peppers packed in a vinegar-based brine as an alternative of oil. I needed the brine to be similar to the opposite preserved condiments, so I chosen this jar of roasted purple peppers. This rice was subtly candy and had a light pepper style to match its barely orange-tinged hue. After just a few bites, I may decide up on the charred taste from the roasting of the peppers, a welcome complexity. This rice is flexible sufficient to serve with all types of dishes, however it might pair notably properly with roasted hen or grilled steak.

Sure, Attempt This at Dwelling!

By the tip of this take a look at, I had a lot pickle brine that I began to really feel pickled myself. Oddly, on this head-to-head pickled rice take a look at, the rice utilizing dill pickle brine was really the worst. Maybe that was on account of my selection of pickle. Perhaps a garlicky brined pickle would result in a pot of tasty garlic rice? I loved the roasted pepper rice a lot that I plan so as to add it to my side-dish rotation. I’ll even punch it up additional with some bits of diced roasted pepper as properly. As I regarded on the half-eaten jars of pickled this or that behind my fridge, I eyed some banana peppers and artichokes. This experiment will completely be continued.

March 2024