Before this week, I was a simpleton and thought that cardamom only came in a powdered form. I love that French Fridays with Dorie is forcing me to purchase things like these fancy green cardamom pods. To use the cardamom pods in recipes, you must take apart the pod carefully to extract the tiny seeds inside. This week's Cardamom Rice Pilaf was part cooking assignment, part art project/science experiment, and all fun.
It is difficult to photograph a pot of white rice and make it look interesting. I look forward to seeing how my fellow FFWD chefs artfully lit and staged their shots. This rice was simple to prepare (olive oil, onion, cardamom, rice, chicken broth, lemon zest) and the fresh green cardamom gave it a pop of flavor without making it "too weird" for my four year old to eat for dinner.
I served this rice side dish with Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Chicken Breast Tenderloins and a green salad. I look forward to making this rice dish again and am open to suggestions of how to use up the rest of my cardamom pods.
20 comments:
So that's where you find whole cardamom? I just used 1/4 teaspoon of the seeds. I agree about the photography! I used a white dish on a rare sunny day...boy, I'm lucky you can even tell it's rice :)
Love those green cardamom pods you have! I only have the white ones in my pantry at the moment and used those. I also found it hard to photograph the plain rice, so to make it more interesting, I threw in a slew of other ingredients that add color! Kudos to your toddler for eating this pilaf without hesitation.
I definitely also had a hard time getting a decent picture for this. Even when I tried to focus the camera manually, it seemed to have a hard time. That's great that your toddler ate it. Mine wouldn't. Argh.
I used green pods also :) Your chicken looks like a great accompaniment to the rice (and vice versa!)
What a great photo of all the cardamom pods! Impressive!
I love your chicken and it is a great accompaniment for the rice. You have a wonderful combo.
I really liked how you paired the rice with the lemony chicken. I was thinking of using some of my pods to make chai lattes. I just need to find a recipe for the black tea/spice blend!
I bet it was wonderful with the chicken. I'd love to have that for lunch today! :)
Agreed - this was definitely an "advanced" challenge! The chicken looks like a perfect accompaniment.
Sounds like a delicious pairing!
I like your menu and agree that photographing white rice by itself is a challenge. I also like the WS spices and will have to pick up a jar of the green cardamom pods, now that I know what to do with them;-)
I only had the white pods but yours look so fresh. I just put them on my shopping list! And the chicken I'm going to try too. Lovely!
I am so delighted that you found a perfect recipe to go with this one. I am a HUGE B Contessa fan and have EVERY one of her books. Nana and I met her in person at a book signing for her last book. As I walked around the house like a lunatic getting everyone to taste test the rice...I kept thinking (and hearing) that it would go well with chicken. Yay you !!!!
Your pilaf and chicken both look wonderful. Wasn't a huge fan of the pilaf, but I bet it was terrific with that lemon chicken!
Your cardamom shot looks great. W-S has such nice packaging. This was hard to photograph. It tastes much exciting than its looks. The chicken looks delicious. I've made the lemon chicken (whole pieces) in her newest book. It comes out perfect everytime.
Well, I think you managed some very nice photographs! We had ours with Dorie's chicken cooked in a foil packet with curry and peppers and peas. While we loved the chicken the rice didn't exactly wow us.
Cardamom is used in a lot of breads/baked goods.
That's what I love about the group as well! I've tried things I would have just skipped over in the cookbooks. And I've never cooked with cardamom pods before either!
That chicken looks fantastic!
Next time I go to Williams-Sonoma you can bet I'm putting green cardamom pods in my basket! I loved your post and think your photos are awesome. The chicken looks like a yummy compliment to this delicious rice!
Love the pairing...wow, that all looks so great. Cardamom pods...guess you will need to start cooking Indian food with us!! Oh, yeah....
Ina's recipe looks amazing! Your photos are so bright and happy, it makes me want to eat this directly off my screen! YUM! I have made this a few times since...
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