RICE WEEK: Baked tomato rice with raisins, pine nuts and fresh herbs

An old Indian proverb says that "grains of rice should be like two brothers - close to each other but not stuck together".... The sure thing is that in our every day cooking life we need to know which type of rice suits better to each recipe. Like this dish today which is a very hearty and delicious rice pilaf with, probably, the most popular variety of rice in Greece, the yellow long grain one. The sweetness of the raisins and the crunchy pine nuts give an extra flavour. A good company to various meat or poultry dishes

Recipe of Mina Kakania

"BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4 people):
2 large yellow onions, finely chopped
1 tea-cup of olive oil
5 tomatoes, coarsely grated
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tea-cup of yellow long grain rice
1 tea-cup of white dry wine
2 tbsp of pine nuts, roasted
1 tea-cup of dark raisins (best choice the Corinthian raisins)
salt
black pepper
red pepper (or sweet paprika)
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 bunch of spearmint, finely chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In a spacious cast-iron pot warm the oil on low to medium heat and sauté the onions for about 15 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon until they get soft. Add the tomatoes and the sugar and simmer for a couple of minutes allowing the tomatoes to free their juices.

Add the rice, the parsley, the pine nuts, the raisins, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with some red pepper and stir. Pour over with the wine, add 2 tea-cups of water and stir again.

When the food comes to the boil, add the spearmint, stir well and transfer the pan, uncovered, into the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes until the liquids are all evaporated and the rice is lightly golden on the top.

Serve immediately directly from the pan sprinkling with some extra parsley or spearmint.