Lebanese butter rice
As soon as the sweet, juicy scent of hot butter slowly spreads in the air and makes its way through the flat, butterflies start to flutter inside me. Just the thought of butter rice makes me happy. Even though I have the recipe here Butter rice it is simply called Riz in Arabic. And Riz (with a buzzing S) translates simply as: rice. But it is much more than just rice.
As children, we never had to ask when there would be riz again, because it was available several times a week. Besides pita bread, butter rice is the most common side dish in Lebanese cuisine - and sometimes it simply becomes a main course. I also like to eat steaming hot butter rice with a dollop of Greek yoghurt. It makes me feel like a child again and I'm happy up to my ears.
When I wanted to prepare the butter rice myself for the first time, a porridge was created, which also wanted to crawl out of the pot and take over my kitchen - The Blob says hello ... What happened? Too much rice, too much water and a pot that was far too small.
Yet the preparation is child's play and is even a joy to watch. It is a beautiful sight when the butter melts and slowly throws small bubbles. And then this fragrance! Once the little vermicelli are toasted in the butter and the roasted flavors are added, it creates a little flavor explosion. If you're going vegan, you can easily use butter-flavored canola oil.
My mother always likes to say, "We'll now tease the Nüdelchen a little in the butter and then extinguish them again," before adding the vegetable broth. How she comes up with "annoy"? Absolutely no idea! 😀
When I was a kid, I liked to pulse around in the butter rice and sort out the noodles and eat them one at a time. Today, I just stuff it all in at once.
I see - you're probably wondering why there are vermicelli in it, aren't you? The vermicelli provide a subtle roasted flavour and give the whole thing an interesting mouthfeel. It's really hard to describe, but you can experience it: Just try a spoonful 😉
By the way: You can also prepare the butter rice with ghee instead of butter.
Recipe for Lebanese butter rice
Ingredients
- 230 g Basmati rice
- 35 g short vermicelli short soup noodles
- 2 tablespoon Butter (or butter flavored canola oil)
- 400 ml Vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Preparation
- Wash the rice several times until the water is reasonably clear when you pour it off.
- Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the vermicelli and fry on a high heat until golden brown in the butter.
- Add the rice and stir everything briefly once.
- Deglaze with vegetable stock, add salt and cook for about 1 minute.
- Turn the cooker to the lowest setting and cover the pot with a lid.
- Leave the rice to soak for about 15 minutes.
- In between, carefully loosen the rice with a spoon.
Hello Rafik,
vermicelli - are these the common soup noodles? I've never heard the term before.
And are these boiled before you fry them in the butter?
Kind regards
Eva
Hello Eva 🙂 Yes, they are indeed the common short soup noodles.
Yes, these are indeed the common short soup noodles. I will gladly add the term to the recipe. By the way, the noodles are not cooked, but added directly to the butter. I'm already very curious how you like the rice 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
The rice is so awesome mega delicious!!!
Thanks for this!
Hey Alina,
mega! I'm so glad you like the butter rice too 🙂 .
Best regards
Rafik
The rice is addictive! It must somehow be to do with the combination of roast flavours, butter and comfort-food feeling of warm rice. Great!
Hello Juju 🙂
Thank you very much for your feedback. That's exactly what I think too. Try the rice hot with a blob of yoghurt 😉 I love it!
Kind regards
Rafik
I ate the rice very often in Egypt, so I'm glad to be able to cook it myself now. Thank you for the detailed recipe.
Hey Guddi,
I'm very happy to hear that 🙂 Thank you for your feedback!
Thank you for your feedback!
Kind regards
Rafik
I think our Syrian neighbour once cooked rice like that for us. It was great. I'm going to try that too. Thank you for the recipe!
Hello Peggy,
always with pleasure! Have fun trying it out and enjoying it 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Great recipe!
A neighbour cooked the rice on Friday. I made it according to your recipe and it was just delicious.
Simple, fast and great!
Thanks for that!
Hello Sarah,
Thank you very much for your great feedback. I am really happy that you liked it so much 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
A wonderful recipe. We have made it a few times already. The vermicelli roasted in butter makes THE difference 🙂 ! You can just munch it away by the spoonful.
But in combination with your Kafta in tomato sauce, the whole thing is admittedly topped :-).
Great recipe - thank you (again) for your effort and care!
Hello Michi,
Thank you very much for your super great feedback. I am very happy that you like it so much 🙂 .
Kind regards
Rafik
Dear Rafik, I wanted to prepare my okras differently and came across the Riz - I love BUTTER - everything else was in the house. I think I am already addicted! What a great combination! Looking forward to trying other recipes from you. LG
Hello Christine,
thank you very much 🙂
I hope you continue to have fun and enjoy your meal 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Rice with a feel-good guarantee, plus Lubjeh, A real hammer without missing meat. Thank you for this!
Hey Günni,
Thank you for your great feedback. I'm very happy that you liked it 🙂 .
Kind regards
Rafik
When do you have to add the salt described? It's in the list of ingredients, but it's omitted in the instructions. I have now stirred the salt into the melted butter and hope that was correct.
Hello Mandy,
Just add the salt to the water - or to the butter. That also works 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Hey Rafik,
I have one question about the recipe (I haven't tried it yet, but I'm still looking for a great recipe, not all rice is the same) - is the amount of stock/rice calculated so that you don't have to drain it afterwards?
Kind regards
Tanja
Hello Tanja,
yes, the amount is calculated in such a way that you don't have to pour anything out. The rice absorbs the liquid completely 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Hello,
yesterday we had this fantastic rice and your runner beans in tomato sauce (a stroke of luck that I had bought runner beans but didn't want to make my usual bean soup) - quite a few years ago I had eaten such rice a few times in a restaurant and was addicted to it - then the restaurant went bankrupt and I mourned the rice ... once I had tried to recreate it, but the recipe was probably not so great ... but now! Finally! So perfect, buttery, fluffy ... The only problem is that now, unfortunately, I'll never be able to eat ordinary rice again ... 😉 .
Hello Stefanie,
Thank you very much for your great feedback. I am very happy that you liked it 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
simply delicious !!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much, dear Ursula 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
tatatataaaaa, yummy!
My daughter is already having too long a nap, but I'll take the time: very very tasty! Thanks a million for the recipe. I will repeat it, maybe already tomorrow 🙂
Hello Jenni 🙂
Thank you so much for your great feedback! I'm very happy that you liked it 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Actually, I eat rice very rarely (only exception is risotto), but your butter rice is to kneel down and sit in at the same time - without words and a thousand words of good taste!
Hey Stefan,
Thank you so much for your fantastic feedback! I'm very glad that you like the butter rice so much 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik
Hello Rafik,
today I tried your recipe for the butter rice. I followed the instructions and the quantities exactly, but unfortunately my rice was still very hard and not edible after 15 minutes swell 😏Have it then boiled up again and in the end it had quite a sloppy consistency, similar to risotto. Is that the right way to do it? 😄 And do you maybe have an idea what I could have done wrong? In any case, taste-wise the rice was great, I will definitely try again!
LG Tanja
Hello Tanja,
that's funny. I could imagine that it is possibly the stove and the liquid has boiled away too quickly at the beginning? You had the lid on during cooking, right? If you really complied with everything, then the result should really look different 😀
Otherwise, feel free to drop me a line.
Kind regards
Rafik
Ésta página es increible...me recuerda a todo lo que cocinaba mi Sete y mi padre, son sus mismísimas recetas. Hoy recuerdo con gran nostalgia desde niño toda esa herencia libanesa que a diario desprendía sus olores en cocina y sus sonidos en la música de Fairuz, Nasri Shams Eddine, etc...
Hola Sergio, ¡muchas gracias por tu gran comentario! Me alegro mucho de que te guste tanto mi blog. 🙂
Saludos
Rafik