Basmati and Wild Rice with Chickpeas, from award-winning British cookbook author and chef Yotam Ottolenghi, has “Middle East” written all over it. It’s a Sephardic relative of the classic Arab lentil-rice dish Mujaddara. Crispy fried onions, spiced chickpeas, tiny currants, and fresh herbs make a taste explosion. All those textures, flavors and colors form a striking side dish or vegetarian main course.
The one ingredient that takes it beyond the Middle East is wild rice. A close cousin to rice, it grows primarily in the Great Lakes region, far from the land of milk and honey. Native Americans lived on it, and yet it wasn’t until the late 1950s that this chewy, nutty grain became commercially cultivated. My mom found it at a gourmet shop and served it on special occasions. It costs more than basmati rice, but you can find it at a reasonable price in most supermarkets. And you only need ⅓ cup. Freeze the rest to keep it fresh.
Although this recipe has many steps, you can prep it ahead and refrigerate. Toss in the fresh herbs at the last minute. It all comes together beautifully.
Beware of metric/imperial conversion errors.
Like most international chefs, Yotam Ottolenghi works in metric measurements. To be a nice guy, he added imperial conversions to his recipes so we can use our trusty measuring cups.
We got this rice dish from his award-winning Jerusalem: A Cookbook. We noticed in his recipe that one of his quantities looked screwy. Are we really supposed to cook 2¼ cups of basmati rice in only 1½ cups of water? We tried, but of course the rice came out way too hard. So we poured in extra water to make it tender. It was an editor’s math error— it should be 1 cup of rice. So in our version, we keep the larger amount of rice but add more water. Fortunately, we like the extra rice because it leaves more yummy leftovers.
According to “Eat Your Books,” Ottolenghi’s Sweet cookbook has several errors in both measurement and temperature conversions. So for international recipes, we recommend that you ask your favorite AI assistant to double-check the conversions. Or, just use a kitchen scale to avoid any issues.
And now that we’ve fixed Ottolenghi’s original recipe, go ahead with cooking confidence. You simply can’t go wrong with this specular rice and chickpea dish.
Basmati and Wild Rice with Chickpeas
Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook
Makes about 10 servings
- ⅓ cup wild rice, and 1½ cups water for cooking
- 2½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2¼ cups basmati rice, and 3¼ cups boiling water for cooking
- ½ teaspoon salt for basmati rice, plus more for sprinkling on onions
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 16-ounce can chickpeas, drained
- ½-¾ cups canola or sunflower oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose or gluten-free flour
- ⅔ cup dried currants
- 2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Wild Rice: Put wild rice into a small saucepan, cover with 1½ cups water, bring to a boil and simmer for about 40 minutes or until the rice is cooked but still firm. Drain and set aside.
- Basmati Rice: Meanwhile, pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the rice and ½ teaspoon salt, stirring and sautéing for a couple of minutes until grains turn a bit translucent. Carefully add the 3¼ cups of boiling water (beware of the splattering), turn down the heat to very low, cover, and cook for 12-15 minutes. Take saucepan off the heat and let it rest 5 or 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
- Chickpeas: While the rice cooks, prepare the chickpeas. Heat the remaining 1½ tablespoons olive oil in another saucepan over high heat. Add the cumin seeds, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, and ground ginger. Let the spices bloom for only a few seconds (make sure they don’t burn), and then add the chickpeas and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir for a minute or two to coat the chickpeas with the spices, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Onions: In a small bowl, toss the sliced onions with flour to lightly coat. Rinse and wipe the chickpea saucepan clean, pour in the canola or sunflower oil, and heat. The oil is ready when a test piece of onion sizzles vigorously. Add some of the onion to the oil, taking care to avoid splatters. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown, then transfer to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat in batches if necessary.
- Assembly: Add both types of rice to the chickpeas along with the currants, herbs, and nearly all the fried onion, stirring to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with remaining fried onion. Serve warm or at room temperature.
