This is the rice I always serve with my Shish Taouk Chicken Kebabs, my Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Shawarma and my Fattoush Salad with Feta. When I was young, I was served this type of rice every time we went to our local Lebanese restaurant and I always wondered what those delicious little brown things in it were. I never realized it was simply toasted vermicelli pasta! It is just fried in a little bit of butter and then cooked with the rice. The rice here is rinsed before cooking to remove excess starch, which also prevents clumping, and yields a clean, fresh taste.
SHISH TAOUK CHICKEN KEBABS. A real crowd pleaser!
EASY OVEN-ROASTED CHICKEN SHAWARMA. This recipe is an absolute gem. Who knew making Chicken Shawarma at home was this easy!
FATTOUSH SALAD WITH FETA. A perfect salad to serve with this Chicken Shawarma.
- ½ cup short filini pasta or broken vermicelli pasta
- 1 cup long grain rice, rinsed and drained
- 1 tbsp. butter
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 cups water
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat.
- Add vermicelli and cook stirring often until golden brown.
- Add rice, water and salt and stir well.
- Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes or until water is all absorbed.
- Stir with a fork and serve.
I just wanted to thank you for posting this. Growing up I had a Lebanese caregiver and this was a staple at most meals. Over the years, I have often thought about this dish as it was a total comfort food. I spent many days and nights with my caregiver and her family and this rice brings me back. After all these years, I can’t believer that the secret is toasted vermicelli! I made this dish tonight along with the shish tawook and the fattoush salad. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The shish tawook was delicious! The fattoush was also good, but I might have my numbers off or something is missing. Going to attempt to make it again, but something just wasn’t quite right. Nonetheless, this meal brought me back to my childhood and I want to thank you tremendously. \
P.S. Calling Toronto home, in the past year I discovered Adonis and they are my new go to, they haven’t steered me wrong yet.
Hi Darcy, thank you so much for taking the time to write to me, this is a great story. I’m so happy this meal brought you back to happy childhood memories!!! It’s great that food will do that to us. I didn’t know Adonis was now in Toronto too, great news, I have to tell my sister-in-law! Let me know if your Fattoush Salad turns out better next time. Thank you again!