I am always down for an easy, delicious side dish. This Easy Jeweled Rice is a colorful, classic Persian dish that I think you will really enjoy.
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Easy Jeweled Rice:

When I say easy, I mean this recipe is easy. You simply cook Jasmine rice to package instructions, then fluff with a fork, add sliced almonds, pistachios, lemon zest, chives, dried fruit (cranberries, apricots, dates, whatever you wish) and when in season, pomegranate seeds. Then toss again. That’s it! While I am a fan of plain rice, sometimes you just want something a little more special or unique, and if that makes your table more beautiful at the same time, I say it’s worth the extra minute or two.

So What do I Serve Easy Jeweled Rice with?

Great question! I serve this beautiful side dish with my Greek Chicken Skewers. These two recipes served together at a dinner party are perfection!

Pretty, Tasty, and Vibrant

I mean, look at this color. Such a stunning little side dish!

The Recipe: Easy Jeweled Rice

What you need: a medium sized pot with lid, a fabulous sea salt, a microplane to zest the lemon, and a good olive oil.

Print Pin

Easy Jeweled Rice

A delicious rice side dish with fruit, nuts, herbs and lemon zest

Course rice, Side Dish

Cuisine persian

Keyword Easy Jeweled Rice, Persian Rice, Rice side dish

Cook Time 20

Total Time 20

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups Jasmine rice, cooked to package instructions
2 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup slivered almonds
⅓ cup roasted salted pistachios, chopped
⅓ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup chives, sliced
zest of two lemons
sea salt, to taste
⅓ cup pomegranate seeds, when in season

Instructions

Cook rice to package instructions. While rice is cooking, prep ingredients
Chop nuts, dried fruit, and chives. Use a microplane to zest lemon.
When rice is done cooking, fluff with a fork, sprinkle with desired amount of sea salt and 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, toss. Separate 1/4 of all the rest of the ingredients and reserve for garnish. Then add the rest to the rice and toss. You want all the additions distributed throughout rice. Place on a platter and garnish with reserved nuts, fruits and herbs. Serve.

Notes

Substitutions: one of the great things about this dish is that you can sub almost any of the ingredients to suit your preference. You can use pine nuts instead of almonds, sliced dried apricots instead of dried cranberries, parsley instead of chives, orange zest instead of lemon zest, you call the shots.

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