Sesame-Lime Rice

The May issue of Everyday Food has a few recipes I marked to try. This one combines the flavors of sesame and lime to jazz up basic rice. I used jasmine rice and lessened the oil by about 1/2 and used sesame oil instead of vegetable oil, which added to the nutty sesame flavor. I would try a brown long grain rice like basmati next time as I try to eat more brown rice than white. The magazine also suggests replacing the vegetable oil, lime zest and juice with the same amounts of olive oil, lemon zest and juice and replace the sesame seeds with a 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts.

Sesame-Lime Rice

Serves 4, Prep Time 5 minutes, Total Time 25 minutes

1 cup long-grain white rice

1 1/2 cups water

coarse salt and ground pepper

2 Tbsp sesame seeds toasted

1 Tbsp vegetable oil, such as safflower

1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest, plus 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1) In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice season with salt and pepper, and return to boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook just until tender, 15-17 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.

2) Toss rice with sesame seeds, oil and lime zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste and fluff gently with a fork.

I served the rice with lamb chops with a ras el hanout rub. Ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that means "head of the shop" because shop owners create their own blend sometimes containing up to 50 ingredients. The blend I used included coriander, curry turmeric, caraway, cumin and chili pepper. I mixed the ras el hanout with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper to form a paste, rubbed the lamb chops and used a grill pan, 4 minutes per side and then put them in a 400 degree oven for another 4 minutes to leave them medium rare.