Venere Rice with Peppers and Sesame
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Prep time: 
Cook time: 
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 250 gr Venere Rice
  • 500 ml mineral water
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt
  • 400 gr Green peppers for frying (small or cut into quarters)
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • For the Tahini sauce
  • 100 ml of Tahini
  • 100 ml of mineral water
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and without the germ
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Sea salt
  • For plating
  • Fresh mint, parsley, or basil leaves
  • Sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Place the rice, water and a teaspoon of salt in a pot and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, cover the pot, lower the heat to a minimum and cook for 30 minutes.
  2. Without opening the lid, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for another 30 minutes.
  3. Uncover and check that there is no water left in the bottom of the pot (see notes)
  4. In a large bowl, place the rice evenly distributed along the sides of the bowl. Let it air for 5 minutes to expel the remaining steam and heat. Repeat the 'drying' operation until no steam is seen on the rice. Reserve.
  5. While the rice is cooking, fry the peppers over a very low heat in a pan with two tablespoons of oil. Salt lightly and reserve.
  6. Tahini sauce
  7. Place all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender and process until you get a creamy consistency. Taste and rectify salt and lemon. (If it is too thick add a tablespoon of water and blend, if it is too liquid, add a tablespoon of tahini and blend again).
  8. Plating
  9. Gently sauté the peppers with the rice. Serve with the Tahini sauce on the side and decorate with fresh mint leaves and sesame seeds (see photo).
Culinary Tips
As with other types of rice, the quality of the rice you use will determine the final cooking time. Until you know it and have done a first cooking you will not know exactly how many minutes it needs. The cooking time may vary between 25 and 35 minutes depending on the type of pot, the power of the lowest fire of your kitchen and how fresh the rice you use is.

It is essential that the lid fits well in order to prevent steam leaving the pot. You can put a weight on top of the lid to get a better seal.

If when you lift the lid and tilt the pot you see that there is a little water left at the bottom, put the pot back on the fire, without the lid, and evaporate the remaining water (about 5 minutes). It is important that the rice is as dry as possible when you place it to aerate in the bowl.

You can make this dish with other vegetables and sauté them with the rice. Broccoli, Fennel, asparagus, green beans, etc. They combine equally well.
Recipe by The Quotidian Cook at https://www.thequotidiancook.com/en/venere-rice-with-peppers-and-sesame/