Easy Moroccan Rice | One pot meals
My Moroccan rice recipe is a fantastic dish for a weeknight meal or to meal prep to take to work. Besides an optional extra, it can all be cooked in just one pan and takes only a few minutes of prep and 25 minutes hands-off cooking – perfect for busy evenings!
Ingredients
The main ingredients of this dish are rice, brown lentils, chickpeas, dried apricot and raisins. For flavour, this moroccan rice recipe uses garlic, onion, turmeric, paprika, ground cinnamon and ground cumin. The dish is topped with delicious crunchy toasted almonds and pomegranate seeds.
Substitutions
You can substitute the white rice for brown rice, although your cooking time will be slightly longer.
You can use any dried fruit you have on hand.
Brown lentils can be swapped for green or black, but not red. Red lentils have a completely different texture and will not work well with this dish.
Making the Moroccan Rice
To start, heat the olive oil in a large pan before adding the onion. Sautee the onion for around 5 minutes until it starts to turn translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes, moving the garlic around so it doesn’t burn.
Next, add in the dried spices and fry for another couple of minutes until the spices have cooked off and have started to become very fragrant.
Next, add the rice to the pan and stir well to combine.
You can now add the brown lentils, chickpeas, chopped dried fruit and vegetable stock and cook covered with the lid for 20-25 minutes, until the water has all absorbed and the rice is tender. Check the rice is cooked thoroughly before serving, you may need to add more stock if some water has managed to evaporate instead of being absorbed by the rice.
If you are serving with toasted almonds, prepare those while the Moroccan rice cooks. Heat a small non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Add the almonds and toast for around 5 minutes until the almonds have turned a golden brown and started to release their aroma. Remove from the pan and set aside ready for serving.
Taste test once cooked and season with salt and pepper to your preference.
Serve topped with the toasted sliced almonds and pomegranate if you decided to use those.
Storage
You can store this moroccan rice recipe in the fridge for 3-5 days in an air tight container.
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Moroccan Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Large Onion
- 2 Large Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 185 g (1 cup) White Rice, Dry
- 50 g (1/4 cup) Brown Lentils, Dry
- 1 L (4 cups) Vegetable Stock – around 4 stock cubes.
- 50 g Dried Apricot, Chopped
- 50 g Raisins
- 1 tin (240 g or 1.25 cups) Chickpeas, cooked.
- 50 g Sliced Almonds
- 1/4 tsp Salt and pepper, to taste.
- 50 g Pomeganate Seeds for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Start by heating the olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
- Add the onion and sautee for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Add all of the dried spices – smoked paprika, cinnamon, cumin and turmeric, and cook for another few minutes until fragrant.
- Add the rice and lentils and stir well to combine.
- Add the vegetable stock, dried apricot, raisins and chickpeas and cook covered with a lid for around 25-30 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid and is tender.
- While the rice cooks, heat a small non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add the toasted almonds and cook for about 5 minutes until the almonds have taken on a golden colour, and released their aroma.
- When the rice is cooked, serve immediately. Top with the crunchy toasted almonds and optional pomegranate seeds for some colour.