Oven Baked Rice

I got this recipe from my sister in law Yocheved many many years ago and made it often. It’s so easy to put together and so tasty but best of all, goes in together for that first hour you are cooking your meat or chicken (or vegetarian stuffed peppers) that you don’t have to dedicate separate oven time.

As is my wont, I like to experiment and so I stopped making this recipe for a while till I spied my son Yehuda putting it together one Friday when we came to visit. Is that Doda Yo’s rice recipe? I asked. Of course, mama, I always make it, he replied. Well it’s nice to see tradition being carried on by the younger generation! And so, I started making it yet again and it’s still a huge hit every time and one of the rice dishes DH goes back for seconds for. Yehuda and I both use basmati rice but Persian rice works equally well in this dish.

It’s almost embarrassingly easy to put together. Other than the water, this is a 4 ingredient dish. So gather your few ingredients while you turn on the oven to 350 F/180 C.

Get a 9 x 13 rectangular baking dish and boil up your water. Right into the baking pan place the oil, onion soup mix, soy sauce and hot water and stir well together.

Then add the rice, right into the liquid mixture.

Stir well, cover tightly with tin foil and place in the hot oven (carefully, liquid can slosh so hold it steady!) Bake for 45 minutes covered and remove foil and continue baking uncovered an additional 15 minutes. Serve hot to delighted customers.

Oven Baked Rice

4 cups (950 ml) very hot water 

1/2 cup oil

4 tablespoons soy sauce 

4 rounded (but not heaping) tablespoons onion soup mix

2 cups basmati or Persian rice 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 F.

Mix together the hot water, oil, soy sauce and onion soup mix thoroughly. Add the rice and stir well. Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serve hot.