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Fennel Rice
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- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ¼cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1medium onion, chopped
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 1pound fennel (2 medium bulbs), trimmed, cored and diced small
- Salt to taste
- 1cup long grain rice, such as basmati, rinsed, or coarse bulgur
- 2½cups water
- ¼cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¼cup chopped fresh dill
- Freshly ground pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a deep, lidded skillet or a wide, lidded saucepan. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in fennel, add a generous pinch of salt, and cook, stirring often, until fennel has wilted and softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in rice or bulgur and stir to coat with olive oil.
- Step 2
Add water, salt, pepper, parsley and dill and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, until rice or bulgur is soft and liquid absorbed. Remove from heat, uncover and place a towel across the top of the pan. Return lid and let sit for 10 minutes. Serve hot, with the remaining olive oil drizzled over the top.
- Advance preparation: You can make this a day ahead and reheat in a pan, in a medium oven or in the microwave. It will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I used a shallot instead of an onion and dried herbs instead of fresh. Next time I might reduce the water just a touch. This was delicious.
Instead of adding rice (jasmine) to the veggies, I cooked it separately. Made it lighter and fluffier. Also sautéed finely chopped carrot with the fennel. Was very pretty. And tasty.
Fabulous! I substituted the rice for farro and cooked it separately. Added the cooked farro to the fennel sauté. Delicious. Whether you use rice, farro, barley, bulgur or quinoa, I'd recommend cooking it separately and then combining at the end.
I think the dill conflicts with the fennel. Not a taste I particularly liked so next time instead of the dill I will chop up the fennel fronds and use those instead.
I made this tonight and found it delicious. To avoid mushiness, use common sense: once you add the rice and the liquid, put on the cover and cook it for as long as you would without the additions. As written, 20-30 minutes is way, way too long to cook my normal basmati rice, which I know takes 15 minutes, then 10 minutes resting with a towel. I followed this logic and it turned out perfectly. Of course after 30 minutes instead of 15 it would have been porridge, but like this it was great.
A really cozy satisfying dish. I used coarse bulgur and a red onion. The colors turned out beautifully. I didn't add the fresh greens, but I will try to remember them for next time.
I used brown rice which extended the cooking time. The final consistency was close to that of risotto.
I was surprised by how delicious this was. I made it with bulgur, so I decreased the liquid (just doubled the amount of bulgur) and the cooking time (it needed 10-15 minutes, I didn't pay close attention). It had a really nice flavor, especially with the herbs. I did about 2/3 of everything except the herbs - for those I used the full amount. I ate this on its own and plan to have it for lunches as well, but it would also be an excellent side for any meat.
I added a half a squeezed lemon at the end and toasted slivered almonds. Nice recipe!
Too much liquid, as others have said. 2 cups would probably have been enough. I rinsed, soaked, drained my basmati as is correct and proper, and used leftover whey I had instead of water. I had 1 fennel bulb, which was plenty, and a small onion. I recommend doubling the garlic, and adding lemon at the end. I didn't have dill but used the fennel fronds along with the parsley. I'm thinking this would be delicious eaten with feta cheese, for a meal in and of itself. Could add peas. Yum.
Made a half-recipe since I only had one fennel bulb. Also used jasmine rice, which turned out just fine. A word of caution to people using dried spices: two tablespoons of dried dill was WAY too much!! If you're using dried spices, take the dill down to 1T. Can't speak to the amount of dried parsley to use, I used 2T of fresh and it seemed appropriate. 20 minutes was not long enough for the half-recipe rice to cook, and it came out a little wet/gluey. Probably 23-25 minutes would be better.
Yum! Super simple but satisfying and good if you find yourself in a house with only a couple of fennel bulbs. They weren’t enough so I added a leek and a few scallions, and then some fresh chives just before serving. No dill because I didn’t have it, just parsley and fennel fronds. Used a bit of chicken broth and was probably generous with the olive oil. Excellent served with more oil, feta, and some lemon. I bet this would be nice with a little white vermouth simmered down, pre liquid adding.
This is delicious. I could see serving this with a side of salmon with dill and lemons. I would definitely make this again!
This was good. I followed the recipe but stuck to the rice cooking time on the package. Added a bit of feta to it which worked well together.
I made this as directed but used the insta pot for sauteeing and then cooking with the rice setting, and lessened the water to 1.5 cups. Perfect
I had a large elderly fennel bulb languishing in my fridge as well as perishable dill and yellowing parsley. I used basmati rice, cooked separately. After combining the cooked rice with fennel mixture I added about 1 tbsp more EVOO and crumbled feta. Served with TJ’s precooked chicken meatballs for easy weeknight meal. Very good!
This was delicious! I did add a little chicken stock and little Badia Complete seasoning and wow was it good!
Made this for a Greek-themed dinner party last night. On advice of other cooks, made the fennel separately, cooked it until it caramelized a bit, and deglazed the pan with some Pernod. Made basmati rice with 2c of rice to 3 cups of water, fluffed it and added it to the caramelized fennel with lots of dill, parsley and some chopped pistachios. Added more olive oil and salt and pepper. It was perfect!!
Made with fennel fronds instead of dill - delicious! Will definitely make again with dill.
Very nice - the Greek comes through. A great side dish to a quick entre.
I think bulgar would be a good choice because it cooks faster and the vegetables would not get soggy. Otherwise, I agree with cooking the rice and vegetables separately, which I will do next time. Also, I believe dill is the Greek flavor in this dish. I thought it tasted fine, but I wouldn't be adverse to throwing in some fennel fronds as well.
this time around I used bulgur and found it very satisfying. A mellow side dish, very good with salmon.
This is an easy and delicious recipe. I agree with comments dismissing dill. Instead, I topped with fennel fronds.
Use the fennel fronds instead of dill. Some chopped red or yellow peppers are nice too.
** 1tsp coriander maybe also cinnamon
"Remove from heat, uncover and place a towel across the top of the pan. Return lid and let sit for 10 minutes." What am I not getting here?
Martha Rose Shulman has given us an old Greek dish that carries its own Mediterranean air of comfort on these winter days. All you need are sausages braised in oil with sliced sweet peppers along with a salad and crusty bread and you are set. While the fennel, onion and garlic are simmering away, something suggested a sherry glass- Elizabeth David’s favorite measurement- of dry vermouth- would help the fennel to cook in its reluctant juices. It did the trick.
This is delicious. I could see serving this with a side of salmon with dill and lemons. I would definitely make this again!
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