This Easy Yellow Rice With Seafood is a fantastic recipe that can be put together in no time for dinner. A versatile recipe that is comforting and perfect for the entire family. The seafood medley can be replaced with shrimp.
This easy recipe can be made in 30 to 45 minutes maximum, which is pretty fast if you think about it. It takes more time to order food and wait for delivery than whip up this dish.
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I am always looking to make easy dinners for my family. Last Saturday, I was rummaging through my pantry and freezer, looking for something to whip up, when I stumbled upon a box of Arborio rice.
Arborio rice is a short-grain rice that is popular in Italy. When cooked, the grain is slightly firm but creamy and blends really well with other flavors. For that matter, it is perfect for risotto and rice pudding(see recipe here).
This type of rice requires a bit more liquid than others, compared with the rule of thumb for cooking rice that says 1 cup of uncooked rice and 2 cups of water. But, since I was working with Arborio rice, which has its own set of rules in the kitchen, I went with 2 ½ cups of liquid for every cup of rice.
I decided against rinsing the rice as well. My goal? To keep those starches right where they were, mingling with the other ingredients to create a creamier dish.
Ingredients Needed For Seafood Yellow Rice
- Extra virgin olive oil: Use the best olive oil you can afford.
- Onion: I used a regular onion, but feel free to replace it with red or even green onion.
- Garlic cloves
- Arborio rice
- Turmeric: Turmeric is used in this recipe mainly for color, so if you don't have that, there are some options: saffron or annatto. Also, curry is a suitable replacement, but the rice will take the flavor of the curry, which is not necessarily a bad idea.
- Water or fish/vegetable stock
- Salt
- Fresh or frozen seafood medley: I used a Trader Joe's bag of seafood blend I had in the freezer. This bag had small shrimp, calamari rings, and bay scallops, a pretty good amount to make this quick dinner. If you don’t have seafood, the recipe goes very well with only shrimp. Cooked chicken or even sausages are good too.
- Fresh or frozen peas: They are nutritious and beautiful in the dish.
- Roasted red peppers make this recipe colorful, full of flavor, and different.
Tips From the Kitchen
- I have an excellent technique to cook rice, which I learned from cooking Mexican dishes. In Mexico, rice is fried in oil first, together with onions and garlic, before the liquid is added to the dish. This technique adds a nutty and delicious taste to the rice.
- This dish can be made with water or chicken stock.
Wine Pairing
You might think automatically that this dish would go well with white wine. However, in my opinion, I think you can go safe with a rose wine or even a red one. It all depends on the type of protein you add to this dish. A Spanish wine would be fantastic, like Rioja or Garnacha.
This dish is also well served at a relaxed family gathering, so I wouldn't advocate anything too grand. Keep it simple and enjoy!
Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. Freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave, adding a little bit of water, if it seems dry.
If you look for more rice recipes, try this Dal Bhat, a lentil dish served with rice, specific to Nepal. An excellent dish for meatless days.
More Recipes With Rice To Love
📖 Recipe
Easy Yellow Rice With Seafood
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 ½ cups water or fish/vegetable stock
- ½ teaspoon salt or to your taste
- 1 pound frozen seafood medley
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 4 ounces roasted red peppers
Instructions
- Chop the onion and dice the garlic cloves.
- Heat the oil in a 10-12″ cooking pan over medium high heat. Place the onions and garlic in the pan and stir for 2 minutes until the onion becomes translucent.
- Add the rice to the pan and stir for another 2 minutes until the rice becomes a delicate golden brown. Stir occasionally to ensure that rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add turmeric and stir to combine.
- Add the liquid and the salt.
- Bring the water or stock to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low.
- Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 25 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid almost absorbed.
- 15 minutes after you covered the pan, add the frozen peas, chopped roasted peppers and the seafood.
- Remove the pan from the heat and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published in June 2019 and republished on March 2024.
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