How to make perfect Turkish rice

The little tricks that make all the difference to a fluffy and flavourful rice,

Hey there,

First off, iyi bayramlar and eid mubarak to everyone celebrating the end of ramadan this weekend! I hope it’ll be a wonderful time with loved ones and all the delicious food that you long for at this special time of year.

While I don’t personally celebrate eid, I look forward to a few days of taking it a little easier than usual as the city goes on holiday.

I am hoping, however, to get the last bits ready for the relaunch of my website A kitchen in Istanbul! From early April, you’ll be able to find all of my recipes in one place – free and paid ones.

In the meantime, I’m continuing the revisiting of the best and most foundational recipes from the free archives. This week, perhaps the most foundational of them all.

Rice.

There are many ways to cook rice, but few of them as tasty as the Turkish way.

If you know, you know.

(And yes, rice is made pretty much the same way across the Middle East, so I could equally have called it "Lebanese rice", "Syrian rice", etc.)

Turkish rice is always fluffy, flavourful and with added texture from tiny pieces of golden pasta.

Yes, you read that right. They add pasta to the rice. And so should you!

The key to getting it right is all about ratios and cooking time.

This recipe is among my most popular, and one you'll keep coming back to to enjoy alongside your favourite Turkish and Middle Eastern dinners, whether they're stews, summery vegetable dishes or kebabs.

With all best wishes from Istanbul,

Vidar