This rice is fragrant and delicious. I think it goes especially well with grilled, steamed, or roasted meat and seafood. You can use basmati or jasmine white rice but adjust the measurements accordingly.

2 cups basmati brown rice
4 cups water

Herbal Seasonings:
¾ cup minced scallion greens
¾ cup cilantro leaves rinsed, drained, blotted dry and chopped
½ cup flat leaf or curly parsley sprigs, rinsed, drained, blotted dry and chopped
2 tablespoons fruity olive oil
1 ½tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste

1. Put the rice in a bowl and using your fingers as a rake, rinse the rice under cold
 running water to remove some of the talc. Drain the rice in a strainer.
2. Put the rice and water in a heavy, 3-quart saucepan or pot with a lid. Heat uncovered until boiling.  Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the water has evaporated and craters appear on the surface.
3. Remove from the heat and add the Herbal Seasonings. Fluff the cooked rice lightly with a fork to separate the grains and mix the seasonings evenly with the rice.  

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6
© Copyright Nina Simonds 2008

This bread salad is the favourite every-day Lebanese salad. The spice sumac gives it a distinctive sharp flavor. The old traditional way was to moisten the toasted bread with water and a little lemon juice before soaking it further with the dressing, which made it deliciously soft and soggy. Nowadays, the toasted bread is broken into pieces and added to the salad at the end while it is crisp. You can buy purslane and small cucumbers (they have a better flavor than our large ones) in Middle Eastern stores.
11/2  pita breads
1 Cos lettuce, cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
about 100g purslane leaves or lamb’s lettuce
4 firm ripe tomatoes, cut into medium pieces
4 small cucumbers, peeled and cut into thick slices
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into small slices
11/2 mild onions or 8 scallions, chopped
large handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
4−5 sprigs of mint, shredded
1/3 - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon ground sumac

Cut around the pita and open them out. Toast them under the grill or in the oven until they are crisp; turn them over once.
Break them into small pieces in your hands. Put all the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl.
For the dressing, mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, salt, pepper and sumac.

Just before serving, sprinkle the toasted pita o ver the salad then toss the salad well with the dressing. Serves 6–8