Foodie Fridays: Fragrant Orange Rice

Our Easter dinner this Sunday will include lots of citrus flavors, since I tend to associate these flavors with spring.  I was looking for a nice side dish to serve with the main course, and came upon a recipe for Fragrant Orange Rice.  This easy sweet and savory rice dish is the perfect accompaniment to the lemony fish recipe I will be making for Easter.  The only change I made was to increase the raisins from 1 T. to 1/4 C. -- I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of finely chopping raisins, I might as well make it worth my while!

Fragrant Orange Rice

1 T. butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 C. basmati rice
1 1/4 C. chicken stock
1/2 C. fresh orange juice
1/4 C. golden raisins, finely chopped
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. grated orange zest
salt to taste (I used 1/4 tsp.)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion and cook over medium heat just until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Cook, covered, over low heat for 18 minutes.  Fluff the rice with a fork, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.  Serves 4.

Note: One orange should provide enough juice and grated zest for this recipe.  If there is not quite enough juice, just top it off with extra broth or other liquid to make 1/2 cup.  Also, I discovered that if you freeze fresh ginger, it is much easier to peel (just scrape it with your knife) and grate (I used the same microplane I employed to grate the orange zest).