Turkish Pilav: Orzo Rice, Bulgur Pilaf, and Why They Taste Like Home

Pilav is the starch that sits beside kebabs, bean stews and grilled meat on most Turkish tables. There are three everyday versions: şehriyeli pilav, made with toasted pasta and long-grain rice; bulgur pilavı, made with coarse cracked wheat and tomato or pepper paste; and nohutlu pilav, rice cooked with chickpeas. Each follows the same logic: rinse away surface starch, coat the grains in fat, measure the liquid, then let steam do the cooking. Get that sequence right and the pilav comes out light and separate.

Rice: rinse, then soak in hot salted water

Use a long-grain white rice. Osmancık, a Turkish long-grain variety, is the classic choice, and any long-grain white rice works. Rinse in cold water, swirling and draining, until the water runs mostly clear. This washes away surface starch, which is what makes rice gluey. Then cover the rice with hot salted water and soak for 15 to 20 minutes, and drain. Soaking in warm water shortens the cook and lets the grains take up seasoning evenly.

Şehriyeli pilav: toast the pasta first

Turkish grocers sell şehriye in two shapes: thin, broken vermicelli, and arpa şehriye, which looks like orzo. Use the orzo-shaped one. Ordinary orzo substitutes well.

1. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add about 1/2 cup of pasta per 2 cups of rice and stir until deep golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Pale pasta tastes raw; toasted pasta tastes nutty.
2. Add the drained rice and stir for a minute to coat each grain in butter.
3. Pour in hot salted water or chicken stock at 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of liquid. Stir once, bring to a boil, then cover.
4. Drop the heat to the lowest setting and cook, covered and undisturbed, for 15 to 18 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat, lay a clean towel under the lid, and rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Bulgur pilavı: coarse bulgur and paste

Choose coarse bulgur, sold as pilavlık bulgur, not the fine grind used for köftelik or salads. The method starts with onion softened in butter or oil, then tomato paste and pepper paste (domates salçası and biber salçası) fried for a minute until the colour deepens. Add the drained bulgur, stir, then add 1.5 to 2 cups of hot water or stock per cup of bulgur. Simmer covered over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, then rest 5 to 10 minutes. Make the bulgur pilavı recipe alongside a pot of kuru fasulye and you have a classic Turkish plate.

Nohutlu pilav: chickpeas in rice

Nohutlu pilav follows the rice method above with one change: cooked chickpeas go in with the rice. Use chickpeas that are soft but intact, either cooked from dried or drained from a can and rinsed. Their cooking liquid can replace some of the water and adds body. It pairs naturally with grilled meat and works well as a vegetarian main with yogurt. Fold the chickpeas in after the liquid goes into the pot, then cover. Stirring afterward breaks them up.

Fixes: gummy, hard or scorched

• Gummy or sticky: the rice was not rinsed enough, there was too much liquid, or it was stirred during the cook. Rinse until clear and leave the pot alone once the lid goes on.
• Hard centres: too little liquid, or the lid was lifted and steam escaped. Add a splash of hot water, cover, and cook 3 minutes more.
• Scorched bottom: the heat was too high. Use the lowest setting, and a heat diffuser under the pot if you have one.

The key takeaway: rinse until the water runs clear, soak in hot salted water, toast what needs toasting before the liquid goes in, and rest covered for 10 minutes. Gummy means too much water or too much stirring; hard means too little water or a lifted lid.

For the general logic behind grain ratios, see the rice ratios guide, and for other grains, the complete grain guide.