I want to explore making pilaf with steel-cut oats. Pilaf makers seem to like it fluffy, usually so done by fluffing with a fork before serving, and they like the grains to be as separate as possible, which seems difficult with oats. Many buckwheat kasha recipes toss the buckwheat first with egg, cooking it dry, and then adding it to the liquid; that's the approach I'll try this time.

Ingredients

• 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 10.5 oz can of beef consommé
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeños, seeded, diced small
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric, guesstimated
• 1/2 tsp cumin, guesstimated
• 1 egg
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• vegetable oil

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350° with an empty covered pyrex dish in it.
2. In a pan put vegetable oil, onion, garlic, & jalapeños. Saute a bit. Add cumin & turmeric. Keep sautéing until onion is soft.
3. While onions are softening, toss oats with egg so that each grain is covered. Cook over medium heat in a non-stick pan, stirring constantly, so that the grains separate as much as possible.
4. Add tomatoes, consommé and oats into the pan with the onions. Heat until bubbling.
5. Remove pyrex dish from oven. Put onion/oat mixture in it. Cover and return to oven. Cook for 30 minutes covered. Remove cover and cook ten more minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit uncovered for a bit.

Results

This turned out pretty good. The grains were not a mucilaginous mass; they were easily separable. The jalapeños gave it a nice bite. I think serranos would be good in it as well.

I recently spotted this recipe for an oat pilaf, and decided to see if I could make a variation that used steel cut oats instead of rolled oats. Here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 2 ½ teaspoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons black or brown mustard seeds
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 larges cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 Tablespoon peeled, diced ginger
• 1 14.5 oz canned, crushed tomatoes, with the juice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt

Procedure

• Place oats in nonstick or dry skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until aromatic and slightly browned. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
• Add oil to skillet and heat. When it’s hot, add mustard seeds and heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until they pop.
• Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the ginger and jalapeno, and stir-fry for about 1 minute more. Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.
• Into pan put tomatoes, broth, and salt. Bring to a boil, and then stir in toasted oats. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered for ten minutes.
• Add the onion mixture back into the pan and mix with the oats.
• Continue cooking until oats have absorbed most of the liquid, about another 25 minutes. Let skillet stand, covered, a few minutes after turning off heat before serving.

Once I added the oats to the pan, I stirred every five minutes to make sure they weren't sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.

Result

I liked it. The individual grains were not all mushed together instant oatmeal. Taste-wise it quite resembled my mother's Spanish Rice. And I might like it rather more than ordinary oatmeal for breakfast.

Next time

For the steel cut oats I had approximated the time using Whole Foods "Bulk Basics" book, which is distributed in their bulk foods section. It seems to me that their current preparation of steel cut oats takes significantly less time and water to prepare. Next time I'll try the recipe with a cup less water, which will cut the cooking time down considerably.

I may also try to coat the oats in oil first and fry them a bit to see if that will make the grains even more separate. Perhaps I might try a second jalapeño or use a couple serranos instead.