An easy one-pan meal, Lebanese Hushwee Rice is a beef and rice mixture and is a Lebanese staple made with cinnamon, toasted pine nuts, and rice pilaf cooked in clarified butter. Naturally gluten-free, this is the ultimate comfort food!
One of my go-to’s on a busy weeknight, this Lebanese Hushwee Rice recipe is simply a mashup of two of my most popular recipes: Hushwee Beef and Lebanese Rice Pilaf. This easy, 30-minute dinner recipe is a standard in Middle-Eastern households. A blend of warm spices paired with protein and rice makes for a delicious and filling meal, pair with a Syrian salad, Arabic Lentil Soup, Lebanese Meat Stuffed Grape Leaves or even top with Cucumber Laban yogurt sauce and you’ve got a balanced dinner that’ll please the whole family.
Ingredients
For the rice pilaf:
- White rice: Easy to dress up anyway you want, the rice soaks up the flavors of the ingredients around it.
- Clarified butter: Also called ghee, its essentially butter with all the water removed, and it has a higher smoke point.
- Vermicelli: Depending on the brand it can be gluten free (I use rice vermicelli), but it’s a certain length of pasta that adds texture to the dish.
- Salt and pepper: Enhances and balances out the flavors.
For the hashweh:
- Clarified butter: Used in lots of middle eastern cooking, its higher smoke point helps to cook things at higher temperatures.
- Onion: I use a white or yellow onion for an easy caramelization and delicious flavor.
- Ground sirloin: You could also use ground chuck, but I prefer the leaner ground sirloin. Alternatively, you could use the more traditional ground lamb!
- All purpose Lebanese spice blend: A warm blend of Lebanese flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and pepper.
- Pine nuts: Toasting your own pine nuts either in the oven or in a dry pan is super easy, but you could also buy them toasted. They add a smoky, nutty flavor to the dish.
How to Make Lebanese Hushwee Rice
Start your Lebanese Hushwee Rice by making your hashweh beef. Melt your clarified butter before adding your onion and browning your ground sirloin.
Season with the Lebanese all purpose spice, and add in the toasted pine nuts before removing from heat and setting aside.
Next, rinse your rice using a colander or strainer. You want to rinse until the water runs clear.
Then in the same pan as you cooked your meat, add more clarified butter and brown your vermicelli for the pilaf.
Add your rinsed rice and toast for an additional couple minutes before adding water and seasoning with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover, cooking for around 15 minutes until rice is fully cooked.
When the rice pilaf is done, fluff with a fork before stirring in the hashweh beef that you finished beforehand.
Garnish with fresh parsley, and serve with pita bread or with a dollop of plain yogurt, and enjoy your Lebanese Hushwee Rice!
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is hushwee?
What are the spices in Hushwee Rice?
How far in advance can you make hushwee?
More Lebanese Recipes
- Lazy Day Lebanese Stuffed Cabbage
- Homemade Tahini Sauce
- Shish Tawook Chicken
- Lebanese Baked Fish with Tahini Sauce and Pine Nuts
- Vegan Tomato Kibbeh
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If you’re feeling like you want to switch it up even more, you can also serve this Lebanese Hushwee rice with my Lebanese cucumber laban. I love serving it with a side of my green beans too!
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Lebanese Hushwee Rice
Ingredients
Lebanese Rice Pilaf with Vermicelli
- 1 ½ cups white rice (long-grain enriched)
- ¼ cup clarified butter
- ½ cup vermicelli (broken into small pieces)
- 3 cups boiling water
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Lebanese Hushwee
- 1 tablespoon clarified butter
- 1 medium onion (minced)
- 20 ounces ground sirloin or lamb
- 2 tablespoons All Purpose Lebanese Spice Blend
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- minced parsley (optional garnish)
Instructions
Lebanese Rice Pilaf with Vermicelli
- Place the rice in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly using your fingers to rub off as much starch as possible. You’ll know the rice is properly rinsed when the water comes out clear from the bottom. Set aside.
- In a large, deep pan heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the broken vermicelli pasta and brown, stirring frequently, until it is golden/dark brown. Be careful to not let burn – don't walk away from the pan. This takes about 4-5 minutes.
- Add rinsed rice to the pan and stir into the vermicelli and butter. Toast the rice for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Carefully pour boiling water into the pan and stir once. Add salt and pepper then stir again. Bring to a boil, stir once, then reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and fluff rice with a fork before sprinkling with fresh parsley to serve.
Lebanese Hashweh – Ground Beef with Pine Nuts
- In a deep pan, melt butter over medium high heat then add the minced onion. Sautee until translucent, 4-5 minutes.
- Add ground sirloin and spices. Cook 8-10 minutes or until meat is browned, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to break up meat. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in toasted pine nuts and set aside.
Toasting the Pine Nuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a small cookie sheet place raw pine nuts and cook for 5-7 minutes or until they are at a light brown in color. Keep a careful eye on them as they can burn quickly.
Combine the Hashweh and the Lebanese Rice Pilaf
- To serve, combine both the hashweh and the rice pilaf in the same pot and garnish with fresh minced parsley to serve.
Last Step:
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