Buttery Rice with Toasted Vermicelli (Ruz Bil Sh’arieh)

There’s an old wives’ tale that a woman used to add pasta to rice only if she was an unconfident cook or couldn’t cook rice properly. The theory was that adding pasta was a guaranteed way to prevent the rice from sticking together. True or otherwise, it’s a guaranteed way to get it seriously fluffy and it’s a good few steps up from regular steamed rice. The pasta brings texture, the butter brings comfort and the cinnamon brings a hint of spice.

Ingredients note: Don’t get the flat Asian rice noodles here: you want the Italian wheat vermicelli nests. They are like spaghetti, but thinner. Regular spaghetti makes a fine alternative.