Beating high blood pressure with rice pilaf with dried fruit and almonds

Pilaf always begins with a grain — often rice. But the ingredients can vary: One day, add dried fruit and sweet spices; another, vegetables and herbs. This version overflows with flavour and is a great way to maintain healthy blood pressure.

Preparation time 15 minutes

Cooking time 40 minutes, plus standing

Serves 6

• 12 dried apricot halves
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) margarine
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 250 g (1 c) jasmine or white rice
• 1 ml (1/4 tsp) ground cardamom
• Salt to taste1 ml (1/4 tsp) pepper
• 625 ml (2 1/2 c) reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 125 g (1/2 c) golden raisins
• 75 g (1/3 c) slivered almonds, toasted
• Fresh rosemary sprigs to garnish

1. Snip apricots with kitchen shears into small slivers; you need about 75 grams (1/3 cup).

2. Melt margarine in large nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion, rice, cardamom, salt and pepper until rice is toasted, about 8 minutes.

3. Stir in broth, raisins, almonds and apricots and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until broth is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

Savory Rice Pilaf: Use 250 grams (1 cup) brown rice instead of jasmine rice. Sauté 1 chopped green pepper along with the rice and onion and use 10 millilitres (2 teaspoons) fresh thyme and 10 millilitres (1 teaspoon) fresh rosemary instead of the cardamom. Use 75 grams (1/3 cup) toasted chopped pecans in place of the raisins, almonds and apricots.

• Dried apricots are fat-free and full of nutrients, such as potassium, lycopene, beta-carotene and pectin, good both for blood pressure and cholesterol. Plus, apricots are a particularly rich source of iron. While the drying process hurts apricots' store of vitamin C, many other nutrients get enhanced.

Each serving provides:

Key nutrients: 250 Calories, 50 Calories from Fat, 6 g Fat, 1 g Saturated Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 5 g Protein, 44 g Carb, 3 g Fibre, 75 mg Sodium

Blood pressure nutrients: 1 mg Vitamin C, 21 mg Magnesium, 260 mg Potassium, 37 mg Calcium