As a child I went to school with Maltese, Italian, Polish, Croatian, Greek and Australian kids. Lunch time was a kind of smorgasbord as we would pull all sorts of stuff out of our brown paper lunch bags that would make our Australian friends grimace with disgust.

There were speck and pickled gherkins on rye bread for the Croatian kids and mortedella and capicola sandwiches from the Maltese & Italians. The Greek kids came with their taramasalata sandwiches and one Polish kid insisted on having lard sandwiches everyday despite our collective protests.

Amongst our cosmopolitan tribe were a couple of Egyptian girls, who as far as I was concerned had the most interesting lunches of us all. They would feast on falafels with hummus wrapped in pita bread. Back in the 70's pita bread was virtually unknown, yet Miriam and Silvanna would munch away oblivious to all the stares from the Vegemite sandwich eating Australian kids.

I always looked forward to Miriam & Silvanna's birthday parties as there was not a party pie or sausage roll in sight. Their birthday tables would be laden with dolmades, falafel, pita bread and bowls of hummus bi tahini and my favourite dish of them all - Eygptian Rice!

As kids we affectionately referred to this Eygptian rice as 'gypo' rice and I must admit that I still call it that to this day. It's basically fragrant rice with toasted vermicelli noodles through it. I often add nuts to it and sometimes I even add brown lentils and caramelized onions. Gypo rice is so easy to make and it's a fabulous accompaniment with kibbeh and all kinds of roasted meats and grilled fish.

 
Fragrant Nut Rice

Ingredients

400g medium grain rice

100g vermicelli

50g slivered almonds, lightly toasted

50g pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

½  tsp ground ginger

600ml chicken or vegetable stock

Olive oil




Method

1. Heat about 4 - 5tbsp of olive oil in a large saucepan and the break the vermicelli into 3-4cm lengths and toss into the oil. Stir continuously until the vermicelli noodles are golden brown. Add the rice to the saucepan and stir well so that the grains of rice are well coated with oil.

2. Mix in the spices and stock and bring to boil. Turn the heat down and cover the saucepan with a lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated and the rice is tender.

3. This fragrant rice is a great accompaniment with kibbeh and all kinds of roasted meats and grilled fish.