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Help with judging rice amounts in pilafi

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kcixcy

Active member
My friend makes a great chicken pilafi and towards the end, she adds orzo or rice. She uses 1 whole, cute up chicken with the bone in, and cooks it in a mixture of herbs, spices, and tomato paste. Then she said, "look at at the liquid to determine how much rice or orzo to put, then measure it in a coffee cup." The explanation of how to know how much rice to put took a few minutes and I thought I understood, but then I went home and tried the recipe and something wasn't right. I clearly added too much. I am trying to piece together 1. what I did wrong and 2. how should I have gauged it in the first place?
 
I usually try to eyeball - my family approximately likes a ration of 1 cup of liquid per a half a cup of rice or orzo - they like it to be on the juicier side. I think being able to eyeball it comes with time.
 
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