Indian Sweet Saffron Rice With Raisins and Pistachios

Submitted by COOKGIRl

"A Vedic recipe (meetha kesari bhat) adapted from the cookbook The Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine by Yamuna Devi. Although not considered Vedic, I add onion to the rice. Very sweet dish meant to be served to soothe the palate when eating more fiery Indian dishes. The sweetener jaggery or gur can be found in many Asian markets."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4-5

ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice (NO other substitution)
• 2 cups water
• 1⁄3 teaspoon saffron threads or 1/3 teaspoon equivalent saffron
• 1 (1 1/2 inch) cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄3 cup small yellow onion, diced (optional)
• 1⁄4 1/4 cup honey, raw (if using honey or maple sugar, reduce water by 2 Tablespoons) or 1/4 cup unbleached cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed or 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 2 tablespoons ghee or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons pistachios or 3 tablespoons slivered almonds
• 3 tablespoons raisins or 3 tablespoons currants
• 2 tablespoons toasted nuts, for garnishing

directions

1. Bring water to boil in saucepan. Place the saffron threads in a small bowl and add 2 1/2 tablespoons of the boiling water and soak the threads for 10 to 15 minutes.
2. In the meantime, add the basmati rice, cinnamon stick, cloves and salt to the saucepan of boiling water. Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and let sit with cover on for 5 minutes.
3. Optional: In small pan, lightly saute onion in oil and set aside.
4. Next combine the saffron water (strain the water through a small sieve to remove threads), sweetener and cardamom seeds in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir until the sweetener is dissolved. Lower heat and simmer 1 minute. Pour the syrup over the rice (and stir in onions if using) then re-cover pan.
5. Heat the ghee or oil in small pan over medium-low heat until warm but not smoking. Fry the nuts and raisins until nuts are golden brown and the raisins swell. Stir the raisins, nuts and oil into the hot cooked rice and gently fluff with fork. Remove cinnamon stick and cloves. Spoon rice onto a serving platter and garnish with toasted nuts if desired.

Reviews

[breezermom]

I loved this rice. I thought it was good enough to just eat as a main dish. With very little work involved, you have a really tasty rice. Thanks for sharing! Made for ZWT8!

 

[UmmBinat]

It's good but doesn't go with the slightly spicy middle eastern dish I made that I understood from the introduction it would work with. Eaten alone it was pretty good. I used 5 whole cardamon pods cracked, 4 cloves (6 seemed a bit much) no nuts because I didn't think they would go with it, Maybe the pistachios.. I added the optional green peas which was a nice addition. Won't save but really wasn't bad.

 

[Kittencalrecipezazz]

great rice dish with tons of great flavors going on here, added in some cayenne pepper otherwise made as stated and will make again soon, thanks for sharing Cookgirl!

 

[TalTal11]

This rice was GREAT. I served it with a tasty Indian curry and I didn't like the flavors together, so be ware, it's very sweet. I used almonds and currants this time and will try pistachios next time!