SatNavSaysStraightOn

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I have to say that this one has taken me very pleasantly by surprise.



One of the writers of the 2 recipes I've combined states
This sweet Persian rice pudding called sholeh zard is made with three distinct ingredients: saffron, cardamom, and rosewater. It's delicate in flavor but so deeply aromatic that it's hard to stop eating it.
And they are spot on. I went back for seconds and had to stop myself there.

As always I've cut back on the sugar, and I reckon it could easily be cut back again from the 360g (2 cups) of sugar the main recipes I used states originally, to the 270g (1½ cups) I used to a 180g (single cup) of sugar. But if you like things very sweet, you could easily use all of it.

You will need to hunt down a few more unusual supplies, unusual in a western spice cupboard that is. Rose petals are only needed for decoration, so you could easily bypass those if you wanted to, but you do need a decent rose water. The quantity of it that gets used varies considerably between recipes. I only had 1 tablespoon of decent stuff so topped it up with some older stuff long passed its best, and added some extra powdered rose petals for the flavour/fragrance.

Ingredients
200g Jasmine rice, soaked and washed
1½ Litres boiling water
¼ tsp saffron, ground & steeped in 100ml boiling water
600ml boiling water (extra to above, but includes water saffron is steeping in))
180g granulated sugar/raw sugar
3 green cardamom pods, lightly bashed
1 tbsp vegan cultured butter
2-4tbsp rose water

Garnish
Rose petals
Slivered pistachio nuts

Method
  1. Soak and wash the rice until the water runs clear. Add the rice and the 1½L of boiling water to a larger pan, bring back to the boil, and simmer gently uncovered for 75 minutes. Watch carefully and add more water if it looks like it will run dry and burn. Do not stir. You want the rice grains to easily squish soft between finger and thumb.
  2. Carefully grind the saffron, then set it steeping in 100ml of boiling water. It doesn't matter if the quantity of water isn't exact, you just need 600ml total for the next stage.
  3. Once the rice is cooked, add the raw sugar, the combined 600ml of boiling water and saffron water, the 3 cardamom pod, the vegan butter and the rose water (some recipes indicate to add the rose water after it is cooked. It's up to you). Stir well, freeing any rice stuck to the bottom of the pan, return to the boil, lower the heat and leave, uncovered simmering for 10-15 minutes.
  4. Once cooked, remove the 3 cardamom pods (if adding the rose water later, now is the time to add it), and serve into bowls to allow it to cool. Decorate with rose petals, slivered green pistachio nuts. Cinnamon powder is also sometimes added.
I served the dish warm, not hot and thoroughly enjoyed it, though recipes imply serving it cold is normal.



My main 2 sources are
Sholeh Zard (Saffron Rice Pudding) Recipe - Mahin Gilanpour Motamed
SHOLEH ZARD شله زرد | PERSIAN SAFFRON RICE PUDDING
 
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Looks amazing!
Thank you. Hubby asked me what I needed to buy to make it again. So rosewater (decent brand) and rose petals, plus some rose petal powder which we both quite like. We can use 'normal' pistachio nuts rather than slivered ones. But it was really surprising, not watery at all and very easy to make.
 
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