On my previous post I also said that I will be sharing my Jeweled Rice recipe. I just love having this rice for the holidays, so I enjoy making it during this time of year. It’s the perfect side and the perfect way of dressing and making the holidays feel a little more special. The cost of the rice is not much, but the jewels (dried fruits and nuts) plus saffron can cause a dent in your wallet… considering that I went crazy and bought all sorts of dried fruits and nuts.
I first learned how to make this rice from my mom’s cousin Anahit and I am sure I still need to master it but I am happy that I have carried on the tradition of making this for the holidays.
Since I am not the best rice maker in the world, I will try not to give many tips on rice making. However, I am excited to share that I did learn how to make a crusty bottom on my rice and enhance the flavor more by adding advieh spice mix from fxcuisine.com . I love the step by step instructions and the ease of guidance on preparing this special dish.
Also please note if you have any great tips making rice, I would love to hear from you. I am pretty weak on rice making and need lots of lessons and advice to master making rice. I always find myself from burning, to overboiling to just killing the rice out of impatience. I also think Iranians make the best rice… I guess that is why I did my best to be patient in the entire process of making this dish.
I hope you enjoy the post.
Recipe:
Persian Saffron Jeweled Rice with Dried Assorted Fruits and Nuts
Ingredients:
Dried Fruit & Nut Mix
- 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups assortment of dried pears, apricots, raisins, barberries, cranberries, lemon peels
- 8 oz orange marmalade
- 4 cups of assortment of roasted cashews, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts
- Pinch of saffron
- 1/4 cup water
Rice
- 3 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp melted butter
- 3 tbsp yogurt
- 4 cups parboiled basmati or long grain rice
Advieh
- 3 tsp of ground cardamom
- 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
Saffron Water
- 2 pinches of saffron
- 1.5 cup of water
Directions:
Dried Fruits and Nut Mix:
Wash, drain and chop up all the dried fruits; Roast and chop all the nuts.
To prepare the mix, heat the butter and olive oil in a medium size saucepan on a medium high heat. Add the dried fruits and let it cook for about 3 minutes. Add the nuts, orange marmalade and the pinch of saffron. Let it cook for another 2 minutes, then add water and cook for 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat and let it rest.
Rice:
Rinse and drain rice several times until the water is no longer cloudy.
Boil water, add salt and stir. Add rice and let it cook for 4 minutes depending on your oven speed. The rice need s to be at a parboil stage – the rice needs to be partially cooked. Strain rice and reserve to prepared the jeweled rice.
Saffron Water:
Stir in the saffron with water and have it ready for rice assembly.
Advieh:
Combine cumin, cardamom, cinnamon to have your spice mix ready for rice assembly.
Jeweled Rice/Assembly:
In a rice pot, melt 3 tbsp butter on medium low heat.
If you would like a crusty rice bottom then follow this step!!! Mix 1 cup of parboiled rice with 2 tbsp yoghurt and a drop of saffron water. Spread this mixture in a layer at the bottom of the pot. Based on the tips from fxcuisine.com, this will allow the rice to become crusty in the bottom. It references the book New Food of Life, Ancient Persian & Modern Iranian Cooking & Ceremonies on how to prepare this beautiful rice dish.
Add to the rice-yogurt layer with a plain layer of rice and sprinkle of advieh spice mix and repeat layering the rice until you have finished adding all the rice to the pot. Pour the melted butter and saffron water and 1 cup of water. Cover the pot with a tight lid and cook over very low heat for about 30 to 40 minutes.
When the rice is ready, garnish with the dried fruit and nut mix and serve.
