Recipes By Harvey Araton
1 recipe found
Persian Jeweled Rice
This dish is called jeweled rice because it is golden and glistening, laced with butter and spices and piled with gem-colored fruits. Some of the ingredients called for may require some effort to find, but you can make substitutions. If you cannot get dried barberries (imported from Iran), you will need dried cherries or goji berries or dried cranberries. You will also need some extra-fancy Basmati rice. One goal in making this dish is to achieve the crisp buttery layer on the bottom of the pot. The technique is not difficult, but it takes a little practice. After the rice is rinsed well, it is parboiled for about 5 minutes and drained. The half-cooked rice is layered into a well-buttered pot along with the chopped dried fruits. Over a moderate flame, it is allowed to brown gently before being splashed with a small amount of saffron-infused water. Then the lid goes on the pot and the heat is turned very low so the rice steams gently. With a little luck and experience, the crisp tah dig, or crust, is formed.