It is the first time in this blog that we have made a Pakistani meal, although in a certain way this gastronomy has been approached with Indian recipes that are very similar.
"Zarda" means yellow in the Persian language and in Urdu, the one spoken in Pakistan. They allude to the yellow color of this sweet rice that is consumed as a dessert and that comes from food coloring used or from saffron used instead.
It is a very easy dessert to make and that simply consists of cooking rice and then adding syrup and nuts.
INGREDIENTS :
To make the rice
- 1 cup of basmati rice
- 5 cups of water (1 liter)
- 3 pinches of ground saffron or several strands (if you don't have any, use yellow food coloring)
To make the syrup
- 150 grams (5.3 oz) of sugar
- 75 ml (5 tbsp) of water
- Lemon juice
For the fruits that are added
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) of corinthian raisins or sultanas (pitted)
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of pine nuts
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of almonds
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of walnuts
- 50 grams (1.7 oz) of pistachios
- 4 cloves
- Cardamom (optional)
- Butter
First we are going to boil the rice, at Persian / Pakistani style. We wash the grain repeatedly under the tap to remove any traces of starch. They wash or soak it in water for up to 30 minutes, but with a couple of washes and rinses will be more than enough. For this we have plenty of water in a saucepan and with the grain placed in a strainer we soak it for a few seconds, discarding the water. We repeat the operation again and finally rinse it under the tap.
In a saucepan over medium heat with 1 liter of water (5 cups), add the saffron to color it reddish-yellow. When the water is hot we introduce the rice and let it cook until it is done but not completely. That is, if it usually takes about 20 minutes, we leave it only 15 minutes.
Remove and drain, letting cool completely.
Second we are going to get a strand syrup. I remind you that the string syrup is obtained with such a density of the sugar that when separating the spoon with which we remove the syrup, a strand or thread is formed between it and the surface of the syrup that remains quite firm.
To do this, we pour the water into a saucepan over very low heat and add the sugar while stirring until it dissolves and we obtain the thread point explained above. We remove from the heat and reserve. If you do not want it to crystallize add a couple of drops of lemon juice. Remove from fire and keep it.
In a frying pan we pour a little butter and fry all the nuts and spices, just briefly. In the area butter is not used, but ghee, which is clarified butter but there is not much difference.
In a saucepan over low heat, pour the cooked rice and the syrup over it, as well as the nuts. We stir vigorously so that the rice is impregnated with the sweet and when we see that there is no liquid at the bottom of the pan, ready to serve. It is eaten hot or warm, rarely cold.
It's really good.