Iranian
Jeweled Rice - Part 2
By FBWorld Team
This
beautiful colorful recipe was found on one of my favorite
blogs, thekitchn.com, and I wanted to bring you this recreation
with all its beautiful ingredients. This author clearly
has a love of beautiful ingredients, which is translated
so perfectly here in this presentation.
I recently spent a few days with Najmieh Batmanglij -
known to many as the Queen of Persian Cooking - who opened
me up to the cooking of her native Iran, and in particular
to a rice dish called Jeweled Rice, or Javaher Polow.
When
I took my first bite, I almost cried from a near overload
in flavor, fragrance, balance and a notable infusion of
love in the grains of rice, tart little barberries, and
strands of candied orange peel.
Named
for its gemstone colors - saffron, carrots and orange
peel make gold, barberries make rubies, pistachios make
emeralds, almonds make pearls - jeweled rice is traditionally
served at wedding celebrations. Or in my case from now
on, at my dinner table and in my daughter's lunchbox.
Rice
is a central and ancient staple of the modern Iranian
kitchen, though the varieties traditionally cultivated
in Iran are not easy to come by in the West. Here, we
can come close using basmati, or in a pinch, other varieties
of long-grain rice. What's beautiful about basmati is
how it fills the home with the scent of flowers as it
cooks.
Barberries
are a tiny red berry once used in a lot of European cooking
but now only found in Iranian cuisine. You can order them
online from Sadaf,
find them in some middle-eastern groceries (I go to Kalustyan's
in New York City), or replace them with unsweetened dried
cranberries.
This
version is adapted from Najmieh, cutting out some of the
oil and sugar in her version for a lighter take on what's
usually a decadent dish, both in its ingredients and in
the time it takes to prepare it. It is not a dish you
should expect to bang out after work and have dinner on
the table at a reasonable hour, unless you can prep out
your ingredients ahead of time like I did below.
nstead,
for your first go, make it a celebration. Take your time,
source the best ingredients, treat each step of this recipe
like a precious stone.
Check
out Najmieh
Batmanglij's books on Amazon!
Iranian
Jeweled Rice
Serves:
8
Ingredients:
3 cups Long-grain White Basmati Rice
2 tbls. Salt, (divided)
2 large Oranges, (preferably organic)
1 cup whole dried Barberries (or chopped unsweetened dried
cranberries)
1 teaspoon loosely-packed Saffron (about 1/2 gram) or
1/2 teaspoon ground Tumeric
1/3 cup granulated Sugar, (divided)
1/4 cup Orange Blossom Water, (divided)
2 tbls. Oil, Butter (or ghee)
1/2 cup sliced raw almonds, toasted
1/2 cup chopped Raw Pistachios, (toasted)
1/2 cup Golden or Green Raisins
2-3 large Carrots, (peeled and cut into 2-inch long matchsticks)
One 4-inch whole Cinnamon Stick
2 tspn. Freshly Ground Cardamom
For
the rest of the directions, please click
here to finish making this exquisite dish.
Click
here for Jewel Rice 1
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