Persian Rice With Cinnamon Pistachios And Golden Raisins Food

DAVID TANIS'S PERSIAN JEWELED RICE

Steps:

• Rinse the rice several times in cold water until the water runs clear. Drain. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large pot with 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Add the rinsed rice and boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, then drain well in a colander.
• Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, season lightly with salt and cook until softened and lightly colored, 4 to 5 minutes. Moisten with 1 tablespoon saffron water and stir in the cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, black pepper and cumin. Cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the apricots, raisins (or currants) and barberries (or cherries or cranberries).
• Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a heavy-bottomed enamel or nonstick Dutch oven over medium heat. Spread half the par-cooked rice over the bottom of the pot. Spoon over the onion-fruit mixture, then the remaining rice. Leave the pot on the flame, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes to gently brown the rice. (Do not stir or move the rice - you will need to rely on your nose to tell if the rice has browned.)
• Drizzle the remaining saffron water over the rice and put on the lid. Adjust the heat to very low and leave undisturbed for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let rest at least 10 minutes.
• Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat and gently toast the almonds and pistachios for a minute or so, taking care not to get them too brown. Set aside for garnish.
• To serve, spoon the rice into a wide bowl or platter. With a spatula, carefully lift the bottom crust, placing the crisp side up. Sprinkle with the toasted nuts.

CINNAMON BASMATI RICE WITH GOLDEN RAISINS

Steps:

• Melt butter in a medium high-sided saucepan set over medium heat. Add onion, cloves, and cinnamon; cook until onion becomes translucent and mixture is very fragrant.
• Place rice in sieve, and rinse under cold running water. Add rice to saucepan, and stir so grains are coated in butter mixture.
• Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, raisins, salt, and pepper to saucepan. Stir in 2 cups water. Raise heat, and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until all water has been absorbed and rice has cooked, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Remove pan from heat, and let stand, covered, 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

MEDITERRANEAN RICE PILAF WITH PISTACHIOS AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook onion, turmeric, and cardamom, stirring constantly, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice and mix well.
• Pour chicken broth into the saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, about 17 minutes.
• Toast pistachios in a dry skillet until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes; remove from skillet and coarsely chop.
• Place golden raisins in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 1 minute and drain well.
• Remove rice from heat and allow to stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Mix in pistachios, raisins, and green onions; season with salt.

RICE PILAF WITH CINNAMON AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Steps:

• In a heavy saucepan, warm the olive oil.
• When warm add the onion and rice; cook stirring constantly until onion is transparent and rice begins to brown.
• Stir in the broth, turmeric, cinnamon and salt.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• The last 5 minutes, stir in the raisins.
• Remove from heat, stir in parsley, cover and let stand, covered for 5 minutes.

PERSIAN RICE WITH CHOPPED PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Fill a large saucepan with 4 quarts water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt, return to a boil, and stir in rice, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and cardamom seeds. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and let stand in a sieve.
• Place a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add butter and cook until melted. Remove 3 tablespoons melted butter and set aside. Add onions and saffron to skillet and cook, stirring until onions are golden, about 8 minutes. Spread onion in an even layer in skillet.
• Season rice with salt. Spoon half of rice over onion, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with apricots and cherries. Evenly spread remaining rice over fruit, pressing down firmly to compact.
• Drizzle reserved butter evenly over the top. Cover skillet with a double layer of parchment-lined aluminum foil, pressing down on the top and crimping the edges. Transfer to oven and bake 1 hour.
• Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover, and invert a large round platter over the skillet. Carefully, turn the skillet and platter over. Remove skillet, and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

PERSIAN RICE WITH CINNAMON, PISTACHIOS AND GOLDEN RAISINS

Steps:

• In a saute pan heat the butter over medium heat. Add the rice and saute for about 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains begin to turn golden.
• Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic, orange peel, cinnamon and curry powder. Saute another minute, stirring until the mixture starts to smell fragrant. Now add the water, cover the pan, turn down the heat to a simmer.
• Cook the rice for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pistachios and golden raisins/sultanas. Remove the orange peels before serving or warn everyone not to eat them.

SAFFRON RICE WITH GOLDEN RAISINS AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Soak the rice in tepid water for 10 minutes; drain. While the rice is soaking, put half a kettle of water on to boil.
• Add the oil to a medium, thick-bottomed lidded saucepan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer the pine nuts to a small bowl and set aside.
• Add the onion to the saucepan you cooked the pine nuts in, and cook until softened and just starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rice and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the sultanas, boiling water, salt, and saffron (or turmeric), turn the heat up to high, and bring it to a rolling boil.
• Give the rice a stir, then cover the saucepan, turn the heat down to very low, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes (do not open the lid during this time). Turn the heat off and let the rice sit (covered) 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
• Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts on top; serve.
• Optional: Add two pods of cardamom, two whole cloves, and one 2-inch (5 cm) piece of cinnamon stick at the same time that you add the rice.

TAHDIG RECIPE (CRISPY PERSIAN RICE)

Steps:

• Mix the saffron into 1 cup very warm (but not hot) water. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to let the saffron release all of its flavor.
• In a sieve, rinse the rice under cool running water until the water almost runs clear.
• In a large pot, combine 8 cups of water and the salt (this is your one shot to season the rice itself). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook until al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the rice.
• In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the cooked rice, the yogurt, grapeseed oil, and 2 tbsp of the saffron water. Mix thoroughly.
• Spread the rice-yogurt mixture evenly on the bottom of a 10-inch lidded nonstick pot. Sprinkle 1 cup of the remaining cooked rice on top, followed by 2 tablespoons of the dried cherries, a pinch of orange zest, and a pinch of cinnamon. Add another layer of rice and repeat with the cherries, orange zest, and cinnamon, reserving a couple tbsp of the cherries for garnish. As you go about layering, the rice will start to dome and look "pointy" in the middle--that's okay! Keep it that way. Finish by dotting the top with the butter and pour the rest of the saffron water all over the top.
• Wrap the lid in a kitchen towel and secure it around the handle with a rubber band. Cover the pot and cook over low heat, 25 to 30 minutes or until the rice around the edges is golden and crispy; it's okay to peek under the lid! (See note #2) Be sure not to burn the bottom layer of the rice, though you do want a nice crust in the bottom.
• Remove the lid, invert a large serving plate over the pot, and carefully flip them over together. No worries if it sticks, just scrape it out and run with it! Sprinkle the tahdig with the reserved dried cherries and pistachios and serve right away.

CRUSTY PERSIAN RICE WITH CINNAMON AND PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• Put rice in medium bowl with water to cover. Drain and repeat procedure 5 times. Return rice to the bowl and gently fill the bowl with cold running water. Keep the water running gently into the bowl until the liquid runs clear. Drain, return rice to the bowl with water to cover, and let stand for at least 6 hours. (Can let stand at room temperature overnight.) Bring 4 quarts of water with 2 tablespoons salt to boil in a soup kettle. Keep the water boiling while slowly adding the drained rice. Simmer for 5 minutes; rinse with cold running water and drain thoroughly. Remove 1 cup of rice and stir in the saffron threads; set aside. Put the plain rice in a large bowl. Peel a 3- by 1-inch strip of zest from the orange and cut into ⅛ -inch dice. Bring 1 cup of water to boil in a small saucepan, add the zest, and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain the zest and pat dry. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet and sauté the zest for 15 seconds; add the sugar and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in cinnamon, pistachios, raisins, and ¼ teaspoon salt; sauté, stirring continuously to coat with butter-sugar mixture. Stir zest mixture into the plain rice. Melt the remaining butter. Coat the bottom and sides of a heavy, lidded, 3-quart saucepan (preferably cast iron) with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter mixed with the oil. Heat the coated pan until hot. Remove from the heat and spread half of the zested rice over the bottom of the pan, pressing down well with a spoon. Cover with a mound of the remaining zested rice. Sprinkle the saffron rice over the top. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a hole in the center of the rice deep enough to reach the bottom of the pan. Make 2 or 3 additional holes in the rice to allow steam to escape. Drizzle rice with remaining 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Cook rice for 6 minutes over low heat, uncovered. Wrap lid in a linen towel, securing towel ends under or around lid handle. Cover the pot with the towel-wrapped lid and steam over low heat for 40 to 60 minutes, until a crisp golden crust forms on the bottom of the rice. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. SERVING: Spoon soft, fluffy rice onto a platter. Break the bottom crust into pieces and arrange around the fluffy rice.

PERSIAN RICE-STUFFED ONIONS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Make a lengthwise cut into each onion from the top to root end, slicing only halfway through to the middle of the onion. (This will make it easier to separate the layers.) Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer briskly until the onions are softened through the middle and the layers separate easily, about 25 minutes. Transfer onions to a cutting board and let cool.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds on a baking sheet and toast until lightly golden, 6 to 7 minutes; transfer to a plate to cool. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.
• In a small bowl, combine saffron and lemon juice, and let sit.
• Separate the onion layers until just the centers remain. (You may have to trim the root ends a bit more if the layers don't completely separate.) Cut the 2 largest outer layers from each onion in half for 12 equal pieces, then count out more of the inner layers for a total of 20 to 24 stuffed onions. (The number will vary depending on the size of onions.) Finely chop the remaining onion centers and any remaining onion layers to make 1 cup; a little less or more is OK.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a high-sided, 12-inch ovenproof skillet with a lid over medium. Add chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3 minutes. Stir in rice and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, and stir until evenly coated. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt, the pepper, saffron-lemon juice, cinnamon stick, cumin, cardamom and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil over high, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the liquid is just absorbed, about 3 minutes (rice will still be undercooked). Stir in toasted almonds, pistachios, raisins, cherries and parsley.
• Spoon 2 tablespoons of the rice mixture in the center of each onion layer so that the onion loosely covers the filling. (Rice will expand; bundles should be partly open.) Scrape out and discard any remaining rice (or reserve for future use) and clean out the skillet.
• Coat the bottom of the skillet with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and arrange onions seam side up in a single layer. Add 1 cup of water to the pan, season onions with salt and pepper, and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Bring to a boil over high, cover tightly and transfer to the oven to bake until all the liquid has been absorbed, rice is cooked through and onions are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Garnish with parsley and drizzle with oil. Serve warm.