Showing posts with label Mediterranian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mediterranian. Show all posts

From Bahrain...With Love





Who hasn't tasted this de.li.ci.ous dessert and fell in love with it!!! 




Bahrain has almost become synonymous to this exquisite sweet, at least for the gastronomers. This jelly like sweet, made from corn startch, saffron and nuts, highlighted with the taste of cardamom, has taken the center piece of all arabic desserts.
Comes in 2 varieties and personally I favor the red one over the green.




Persian Rice with Tahdeeg

Ingredients:-
Basmati Rice - 2 1/2 cups
Egg yolk, beaten - 1 No.
Yogurt - 2Tbsp
Saffron - a pinch
Oil - 3Tbsp
Butter - 5Tbsp
2 onions, 1 chopped and 1 thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
600ml, 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup raisins
2Tbsp tomato puree
coariander, ground - 2Tbsp
few strands of saffron
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:-
Rinse the rice well and strain. Boil the rice in salted water for 3 minutes until it softens but remains slightly crunchy, stirring in between. Drain and keep aside.
In some 2Tbsp hot water, soak the saffron. Add 3 Tbsp of cooked rice to this and keep aside.
In a deep pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the raisins, tomato puree, coriander and seasoning and saute. Add the stock to this and bring to a boil. Add cooked rice, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Keep a large pan with tight lid on heat and add oil. Turn off heat once oil is warm and add the prepared egg-yogurt-rice mixture to the bottom of the pan. This will bake into a delicious golden crust called tahdeeg, which is a specialty of Persian food. Arrange the cooked rice on top of this in a pyramid shape, away from the sides of the pan, finishing with saffron mixed rice on top.
Make 4-5 deep holes in the rice and add a spoon each of butter. Bring to a high heat, cover the pan tightly with a lid. Keep on a low heat for 10 minutes.
Fry the sliced onion in a tablespoon oil, drain and keep aside.
Once the rice is done, remove from heat and keep the pan in a sink of cold water for 1-2 minutes to loosen the base. .
Transfer the rice to serving platter. Garnish with fried onions. Break up the golden crust from the base (the prized tahdeeg) and place it around the rice.