saffron rice pudding

deeply aromatic, sweet and gold Persian rice pudding (shole zard)

Iranians love to celebrate joyous events by sharing sweet treats with the community. I made this for a colleague of mine, who made a variant of it using mascarpone cheese. The next day, he told me that his guests wiped their bowls clean and shamelessly licked their fingers afterwards.

ingredients

• 200g (1 cup) basmati rice
• 30ml (2 tbsp) saffron infusion
• 125ml (½ cup) rosewater
• 50g (3.5oz) butter
• 400g (2 cups) caster sugar
• a sprinkling of ground cinnamon
• a handful of chopped or slivered pistachio nuts

preparation

• the best way to get the most flavour and colour out of the saffron is to steep it
• to do this, grind 2 teaspoons of saffron pistils to a fine powder using a pestle and mortar
• add 30ml (2 tbsp) of boiling hot water
• set aside to soak for 5 to 10 minutes
• in a large pot, soak the rice with boiling water
• set aside for 10 minutes
• drain and refill with 1 ½ litres (6 cups) of boiling water
• place on a medium heat
• let the rice cook through for 15 to 20 minutes
• using an immersion blender, blend the rice completely so the rice grains are broken up into a thick paste
• add the sugar, butter, rose water and saffron infusion
• boil for another 10 minutes so that all the flavours are mixed with the rice
• turn off the heat
• using a ladle, pour the dessert into small serving bowls
• put them in the fridge to cool for at least an hour
• when set, scatter some pistachio nuts and a sprinkling of cinnamon
• serve with Persian-style black tea

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