Zarda Pulao (Sweet Rice)

                                                                                Receta en Español

This is a popular dessert in Bangladesh, eaten at big parties such as weddings.

It is sweet rice cooked in fruit juice, decorated with dried fruits, it has butter and a taste that reminds the gastronomy of Middle East.
This dessert can also be found in India.

Ingredients (8 people):


-  2 cups basmati rice.
-  1 cup sugar.
-  1/2 cup ghee or butter.
-  2 tablespoons ground cinnamon.
-  4 green cardamon seeds..
-  3 cloves.

-  2 cups and a half orange juice.

-  2 cups of water

-  Some saffron threads.

-  Some ground pistachios.
-  Some dried peaches.

Method:

1- Heat one cup of water (you can use microwave), once it reaches the boiling point, put some saffron threads inside. Let infuse at least 15 minutes.

2- Put 2 cups of orange juice in a casserole, add 1 cup of water and the cup of water with the saffron.
Put it on a high heat until it reaches the boiling point. Then add the rice.

Cook at low heat for 10 minutes.

3- Take other casserole , put 1/2 cup of orange juice, add the sugar, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, cloves and butter or ghee, stir until sugar is dissolved.
To see how you can make ghee, you can read the step number 3 at Cheese Kadaif.

4- Add the mixture to the casserole where you have the rice, cook at low heat until there is no liquid left.

5- You should serve it warm, sprinkle some ground pistachio and some dried peaches over the rice. 
This dessert can also be made using pineapple and pineapple juice, adding raisins and almonds.

My Comments to the Recipe

This is a tasty sweet, the following day tastes even better. Orange Juice provides a sweet and sour taste.

Bangladesh

Südlü Plov (rice cooked in milk)

                                                                               Receta en Español

Plov is how people from Azerbaijan call the pilaf. This is a popular dish , there are more than 70 variations of plov.

Today I will present you an original plov, it is rice cooked in milk (südlü means milk), besides, it has dried fruits like dates, dried apricots and raisins. All of them are used in several dishes.

This dish has saffron too , an ingredient very common in Azerbaijan.

Ingredients (Two people):

•   1 cup basmati rice.
•   1 cup and a half whole milk.
•   75 grams butter.
•   50 grams raisin.
•   10 dates.
•    5 dried apricots.
•    Some saffron strands.
•    2 tablespoon sugar.
•    Salt.

Method:

1-  Put some saffron strands into a cup filled with a little quantity of boiling water (you can boil this water in the microwave if you want), cover the cup and let stand for 15 minutes to allow saffron to infuse.

2-  Wash rice and dried fruits.

3-  Mix in a casserole the rice, milk, butter, salt, sugar and water with saffron. Cook at low heat.

4-  Cook until you see 2/3 of the milk has been absorbed, then add the dates and dried fruits.

In this moment cover with a cloth and then the lid, let it cook at low heat.

It cooks very fast, better than giving to you a time of cooking, you should check from time to time and see if it has absorbed all the milk, then you must turn off the heat and let it stand some minutes still covered.

This is the result:

My comments to the Recipe:

¡This is a delicious rice!, it has a special softness thanks to the milk and butter, then the sweet and sour of the dried fruits. It is a luxurious rice, in accordance with the wealth of this country.



Azerbaijan