Indian Saffron Rice - For ZombieK1tty

This recipe was requested by my good friend ZombieK1tty.

Ingredients needed are

1 cup basmati rice - sold on amazon or indian store.
1/2 teaspoon saffron - also sold on amazon or indian store
3 green cardamom -
1 bay leaf
1 Cinnamon stick
2 cup Water
salt to taste
2 cloves
1/2 star anise
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 Tablespoon of oil or ghee or melted butter
Optional sliced almonds and cashew

How to Cook.
It's rather easy and simple

1st in a shallow pan that has a lid add oil or ghee or melted butter.
Then to extract the spices and oils from the spices, toss in 1st Bay leaf with cumin seeds. Wait for the cumin to start changing color/popping. Now add green cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves, and star anis, along with sliced almonds and cashew and toast just a bit.

Now the add rice and saute for 3-4 mins. We basically want the rice to have a small coating of the oil that is infused with all the spices on top.

Now add 2 cups water ( with basmati rice we want to go for a 1:2 ratio, so one cup rice, add 2 cups of water), now add salt to taste and bump up the heat to bring the water to a slight simmer/boil

Now the start of the show saffron, we need to mix the saffron with a little bit of cold water, (1/2 spoon saffron to 2 spoons of cold water), mash it lightly so the color comes out, let it sit on the side for 2 min.

After that, add the saffron-infused water into the dish and cover the pot with the lid.
Make sure the flame or the gas is at its lowest setting.

Cook the rice till its done.

Open the lid and take out the whole spices - bay leaf, cardamom, star anise, cloves as the can be too strong in a single bite.

Serving Suggestion: Serve warm with plain yogurt or tzatziki or raita.

Let me know if you try this dish and if you have a request, post it here and I will try to provide the recipe for you.

Take care
Youtube.com/ManRat