Zarda

It is boiled sweet rice, and the yellow is colouring as much as saffron.

Not known. This site has not classified “1/4 teaspoon yellow food colouring, optional”, so it cannot say whether the dish is vegetarian or vegan.

Ingredients

• 400 g basmati rice
• 200 g sugar
• 300 ml milk
• a generous pinch of saffron
• 1/4 teaspoon yellow food colouring, optional
• 8 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• 60 g raisins
• 60 g pistachios, slivered
• 40 g almonds, slivered
• 80 g khoya, crumbled
• 60 g candied fruit, optional
• 6 tablespoons ghee
• 700 ml water

Method

1. IT IS BOILED SWEET RICE, AND THE YELLOW IS COLOURING AS MUCH AS SAFFRON. Its article says both without flinching: a BOILED sweet rice dish made with saffron, milk and sugar and flavoured with cardamom, raisins, pistachios or almonds -- and the name is derived from the Persian zard, meaning yellow, BECAUSE THE FOOD COLORING ADDED TO THE RICE GIVES IT A YELLOW COLOR. So the colour is deliberate and partly artificial, which is worth saying plainly rather than implying a kilo of saffron. Boiled, too: the rice is cooked in water first, not simmered in milk like a pudding.
2. THE RICE IS BOILED SEPARATELY AND DRAINED AT THREE QUARTERS DONE. In plenty of water, then drained. It finishes in the syrup and sugar stops rice softening.
3. THE GRAINS STAY SEPARATE, WHICH IS WHAT MAKES IT NOT A PUDDING. Basmati, rinsed until the water runs clear, and never stirred hard after cooking.
4. THE COLOUR IS ADDED IN TWO PLACES AND ITS ARTICLE EXPLAINS THE SECOND. Saffron bloomed in warm milk for the flavour, and colouring for the look. In Pakistan, it notes, MULTIPLE FOOD COLORINGS are used so the grains are of several colours.
5. THE SUGAR GOES IN AS A SYRUP WITH THE MILK. Dissolved before it meets the rice, or it sits in the bottom.
6. IT IS FINISHED COVERED, OVER THE LOWEST HEAT. Twenty minutes, undisturbed, so the rice takes up the syrup without breaking.
7. THE KHOYA AND CANDIED FRUIT ARE FOR AN OCCASION, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPELLS OUT. Khoya, candied fruits and nuts are AN ESSENTIAL PART of zarda made at auspicious occasions, and optional otherwise.
8. THE MUTANJAN VERSION ADDS FRIED SWEETMEATS. Its article records it from Mughal India: small fried sweetmeat pieces stirred through, which it says was a favourite of Shah Jahan.
9. IT IS SERVED AFTER THE MEAL, WARM OR COLD. Its article also notes a Mesopotamian version made WITHOUT DAIRY for fasting, which is the same dish with the milk and khoya left out.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes