An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [81]
Place dish in oven for 45 to 50 minutes, checking after 45 minutes to see if the rice is done.
To serve: The rice, when ready to serve, will have saffron-colored streaks in it. Spoon it out onto a large warm platter and serve with any Indian meal. It goes particularly well with Lamb with Spinach, Lamb Korma, and Chicken with Tomato sauce and Butter. Try it also with “Butterflied” Leg of Lamb and with Baked Striped Bass.
Basmati rice with spices and saffron
SERVES 6
Even though this recipe is for Indian basmati rice, any long-grain, fine-quality rice can be used instead.
1 teaspoon leaf saffron, loosely packed, roasted and crumbled
2 tablespoons warm milk
2 cups basmati or long-grain rice
1¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks, 2½–3 inches long
In a small container, soak saffron in warm milk.
Wash the rice well in cold water. Soak it in a bowl with 5 cups water and ½ teaspoon salt for 30 minutes, then drain.
Heat the oil over medium flame in 2–3-quart heavy-bottomed pot (with a tight-fitting lid—to be used later), put in the cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks, and stir a few times. Add the rice, frying and stirring about a minute.
Add 2¼ cups water and ¾ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to very low, and cook for 20 minutes.
Lift off cover. Gently but quickly mix rice with a fork, turning it around a bit. Pour the saffron milk in 2 or 3 streaks over the rice. Cover and keep cookinging another 10 minutes or until rice is quite done.
To serve: Turn the rice onto a platter with a fork (this keeps the grains whole). Serve with Chicken Moghlai and Yogurt with Spinach.
Sweet rice
SERVES 4–6
This is a very simple recipe for sweet rice. It goes rather well with many American dishes, like baked ham, pork chops, roast loin of pork, lamb chops, etc. It is mild flavored and not too sweet. If you like, you could elaborate on the recipe by adding nuts and raisins.
2½ tablespoons vegetable oil
4 whole cloves
3–4 whole cardamom pods
4 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and sliced into fine rings
2 cups long-grain rice
1 tablespoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups homemade beef or lamb stock or canned beef broth (not bouillon)
½ teaspoon salt (more if broth is unsalted)
1 tablespoon granulated brown sugar
Over a medium flame, heat the oil in a 2–3-quart heavy-bottomed pot (with a tight-fitting lid—to be used later). When very hot, add the cloves and cardamom pods, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Fry for about 5 seconds, until the spices begin to expand and change color. Now add the onion rings and fry for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the onions turn light brown with darkish edges. Put in the rice, coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and stir for 5 minutes.
Next, pour in the broth and salt, stir, cover, and turn the flame very low. Let cook about 15 minutes.
Lift the lid, put in the brown sugar, and stir quickly with a fork. Cover again and cook another 15 to 20 minutes.
To serve: Serve plain, or garnished with slivered almonds, with Koftas, or Lamb Korma, or with American dishes as suggested above.
Sweet rice with carrots and raisins
SERVES 4–6
In this recipe carrot strips and raisins are fried in butter and then cooked with the rice. I sweeten the rice with 2 tablespoons of sugar, but you could make it sweeter if you like.
½ pound (2 large) carrots
3 tablespoons butter or usli ghee
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1½ cups long-grain rice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2¾ cups chicken broth (homemade or canned)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground mace
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom seeds (if you keep a pepper grinder for cardamom seeds, use that)
Cut carrots into julienne strips. I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the carrots diagonally into long, flat slices—the kind that are used in Chinese cooking. Then I cut the slices into strips,