What I'm making for Shabbat
Nov. 29th, 2007 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuFor years, I've wanted to make shirin pollo, a sweet rice that we order whenever we eat at Chatanooga (a restaurant in Great Neck NY). Tonight I finally took a stab at it, working primarily from a recipe in The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Rosen but also cross-checking with New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies by Najmieh Batmanglij.
My adapted recipe is as follows:
Place 3 cups of basmati rice into a fine mesh colander.
Wash under running warm water, stirring with hands, for a few minutes. [NB: Next time, wash even longer. The water coming off should be close to clear.]
Place the rice-filled colander in a large mixing bowl and cover with cold water. Add 1 tsp salt. Set aside to soak for at least an hour while the rest of the prep is going on. [NB: Next time, plan to change the water several times during that hour.]
Take two medium oranges with nice skins. Wash thoroughly. [NB: Next time, make that four oranges.] With a paring knife, remove as much of the orange and as little of the white as you can. with a chef's knife, mince the peel as ifnely as you can. (Make sure the knives are as sharp as possible before you begin!)
Place the minced orange peel in a small pot with plenty of water and boil it for half an hour (to eliminate bitterness). Do something else for 25 minutes.
When the half-hour is almost up, start soaking 1 cup dried cranberries.
Drain the orange peel. In that same pot, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water, boil. Add the orange peel back in and set to simmer. Start a timer for 20 minutes.
Start 9 cups of water [NB: Next time, even more!] to boil. Once it's boiling, remove the rice-filled colander from the mixing bowl, let it drain, and pour the rice into the water. Let the water return to a vigorous boil and cook for 8 minutes longer, stirring often. [Ideally, when you're ready to start the 8 minutes, that's how much time will be left on the timer from the orange peel!]
During those 8 minutes, measure 3 oz. sunflower oil in a measuring cup. Grind 1/4 tsp saffron by hand into the oil. Mix them.
At the end of the 8 minutes, drain the rice in the colander. Pour into the rice pot the oil with saffron, and return the drained rice to the pot. Mix well, coating the rice thoroughly.
Drain the orange peel. Add the orange peel, the cranberries, and optionally 1 cup split blanched almonds and/or chopped pistachios. Mix very well.
The base recipe says to cover and steam at low heat for 20 minutes. I'm just going to let it sit covered for that time and depend on its residual heat, especially since it is going into the fridge to be reheated for shabbat.
Initial reactions from look and smell: too much rice for the stuff that's being added. Next time, try doubling the oranges, cranberries, saffron, and nuts. Increase the water to 10 or even 11 cups. Also the rice seems to still be extremely starchy; plan to change the water several times during the soak stage and wash it even longer initially.
We're planning to serve it for Shabbat lunch along with a roasted chicken, suitably herbed. I'll report back after Shabbat on how it turned out.
My adapted recipe is as follows:
Place 3 cups of basmati rice into a fine mesh colander.
Wash under running warm water, stirring with hands, for a few minutes. [NB: Next time, wash even longer. The water coming off should be close to clear.]
Place the rice-filled colander in a large mixing bowl and cover with cold water. Add 1 tsp salt. Set aside to soak for at least an hour while the rest of the prep is going on. [NB: Next time, plan to change the water several times during that hour.]
Take two medium oranges with nice skins. Wash thoroughly. [NB: Next time, make that four oranges.] With a paring knife, remove as much of the orange and as little of the white as you can. with a chef's knife, mince the peel as ifnely as you can. (Make sure the knives are as sharp as possible before you begin!)
Place the minced orange peel in a small pot with plenty of water and boil it for half an hour (to eliminate bitterness). Do something else for 25 minutes.
When the half-hour is almost up, start soaking 1 cup dried cranberries.
Drain the orange peel. In that same pot, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water, boil. Add the orange peel back in and set to simmer. Start a timer for 20 minutes.
Start 9 cups of water [NB: Next time, even more!] to boil. Once it's boiling, remove the rice-filled colander from the mixing bowl, let it drain, and pour the rice into the water. Let the water return to a vigorous boil and cook for 8 minutes longer, stirring often. [Ideally, when you're ready to start the 8 minutes, that's how much time will be left on the timer from the orange peel!]
During those 8 minutes, measure 3 oz. sunflower oil in a measuring cup. Grind 1/4 tsp saffron by hand into the oil. Mix them.
At the end of the 8 minutes, drain the rice in the colander. Pour into the rice pot the oil with saffron, and return the drained rice to the pot. Mix well, coating the rice thoroughly.
Drain the orange peel. Add the orange peel, the cranberries, and optionally 1 cup split blanched almonds and/or chopped pistachios. Mix very well.
The base recipe says to cover and steam at low heat for 20 minutes. I'm just going to let it sit covered for that time and depend on its residual heat, especially since it is going into the fridge to be reheated for shabbat.
Initial reactions from look and smell: too much rice for the stuff that's being added. Next time, try doubling the oranges, cranberries, saffron, and nuts. Increase the water to 10 or even 11 cups. Also the rice seems to still be extremely starchy; plan to change the water several times during the soak stage and wash it even longer initially.
We're planning to serve it for Shabbat lunch along with a roasted chicken, suitably herbed. I'll report back after Shabbat on how it turned out.