[Sca-cooks] Recipe help- OOP

[Elaine Koogler]

Phlip wrote:

>For T'day, Margali, Rob, and I are doing Middle Eastern (except for
>Caitlin's ham), and one of the recipes is a saffron rice. I had, this
>weekend, gotton a special delivery from Freya, of some saffron from Micaylah
>(thank you, Micaylah ;-) and made the mistake of mentioning that I thought
>I'd make some saffron rice. Since that was one of the recipes she was
>wanting to do, she asked me to follow her recipe _exactly_ as a test run for
>T'day, so I did.
>
>I was not impressed. For one thing, if I'm going to do that much crapping
>around with a dish, it's going to produce something more interesting than a
>rice that I can make myself with half the steps.
>
>Margali had said that she thought that this would make the standard,
>seperate grain type of rice that Americans seem to prefer (I don't, I LIKE
>sticky rice) with a crust.
>
>My method (1 c rice, two c water, half a stick of butter, throw in a pan on
>low heat until cooked, then let it cook a bit longer, so the rice in the
>bottom fries a bit, making a crust) is lots easier, and I honestly didn't
>see much difference, other than the rice following the ME recipe was even
>more glutinous than usual, and by the time it was ready to eat, I was
>thoroughly tired of rice- and I like rice well enough, that whewn Rob buys
>it for me, he gets it in the 50 lb bags (I, primarily, do about one per
>year).
>
>However, in the interests of fairness, I'm going to post the recipe, and see
>if those of you familiar with this kind of dog-n-pony show might tell me
>what might be wrong, from Margali's expectations. The only difference I made
>from the recipe was that we only have Jasmine rice- might that be a
>difference that makes a difference?
>
>>From "New Food of Life" by Najmieh Batmanglij- basicly, Iranian/Persian
>cooking.
>
>Saffron Steamed Plain Basmati Rice
>
>3 c long grain basmati rice
>8 c water
>2 T salt
>2 T plain yogurt
>1 t ground saffron dissolved in 4 T hot water
>3/4 c butter or olive oil or
>      ghee (I made and used ghee)
>
>1. Pick over rice.
>
>2.Wash rice in lukewarm water 5 times.
>
>3. Soak in 8 c water for 2-24 hours (I went 2 1/2, since I wanted dinner
>tonight, not tomorrow.)
>
>4. Bring to brisk boil for 6-10 minutes ( Was closer to 5 minutes, because
>it was starting to stick). Drain and rince.
>
>5. In a bowl, mix 2 spatulas of rice, 2 T yogurt, 1/2 c ghee and 1/2 c hot
>water, and a few drops of saffron water.
>
>6. Spread the yogurt-rice mixture over the bottom of the pot. This will help
>to create a tender golden crust (tah dig) when rice is cooked.
>
>7. Carefully heap the rice on the yogurt/rice at the bottom of the pan,
>gradually shaping it into a pyramid. Poke a couple holes in (the pile) with
>a wooden spoon.
>
>8. Cover and cook rice 10-15 minutes over medium heat to form crust.
>
>9. Dissolve the remaining ghee in 1 c hot water and pour over the rice
>pyramid. Put a clean dish towel or a couple of paper towels over the pot and
>cover firmly with lid to prevent steam from escaping. Cook 40-50 minutes
>longer over low heat.
>
>10. Remove the pot from the heat. Allow to cool on a damp surface for 5
>minutes without uncovering- this helps to free the crust from the bottom of
>the pot (Wanna bet?) Then put 2 T of rice in a dish, mix with remaining
>saffron water, and set aside for garnish.
>
>11. Gently taking one spatula full of rice at a time, place it on a serving
>platter, without disturbing the crust (Trust me, nothing short of explosives
>will disturb THAT crust). Mound the rice into a cone. Sprinkle the saffron
>rice garnish over the top[.
>
>12. Detach the layer of crust from the bottom using a spatula (A jackhammer
>wouldn't loosen that!!!).
>
>Any thoughts, folks? Not only did the rice wind up EXTREMELY glutinous, but
>detaching the crust from the bottom of the pan was definitely more trouble
>than it was worth.
>
>In addition to wondering if the basmati rice would make a big difference,
>I'm also wondering if the pot was right. Instructions said to use a
>non-stick pot, and that's what I did. Maybe it wasn't heavy enough?
>
>Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
>Saint Phlip,
>CoD
>
>"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
> Blacksmith's credo.
>
> If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
>cat.
>
>Never a horse that cain't be rode,
>And never a rider who cain't be throwed....
>
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>
>
>  
>
The head cook for our event Saturday did a Jeweled Rice (no I don't have 
the recipe...sorry) that we soaked for several hours before cooking, 
then cooked it aldente in a large steamer appliance that was part of the 
school kitchen we used (stainless steel interior).  We then drained it, 
put it back in the appliance, melted butter, followed by a layer of 
rice, then a layer of carrots/currants/pistachios/blanced orange 
zest/cinnamon, then continued layering until we ran out of rice.  It 
then cooked for an additional 20 minutes.  It was incredible!!!  The 
crust had to be scraped off of the bottom, but it did come off...and it 
was yummy.  And, best of all, we got to keep all of it in the kitchen!

Kiri