Zarda (Saffron Rice Pudding)

I have been very slowly reading through recipes in my new Syrian cookbook, and had planned this week to make an intriguing salad involving mint and pickled beets, but after an unexpectedly stressful week at work and some late nights, I needed a bit of comfort food as a reward. I also needed (#firstworldproblems) to use at least some of the massive bag of saffron I lugged home from Thailand. 

It was so cheap! I had to buy tons.

For me, rice pudding is the perfect eat-your-feelings food because it combines pure sugar and carbohydrates and its texture is so delightfully spoonable. I remember reading in Comfort Me With Apples how Ruth Reichl ate an entire pot of rice pudding one fretful evening standing up by the stove and I could totally relate. I also liked the backstory of zarda, which apparently was the equivalent of the cupcake in 16th-century Ottoman Syria as it was the go-to dessert for celebrations.  The recipe below is adapted from The Aleppo Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 1 cup short-grain white rice

• 1 tsp ground saffron plus a few errant whole threads

• 4 cups water

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 tablespoons orange blossom water

• Handful of almonds or pistachios

Directions

1. Combine ground saffron with 3 tablespoons hot water and let steep 15-20 minutes.

2. Wash rice thoroughly and combine with water in a medium-size saucepan.  Cover and warm over medium heat until water is boiling vigorously.

3. Lower heat and add saffron. Simmer on very low heat until rice is very soft (about 30 minutes).

4. When there is just a splash of liquid left in rice, add sugar and orange blossom water. Mix thoroughly and remove from heat.  Rest on adjacent burner until remaining liquid is absorbed.

5. Garnish with almonds to taste. If you like a creamier pudding, eat immediately, even out of the pot, but sit down for God's sake, you've had a long day. For a thicker, sturdier pudding, refrigerate for one hour.

Reading & Roz Bhaleeb

If I'm not thinking about food, cooking food, or eating food, I'm probably reading about food. Since the start of 2017, I've read over 15 food memoirs in the course of doing research for my own writing project. Some are better than others, and among my favorites for their depth of detail and original phrasing are those written by Diana Abu-Jaber.  I first read The Language of Baklava and am now finishing Crescent (technically personally-inspired fiction, not memoir), and next up is Life Without A Recipe.

Also, delicious.

Abu-Jaber is Jordanian and of course peppers her books with Middle Eastern recipes, which always makes me hungry and eager to cook more Syrian food. Last night, I said to hell with more healthful mezze and made roz bhaleeb, a fragrant rice pudding. Versions of roz bhaleeb are found all over the Arab world and sometimes orange blossom water is used instead of rose water.

Up close and personal.

Ingredients

• 5 cups whole milk (don't skimp on the fat!)

• 1/2 cup medium-grain white rice

• 1/2 cup white sugar (or brown...drr...if you run out)

• 3 tablespoons rose water

• 1/4 cup crushed pistachios

Directions

1. Combine rice and whole milk in a saucepan under low heat.

2. Simmer and cook for 90 minutes, stirring FREQUENTLY, until mixture thickens significantly.

3. Add sugar and rose water.

4. Refrigerate for at least four hours, if not overnight.

5. Garnish with crushed pistachios.