Persian Rice

Made by Deanne for June 2011

(I overcooked the rice, but with a little more attentiveness, this dish could be light, fluffy and fragrant)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Coarse Salt
2 cups brown basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
6 black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds (from about 3 pods)
1/2 cup butter (I used olive oil, but coconut oil might be lovely)
1 cup thinly sliced onions
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads (I got mine from Trader Joe's)
2 tablespoons diced dried apricots
2 tablespoons dried sweet or sour cherries or golden raisins (I used green raisins from the Afghani store but next time I would try sour cherries from Trader Joes)
1/4 cup chopped pistachios

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Fill a large saucepan with 6 quarts water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt, return to a boil, and stir in rice, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and cardamom seeds. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender ( about 10 minutes for white rice so my guess is around 15 or 20... don't overcook at this point). Drain and let stand in a sieve.
3. Cook onions and saffron in a skillet with olive oil until golden (8 minutes?). Spread onion in an even layer in a small oven safe pot (say 2 or 3 quart)
4. Add apricots and raisins to rice. Spoon rice mixture over onion, spreading evenly. Press down firmly to compact.
5. Drizzle reserved olive oil (coconut oil?) evenly over top.
6. Cover pot with lid or, if no lid, use foil pressed down over the rice.
7. Transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour.
8. Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover and invert a large round platter over the pot. Carefully turn the pot over and empty contents onto the platter.
8. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and serve.