Sholezard has two main ingredients: rice & saffron. No Basmati rice for this recipe. Because it should release starch during long hours of cooking. The Thai rice can be a good option, it has perfume and a considerable amount of starch.

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 100g/3.5oz rice (i.e. Thai)
• 1.2 liter Water
• 250g/8.8oz Sugar
• 1/2 cups Rose water
• 1 tsp Saffron
• 3tbsp slivered Almonds or/and Pistachios
• Cinnamon for decoration

Preparations

– A night before wash the rice and soak it in the water.

Next day: add water and sugar to rice in a big pot.

– Simmer for ⏳ 4-5 hours. Stir occasionally to avoid the rice stick to the bottom.

➡️ While waiting, mix the rose water with saffron. Cover it and let it rest for an intenser taste.

– Back to rice pot: after long hours of cooking, rice has soften and we have a creamy, shiny and dense cream.

– Add the mix of saffron and rose water.

– Continue to simmer for last ⏳ 5 minutes until the consistency and color becomes like the following:

– Turn off the heat and add half of the almonds. We save the other half for decorations.

– Mix all together and Sholezard is ready. While it’s warm pour it on the serving bowl because it tends to solidify when cools down.

– Wait another 1 hour to cool down

Decorate with cinnamon, almonds, and pistachios and serve 🙂

Notes

• The rose water is a distilled liquid from rose flowers and it absorbs more than any other liquid the color of saffron.
• Usually, Sholezard is poured into small serving dishes or one big bowl. It’s served cold or at room temperature.
• Mix the rice and sugar during the cooking time, it’s very tricky if you add sugar at the end, even for “adjust” the sweetness you will risk the creamy consistency into runny liquid :-/ (it happened to me!)
• The cold Sholezard tends to feel less sweet, that’s why the amount of sugar for Sholezard seems excessive.

Noosh e jan (buon appetite)

The post Sholezard, Persian rice pudding with saffron appeared first on Foodcraftz.

The color, the consistency, the timing of adding syrup, the heat of the flour at the time of adding syrup… all of these are important factors to know while cooking an authentic Persian halva. I messed up so many times while trying to create this recipe! lol and they weren’t cheap mistakes, If you follow the recipe strictly I’m sure you will have the right halva! Good luck : ))

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 200g/7oz Whole Wheat Flour
• 110g/3.8oz Brown Dark Sugar
• 1/2 cup Rose water
• 1tsp Ground Saffron
• 100g/3.8oz Water
• 100g/3.8oz Clarified Butter
• a handful of Almond & Pistachios for decoration

Choose the right pan

For the Pan: choose any type of pan between aluminum, copper, steel, etc. But not coated with Teflon or other non-stick materials that are made of chemics. Because the pan will get very hot and we don’t want to risk those materials become carcinogenic.

Making syrup

– Start with mixing rose water and saffron in a small cup and let them be for ⏳ 20 minutes so the saffron completely gives its color and flavors to the mix.

– Prepare the syrup by mixing water and sugar, boil, then turn it off. Pour in the mix of saffron and the syrup is ready.

Making Halva

– In a pan on medium heat toast the flour. No oil is required for now. This step takes up to ⏳10 minutes or even more.

– Stay near the pan and stir continuously. After a while, Its color turns darker and the scent of the toasted flour spread in room along with a white smock coming out of the pan, the pan becomes very hot. Arriving at this point, continue to stir for another ⏳ 2-3 minutes then turn off the heat.

– Add clarified butter and continue to stir.

Now comes the most important step: Adding the syrup.

It’s essential that the pan’s temperature isn’t too hot. Because if it is, the flour will absorb all the syrup and grows in size and we’ll have a dough-like mix, which is far from the traditional halva. The main characteristic of Persian halva is a slightly “Flour-like texture” (حلوا آردی) not doughy.

Try to splash some drops of water inside the pan. If it sizzles very lively don’t add the syrup yet. The pan should be hot but not extremely hot!

– Pour the syrup. At first, the mixture seems a bit runny but continue to stir.

– Set the heat to lowest. The color should be very dark, stir gently until the halva arrives at the consistency of a dense cream. The flour hadn’t doubled in size and the syrup is perfectly mixed.

The right consistency of Persian halva

How to serve

Halva, usually, is served on a flat dish with some decorations on top. So while it’s still warm transfer it to the serving dish. In room temperature halva becomes more solid and it’s easier to decorate. We made circles with a small glass and used almonds slices and grated pistachios for garnishing and decorations.

Notes

• In the old times which sugar wasn’t accessible for everyone, Persian Halva was made of grape syrup (شیره انگور). A very dense, dark liquid made of grapes. So a darker sugar is perfect for this recipe (I used a mix of muscovado and brown sugar)
• In Iran, Halva is usually made for mourning periods and is cooked in much bigger proportions. It’s served on small/medium flat plates and is distributed among the people. Usually neighbors.
• Halva with Chai (black tea) is the match of life! (and with Barbari Bread is the end of the world! lol)
• If you like you can also add cardamom to the syrup, I personally think it is not necessary.

Enjoy ☺️

The post The authentic Persian Halva appeared first on Foodcraftz.

No additives or chemical ingredients are used, with all those nuts and fruits this is a pretty healthy cake if we compare to the other sweets of Christmas period. Buy the dried fruits and soak them in rum for 3-4 hours and the rest is very easy to do.

Here is the recipe of: Dried fruit in rum for Christmas cake

Ingredients | 6 servings

• 7tbsp Rum-soaked dried fruits
• 140g/5oz Brown sugar
• 50g/1.8oz of Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• Zest of 1 Orange
• Juice of Half Orange
• 300g/10.5oz Flour
• 2 knobs of Butter
• 30g /1oz Crushed Walnuts
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• a pinch of crushed Fennel Seeds
• pinch of Salt

Use all ingredients at room temperature.

Preparation

– Preheat the oven on 180°C/356°F.

– Mix flour & baking powder in a bowl and put it aside.

– In a bigger bowl, whisk the butter with sugar till you have a creamy texture.

– Add eggs and milk & continue to whisk

– Sieve half of the flour and mix, the batter becomes dense

– Add to the mixture of dried fruits, and orange juice.

– Followed by the other half of flour.

– Add the rest of the ingredients to the mix: crushed fennel seeds, cinnamon, walnuts, and orange zest.

– In the mold of 20cm/8inch which is covered by parchment paper, Flatten gently the batter.

Let the Christmas cake bake for ⏳ 50 minutes at 180°C/356°F. At the end of the baking time, leave it to cool down and it will be ready to serve.

Notes

• Wait 2 hours to cool down. It’ll be easier to cut it, feel free to sieve a bit of icing sugar on top.
• Some people might not like fennel seed but to my experience, it gives a great scent and flavor to the cake
• Always do the toothpick test to be sure the cake is cooked, If your mold smaller the cake needs more time in the oven, vice versa if the mold is bigger.

Merry Xmas and enjoy the holidays ☺️

The post Christmas cake with dried fruits appeared first on Foodcraftz.

The syrup of orange juice balances its sweetness and makes it moist. You’ll never get tired of eating this buns, since it’s a kind of sweet bread for a better chewy texture, use all-purpose flour.

Ingredients

• 300g/10.5oz all purpose Flour
• 2-3 tsp Cinnamon
• 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
• 2 Egg
• 100g/3.5oz of Milk
• 100g/3.5oz of Butter
• 7g/0.2oz of Yeast
• pinch of Vanilla
• pinch of Salt

Syrup ingredients

• 100g/3.5oz water
• 3-4 tbsp Brown sugar
• 1 orange juice

Preparation

– Dissolve yeast in a bit of cold milk.

– Slightly heat the rest of the milk, butter, 1 tbsp sugar, salt, and vanilla.

– Mix to dissolve sugar and salt.

– In a big bowl combine: flour, yeast, 1 egg and the butter mix.

– Create a dough and knead for 10 mins.

– Put the dough aside and proof for ⏳ 3 hours.

Syrup:

– Mix half a cup of water with orange juice and sugar.

– On high heat, mix till the sugar dissolves and the syrup becomes slightly dense. put it aside when its ready.

Filling:

– Mix the cinnamon with 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar.

Assemble

– Roll out dough into a large sheet of 1 cm/0.3inch and fold it on itself, wait 5 minutes to relax then roll out again.

➡️ Repeat this 2 times. This helps the dough to have a better layered texture.

– Stretch the dough for the last time spread the butter (room temperature) on its surface.

– Sprinkle the filling and start to roll it on itself.

– Cut each piece at 2cm/1inch

– Put the rolls on the baking tray, covered with parchment paper and proof for ⏳ 1 hour.

♨️ preheat the oven to 190C°/370F°

– Egg wash the surface of the rolls.

♨️⏳ Put them in the hot oven for 15 mins

+ 2 mins on the grill program to have a golden color on top

– Make some wholes with a toothpick and while they are warm, pour the syrup.

– Wait ⏳30 minutes so the rolls absorb the syrup and so they’ll be ready to serve!

Notes

• I’m not a fan but It’s common to add white sugar glaze on top if you like here is how: half cup of powdered sugar with 1 tbsp of melted butter add some drops of vanilla and mix lively until it gain a silky gooey texture.
• These Cinnamon Rolls are wonderful for parties with numerous people. You can bake them a day before and serve them at room tempreture.

Enjoy 🙂

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