How to make perfect Persian rice

Persian rice in easy to follow steps

Before we start cooking there are some essential things you need to know about rice:

• There are many different types of grains and qualities. ALWAYS always use a good quality Basmati rice.
  
• Aways wash rice under cold running water until the water runs clear to remove the starch and dust.
  
• You usually have to soak the rice in cold water for a few hours before you start to cook it. This helps the rice grains to soften and the end result will be better. Different brands of rice will need varying lengths of time in soaking ... you'll have to get to know the brand you use.
  
• I recommend Mahan which is an Iranian brand and is available at most Iranian grocery stores.
  If you live in the UK Tilda is a good substitute. The method I use below uses Mahan or Safar rice.
  

Things you will need:

• A large non stick heavy based pan with a lid.
  
• A large colander for draining
  
• A padded lid for the steaming process. This absorbs the steam that is created and prevents the rice from becoming wet and soggy. I use a tea towel wrapped around the pan lid ... PLEASE ensure that the tea towel is secure and there are no edges exposed to heat or flames to avoid it catching light.

Preparation for making saffron rice:

For saffron rice: Take a pinch of saffron, a small pinch of sugar and grind with a pestle and mortar until it becomes powdery. Place this is a small cup the size of an egg cup. Pour on a little boiling water, cover and allow to stand and infuse. Stir occassionly.

Method:

• Use 1 cup of rice per person.
• Thoroughly rinse the rice for several minutes until the water runs clear.
  
• Soak the rice in cold water for at least 2 hours before cooking. Drain and give one final rinse before cooking.
  
• Boil up a large pan of water. Add a good teaspoon of salt for taste (or more if you like your rice salty), a little butter and a drop of saffron from the tip of a teaspoon.
  
• When the water is boiling add the rice and at this stage you need to stay with it. Let the water come back to the boil and very gently stir from time to time but be careful not to break or damage the rice grains. After a few minutes you will see the grains enlarge. You should continue to allow it to boil until the grains become 'al dente' soft to bite but be careful they dont get fluffy. The time this takes will depend on the amount of rice you're cooking so it can vary.
  
• Drain the rice in a large colander and rinse with cold water. Leave to continue draining.
  
• TAADIG: Taadid is the delicious rice crust. You can use thinly sliced potatoes , naan (thin unleaved bread like pitta ) or cabbage leaves and I have also it made it with iceburg lettuce leaves.
• Place a tablespoon of butter, a desert spoon of oil and a small amount of boiling water in your heavy bottomed non stick pan and allow to melt, blend and bubble. Put most of the mixture in a cup for later use, keeping a small layer in the pan. Add another spoon of oil and a drop of saffron to this and allow to mix. Layer your thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pan and then add the rice on top.
  
• Now pour on half the butter,oil and water mix and wait until you begin to see a little steam . Cover with the padded lid and leave on a low heat. After 3/4 hour, remove the lid and add pour on more of the butter mix. Recover and leave for another 30 mins or so.
  

Before serving:

• Remove a few spoons of rice into a small bowl. Pour on some infused saffron and mix gently.
  
• Spoon the rest of the rice onto a serving dish until you reach the taadig. Add the saffroned rice on top of the rice ready to be served and very gently mix in.
  
• Finally decorate your rice dish with the taadig if you used potatoes and if you used any other ingredient for the taadig, serve in a separate dish.
  

Iran: The revolution of 1978 and where we are today.

I look back over the last 30 years and I wonder how different my life might have been had it not been for those few fateful months in 1978 in Iran. Those months changed the course of our histories. They changed the lives of our children and our children's children forever.

Many of us either forced to leave, Iran's Diaspora, or those in a position to make a choice to leave left behind a life time that can never be owned again. Our lives took on a new destiny, never quite relinquishing the lives we lost. Those that remained, become prisoners of their own unwitting creation.

For 30 years oppression, suppression and dominance of the Islamic regime has tortured it's people and we all but gave up hope of ever being able to return to the lives we lost. Now hope has been reignited: those diaspora and those who remained fight once more for a free Iran. A new generation of warriors has emerged.

We the diaspora, cling to the TV or the Internet watching closely as the people rise up together as one, at last. We are helpless. In our hearts and minds we are there crying out from our roof tops at night with our brothers and sisters 'Allah Akbar', we are there hand in hand marching through the streets, we are there braving the batons and bullets of the fading resistance of the deadly regime.

Our hope, the world hopes, that the day will soon arrive when democracy, freedom and justice finds a place in Iran. Some of us will return once more to pick up the pieces of the life we left.... only it wont be that life we should have had. Our families and friends are dead and dispersed, our properties and possessions confiscated. Our children and their children living their lives here and there all over the globe.

That wasn't how it was supposed to have been.

Women in Iran say 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'

I

How long have we been seeing violent images of abused women from Iran? How many women must be executed, abused, marginalised and loose their rights as human beings before they stand up together and say 'ENOUGH'? How many women have been forced into prostitution, lost their children or been raped, sexually assaulted and then been hung for a crime they did not commit whilst the rapist walks away. How many women must suffer polygamy? How many of Iran's daughters must die ? One is too many.

The time has arrived and it is now. The revolution in Iran today will bring about social justice for women as well as men. We demand our human rights. Anyone seeking a free Iran is also supporting women's rights to choice and self determination.

Women of Iran put your veil away. Together we are strong. What can the IRI do to millions of women .... ??????????????

A mouse in the house ..... what a dilemma!

I have a wee visitor. It scuttles around beneath the floor boards, scratches away in the cavities of the wall and I know I should do something about it but...... its kind of cute. It steals socks and other small garments. And I cant bring myself to get a trap. I hope I dont live to regret this decision.

Sometimes I dont want to do the dirty work myself. I wish my other half would take responsibility for it and then it wouldn't be on my conscience.

If it were a spider I would have no hesitation in killing it, but its cute and furry.

Watch this space I intend to get busy here.