Turkish Rice Dessert Flavored with Saffron: “Zerde “

Introduction:

 ‘Sweeter Than Your Imagination’

” Zerde” is a classic dessert that originates from the areas surrounding the city of Konya, located in inner Anatolia and is a delicious example of regional Turkish cuisine. It’s also a favorite dessert served during the holy month of Ramadan. Its creamy, rich and yummiest.

Serve your ‘zerde’ cold in decorative dessert bowls, garnished with more currants, pine nuts and moreover, you can also use other toppings like coconut or ground nuts.

Instructions:

Steps to make this especial recipe by the method of Sun’s Secret Kitchen

• STEP 1:

At first, wash the rice in a wire strainer under cold. Once it’s washed and drained, in a saucepan, put the rice.  Then, add water to the pan to cover the rice. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pan and turn the heat to low and cook the rice about 20 minutes.

• STEP 2:

Next, put the 4 ½ cups water in a separate saucepan.  Then, add the saffron and let it soak for about 15 minutes. After it softens, use the edge of a wooden spoon to crush the saffron and release the yellow color.

• STEP 3:

Add the cooked rice, sugar and turmeric to the Sun’s Secret Saffron and water and bring it to a boil.

At this stage, add the rose water and cornstarch and let to cook, stirring for about 20 minutes until the pudding thickens and becomes a clear yellow color.

• STEP 4:

Then, turn off the heat and leave the pudding to cool in the pan about 10 minutes.

• STEP 5:

Fill your dessert cups or a large serving bowl with the pudding and let it cool to room temperature. Finally refrigerate for several hours.

• STEP 6:

. Garnish it with more pine nuts and dried currants that have been soaked for a few minutes in hot water.

You can also use other toppings like ground coconut, crushed pistachio nuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Serve & Enjoy it! …

Saffron is one of the most important & special ingredient in this unique & delicious recipe which will dazzle you. So it’s best to use high quality. If your grocery store doesn’t carry it, we suggest to try our International food market in Sun’s Secret Website.