Saffron Rice with Sour Cherry Sauce

This is another national favourite, with a particular ritual attached in the making thereof. It is often proffered as nazr, a food-offering giving thanks in some way for, most often, the life of a child, and it is also made and given to the poor on an annual basis to commemorate the martyrdom of the Imam Hassan and the mourning month of Moharram (a bit like Lent). My mother-in-law makes great vats of it to give out at the Persian community centre during these times. But its significa