Saffron rice pudding with almonds

My grandmother’s mother had her only child when she was just 14, nearly a century ago. Which means she was only 34 when she first became a grandmother when my oldest uncle was born. She was so thrilled with her first-born grandson that she made a nazr, a vow, to cook this saffron rice pudding with rosewater and almonds every year on a holy day for the health and prospect of this child.

After her death, when my uncle was a young twenty-something, my grandmother took over her m