Name: Rice Pudding With Saffron and Rose Water (Zerde)
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: ¼ cup pine nuts, lightly dry-roasted (see peanuts); A handful of pomegranate seeds (optional); About 6½ cups water; 1 teaspoon saffron threads, briefly dry-roasted and ground to a powder; 3 tablespoons cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or arrowroot; ½ cup rose water; ½ cup medium-grain rice, such as baldo arborio, or CalRiso; 1¼ cups sugar

Preparation info

Serves
6 to 8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Seductions of Rice

By Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Published 1998

About

This aromatic rice pudding from Turkey contains no milk or cream or butter. Tinted a pale yellow with saffron and topped with a sprinkling of pine nuts, and gleaming pomegranate seeds, it is a beautiful, delicious, and wonderfully simple dessert for a party. Prepare the pudding ahead and chill it in the refrigerator for several hours, then top it just before serving.