Persian Orange Peel Rice

At every festive meal in persian and Afghan homes you will find this sweet, jeweled rice, shirin polo, made with basmati rice and perfumed with rose water-infused dried orange peel. It is a dish that is served upside down, from the bottom up; that way, the candied oranges and roasted almonds that have fallen to the bottom during cooking appear at the top. As a child, I remember my mother cutting the orange peel into slivers and then placing the slivered orange peel flat on the table