Rice Pudding With A Twist: Sholeh Zard Recipe

You know those passion projects you’ve wanted to start for years but just haven’t made a move on? Well, at the top of my list is a food-related one that’s close to my heart (surprise, surprise). You see, I’ve always admired my mom’s cooking/baking abilities and yearned to learn how to make our family favourites. Given many Persian recipes are time-consuming and a tad daunting, I never really knew where to begin. So I recently asked my mom and she suggested I try an easy dessert that frequently makes an appearance on our dinner table: Sholeh Zard. Whipped up with only a few ingredients, the Iranian-style rice pudding is a more colourful and fragrant version of the classic dessert most of you are familiar with. I’ve personally loved it since I was a kid so, recipe in hand, I headed back to my own kitchen in Toronto to give it a shot. And while I was re-living my childhood via the scents permeating in the condo, I felt inspired to add my own twist to the ancient formula by switching up a key ingredient: sugar. I swapped the regular white stuff with Lantic & Rogers Sugar + Stevia Blend to reduce the calories so I can eat more of my fave treat…

Having never heard of/used/tasted this particular sweetener, I was a bit weary. But I’m a scientist and experimenter at heart so I was willing to take the risk just to see what would happen. I’m happy to report that the recipe turned out perfectly. That’s probably because the Sugar + Stevia Blend bakes and sweetens just like sugar. The difference? It’s twice as sweet as sugar so you can replace every cup of sugar in your recipes with ½ cup of Sugar + Stevia Blend. Woot! This means less calories (up to 50% less) so we can basically eat double the treats, right?! Oh and the blend is made with natural ingredients — no fillers, artificial sweeteners, preservatives or chemicals…

Ok, now on to the main event: my mom’s secret (well, now not-so-secret) recipe…

Sholeh Zard Recipe

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60-90 min

Ingredients
1 cup of basmati rice, uncooked
3/4 cup of Sugar + Stevia Blend
9 cups of water
1 tsp of high quality saffron
2 tbsp of rose water
1/4 of cup slivered almonds
3 tbsp of oil
2 tsp water, hot
1 tsp of cinnamon, ground (optional for garnish on top)

Directions

1. Place basmati rice in a bowl, cover with water and let it soak for 1-2 hours. Drain rice and rinse a few times until the water is no longer cloudy.
2. Drain rice again and add it to 9 cups of water in a non-stick pot. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 30 min.
3. While the rice is cooking, grind saffron using a mortar and pestle and 2 teaspoons of boiling water. This extracts all the colour and flavour out of the saffron.
4. Add the Sugar + Stevia Blend to the rice, stir and cook for another 30 min or so until the rice is soft and most of the water has evaporated. Make sure you don’t dry out the rice: it should have the same consistency as rice pudding.
5. Lower the heat to a minimum and stir in the saffron, rose water, slivered almonds and oil. Stir and cook for another 5-10 min until the mixture looks dense.
6. Pour the aromatic Sholeh Zard into a bowl and garnish with cinnamon, a few almonds and/or pistachios. Put in fridge and serve chilled! I plated my dessert in my mom’s antique bowl…

As per most recipes, feel free to adjust ingredients to suit your palate. Some people like to throw in more saffron, rose water and cinnamon to kick things up a notch. You can even play around with alternative sugars: I hear the new Lantic & Rogers Coconut Sugar is 100% natural and has a nice caramel note. Mmmm. Let me know if you try my mom’s Iranian rice pudding recipe and if/how you decided to modify it! Oh, and make sure to enter YOUR family’s favourite baking recipes in Lantic & Rogers‘ A Taste of Sweetness contest (deets here) for a chance to WIN one of three $1000 grocery gift cards! Hurry, the contest ends on January 31st, 2017.

A huge thanks to Lantic & Rogers for sending over the sugar and sponsoring this post. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely my own. I personally use Lantic & Rogers products in my kitchen and am proud to support the Canadian company!