Comments on: Cherry Season in Israel

By: aviva

aviva — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:33:38 +0000

The sour cherry saison in Israel is very short 2 to 3 weeks end of June, but you can pit and freeze them to enjoy Albalu pollow anytime .

I would like to recommend you Shaherazade rice, it is available at shuk Levinski and in Machaneh Yehuda, the Basmati rice we get here is a little “hard” for persian taste, I use it only for plain steamed rice.

By: Shaya

Shaya — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:59:33 +0000

I just adore cherries. This is one of my favorite Persian rice dishes. My grandmother’s version is slightly different. She does not add any cinnamon – it feels like that would cloud the bright sour cherry note? Also she never added yogurt, although I know that is a way to encourage a nice tahdig.

Although basmati can very well be prepared by long-time boiling, I do not find it has the same fluffy properties that make it so unique using this method. I prefer the method of par-boiling followed by steaming with some oil and butter.

By: lisaiscooking

lisaiscooking — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:57:38 +0000

This sounds just delicious with the cinnamon and saffron! I never seem to be able to find sour cherries here, but I hopefully some day.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Ahmed, Thanks for the information. I have tried soaking the basmati rice in the past but it almost always came out mushy. I think that what is labeled “basmati” here is not as hard and therefore the extra soaking step is unnecessary. Perhaps I need to reduce the time. You are right that basmati is never stirred during cooking, which I forgot to mention above.

By: Mahboob Ahmed

Mahboob Ahmed — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:44:34 +0000

The ideal way to cook Basmati is to soak and simmer it for longer time and boil only once.

Basmati basically has highest capacity to absorb water as this characterstic after cooking make it longer (elongation) and maintain its shape.

Water absorption process should be kept slow.Therefore, soak it in plain water before cooking for 30 minutes and after boiling once on low heat under a tight cover let it simmer for 15 minutes. Soaking and simmering time be adjusted according to quantity. Small one serving quantity the time will reduce and for bulk cooking like 20 servings the time will increase.

When cooking Basmati Rice as Cuisine dish in combination with other ingredients like Chicken or Vegetable or Chickpeas than semi cook all other ingredients first and add Basmati Rice in the end and than do the final cooking. Simmering is must for good aromatic & fluffy cooking of Basmati Rice

Do not repeatedly stirr the Basmati Rice while cooking as it breaks the Rice grain.

By nature Basmati is hard Rice and most of the other Rice varieties are soft. To enable Basmati to become long, fluffy by absorbing water cook it gently.