Serves 6-8 I could confetti dozens (hundreds!) of newlyweds with all the rice we’ve made for our Adventures around the world. While they’ve all been incredible, I’m here to tell you that Rainbow Rice takes the cake for beauty, novelty, and fun factor. Want your own festival on a plate? Here are 5 important tips to making perfect Rainbow Rice: Only use one or two colors to dye the rice. Any more becomes a bit… chaotic. Make a theme out of it – pink for a baby shower, red and green for Christmas, orange and red for Thanksgiving, etc. Only dye a little bit of rice (maybe 1/4 cup of cooked rice per color) so that the dominant color is white. Use a lot of dye for a more dramatic effect. To avoid color bleeding: let the dyed rice air out and finish steaming before mixing with the other rice. It helps to dye the rice from the top of the pot, which is naturally drier than the rice at the bottom of the pot. …
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Makes 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) Bottoms up! The orange peel brightens up this warm holiday drink, while cinnamon gives it familiar festive flavor. NOTE: If you’re making this for a potluck, just keep it warm in a crock pot! Ingredients: 1 cup water 3 slices fresh ginger the peel of one orange 3 cardamom pods 5 cloves 2-4 cinnamon sticks 1 bottle red wine (750 ml) 1/2 bottle port (375 ml) 1/4 cup sugar Garnish, for each glass: Raisins (to taste) Almonds, skinned (to taste) Method: Put on some holiday music or… even better… take a moment to dance around the tree, just like the Danish (wow, they actually use real candles on their tree – so beautiful and … daring!). When you’re sufficiently filled with cheer, coat the bottom of a pot with spices and the orange peel. Mr. Picky says “When in doubt, add more cinnamon.” Splash in the water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes to let the spices release their flavor into the water. Then, let the sugar …
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Serves 8-10 This sweet custard reminds me of rice pudding. The man who taught me all about how to make this dish told me that the mixture should neither pour off the spoon, nor stick too much to the spoon. I love directions like that – they make sense! Anyway, if you want to increase this recipe, or decrease it, use this guideline: for every cup of vermicelli, you need 4 cups milk. Ingredients: 3 oz roasted vermicelli – about 2 cups (about 1/2 the package pictured) 8 cups milk pinch of salt 4 cardamom pods, cracked 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup himalayan raisins (or golden raisins) 1/8 cup thinly slivered almonds Method: NOTE: Roasted vermicelli is made of wheat flour. I found it at our local Indian market (Laxmi Spices of India 5555 East 41st St, Tulsa). 1. Cut vermicelli into 1 inch pieces with scissors, taking care to not fling pieces all over the kitchen. Just go slow and you should be fine. 2. Add vermicelli to a large pot with milk, salt, …
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Serves 4 The curry sauce is fire-hot (I was sweating while eating), however the potatoes do not absorb the heat so you can easily control how much chili you get in a bite. To make this dish more mild, adjust the amount of chili powder (or remove this spice completely). NOTE: This recipe makes a LOT of curry sauce, so you could freeze half of it and save for another dish if you wanted to – unless you think you’ll sop it all up. Ingredients: 20 baby red potatoes For the curry: 1 small onion, chopped 1 cup chopped tomatoes 1 tsp grated fresh ginger 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tsp cumin powder 1/8 tsp ground clove 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp red chili powder (Lanka guro) (this is VERY hot, adjust according to your tolerance) 1/2 tsp Garam Masala 1 tsp salt Aromatics: 2 Tbsp mustard oil 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 2 bay leaves 1 cinnamon stick 4 cardamom pods 2 cups water Method: 1. Boil potatoes in salted water until almost cooked. Drain. …
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Serves 4 Mulhammar is a slightly sweet rice pilaf is wonderful with spicy food. You’ll love the taunting aroma of rosewater, saffron, and cardamom. Everything is very subtle and mild. Ingredients: 1/2 tsp saffron threads 3 cardamom pods, cracked 2 Tbsp rosewater 6 cups water 1 Tbsp salt 2 cups basmati rice 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup ghee or melted butter Method: 1. Combine saffron, cardamom and rosewater in a small bowl. I then used a spoon to mash the saffron mixture into the sugar. 2. In a medium pot, bring water and salt to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse rice under cool water until water runs clear. 3. Add rice to boiling water and cook 8 minutes uncovered. Stir every few minutes. Drain. 4. Put rice back in pot and add saffron mixture over the top along with the melted ghee or butter. With the handle of a wooden spoon, poke a few holes in rice. Cover with lid and let steam over very low heat for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Serve hot. …
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