Sholeh Zard — Saffron Rice Pudding with walnuts

Name: Sholeh Zard — Saffron Rice Pudding with walnuts
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 65 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: persian
Ingredients: 120 g basmati rice; 100 g sugar; 0.3 g saffron threads; 20 ml halal-certified culinary rose water; 1 g ground cinnamon; 1100 ml water; 25 g walnut kernels

Sholeh Zard — Saffron Rice Pudding with walnuts. Independently written modern Persian halal variation, with broad culinary inspiration from Najmieh Batmanglij, Food of Life: Ancient Persian and…

120 g basmati rice
100 g sugar
0.3 g saffron threads
20 ml halal-certified culinary rose water
1 g ground cinnamon
1100 ml water
25 g walnut kernels

Rinse rice and soak for 1 additional hour, then drain. Finely chop the walnuts. Steep saffron in 30 ml measured hot water for 10 minutes.
Bring remaining water and rice to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 40–45 minutes, stirring regularly, until rice is very soft and begins to break down.
Stir in sugar and saffron water; simmer for 10–15 minutes until creamy. Stir in rose water and the variation ingredient; cook for 3 minutes.
Divide into four small bowls and dust with cinnamon. Cool and refrigerate at 4 °C within 1 hour; use within 24 hours.
Photo: Behnam mancini — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sholezard_2020.jpg Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 Resized and converted to JPEG; no crop. Saffron rice pudding illustration; the fruit or nut variation and decoration may differ.