I was planning a chicken dinner, with Advieh (a Persian spice mix predominantly composed of cinnamon, cumin and cardamom) and roasted Meyer lemon slices and had to make a trip to my favorite spice store to replenish my stock of cumin. Since I cannot leave a spice store without investigating every nook and cranny, I eventually came across sour cherries at the back of their freezer section. Which is when I remembered a delicious rice dish with herbs and sour cherries that I had once eaten at a restaurant in Los Angeles. It occurred to me that a version of this would go well with the Persian-spiced chicken.
I decided that Tahdig, that legendary and delectable disc of caramelized rice at the bottom of every Persian rice pot, was probably beyond my culinary skill-set, which actually gave me the leeway to go completely off-piste and create something new, based on what I had liked of the original rice dish. I therefore decided to use a mix of brown rice and wild rice to create a bit of texture to the meal rather than the usual basmati.
L. passed on the sour cherries and I can tell you that the dish also works well without them. You could use rehydrated dried cranberries instead of sour cherries if you don't have access to them. Or you could make the effort to locate sour cherries (probably at your local Middle Eastern market), and do what I did, which is to say, use a handful in your dish and then enjoy the rest in a paleta.
1/2 cup each of wild rice and brown rice (or 1 cup of a single variety)
1 cup sour cherries or 1/2 cup dried cranberries plumped up with boiling water
1 cup finely chopped mixed herbs (I used Italian parsley, mint and garlic chives but tarragon would taste good too, as would coriander).
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tsps olive oil
2 tsps butter
(or omit butter and oil and use 1/4 cup of the pan juices from the chicken)
1 generous pinch of saffron
Salt
Place the saffron in a small bowl and add a tablespoon of boiling water. Set aside.
Measure the rice into a pan. Add 3 cups of salted water and bring to a boil.
As soon as the water boils, lower the heat to low-medium, cover the pan and let cook for 45 minutes. You may want to check it at the 30 minute mark. Should it have absorbed more than expected, add another cup.
Drain the rice if necessary and immediately place it back in the pan to steam, topped with the chopped herbs and sour cherries. Cover the pan. Set aside.
Put the oil and butter (or the chicken pan juices) in a frying pan, along with the chopped shallot. Cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly, until the shallot is soft and translucent.
Pour the contents of the pan and the shallot water into the herb and cherry topped rice and use a fork to combine all the elements, fluffing up the grains of rice as you do.
Check for seasoning and add more salt if necessary.
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