MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: Muhamamar (Pearl Diver's Rice)
 Categories: Middle-east, Rice
      Yield: 1 Serving
 
      8 oz Basmati rice (225 g)
    1/2 ts Saffron threads (2.5 ml);
           -steeped in:
      2 tb Water (30 ml); hot
      1 tb Rosewater (15 ml)
      3    Cardamom pods; seeds only,
           -crushed
      4 tb Runny honey (60 ml)
  2 3/4 oz Butter (75 ml)
      4 tb Olive oil (60 ml)
           Salt and black pepper
 
  Wash the rice in a sieve until the water is clear, then soak it for a
  couple of hours. Bring a pan of water to a boil and tip in the drained
  rice. Cook it for about 4 minutes, until the outside of the grain is
  softening but the inside remains hard.
  
  While the rice is cooking, mix the saffron with the rosewater and the
  crushed cardamom.
  
  Drain the rice, rinse it with warm water and tip it into a bowl.
  
  Stir the honey through the warm rice while you heat the butter and
  oil in a saucepan. When the fats are sizzling, add the honeyed rice
  and let it cook for a couple minutes. Add the saffron, cardamom, and
  rosewater mix, season with salt and pepper and stir everything
  together.
  
  Make 3 holes in the rice with the end of a wooden spoon. Wrap the pan
  lid in a clean tea-towel, being sure to fold the edges underneath,
  and cover the pan. Turn the heat right down. Let the rice cook for
  about 15 minutes. Put the cooked rice in a serving dish and scrape
  the crusty bits off the bottom of the pan. Either stir the crusty
  bits through the rice or put them on top. Serve immediately.
  
  From Bahrain, based on a recipe in Tess Mallos's The Complete Middle
  East Cookbook
  
  Recipe by Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons by Diana Henry, 2002
 
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