HEY STEEMIANS! Are your taste buds ready for a little travel today. How about Tasty Travel Tuesday?!

All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D5300 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G, ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL!

Don't worry, you won't need your passports or any crazy visas for this travel. YOU CAN MAKE THIS IN YOUR OWN HOME!! We had a friend join us for dinner a few nights ago, and insisted on bringing the main dish. He went with Persian Spiced Lamb. (It was amazing). My job was to come up with the main side dish. So, this was a great learning experience for me in studying the flavors of Iranian food.

This happens a lot around here, people bringing stuff over that are flavors of the world. I have had many of you ask me where I get my inspiration. Well, a lot of the times it is from studying the flavors of other countries. Also, I have said this many, many times, the flavors of Chile (Where I live) are very bland and frankly boring. There are a few items that are really good, like empenadas for example, but over all it is very simple and lacking in flavor. Oh, don't get me wrong, there is no where else that you have more selection of fresh food, they just prepare it overly simple.

So, every opportunity to expand the flavors, I am on it. I did have to tell my youngest sister that this was the kind of rice the Jasmine ate from the Disney movie Aladdin. With that in mind, she enjoyed it. Actually, everybody in the house enjoyed it.

I made some Persian deserts as well that night, I will be sharing those later. But for now, I encourage you to give this a try, YOU'LL THANK ME LATER!!

RECIPE

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Ingredients

3 cups long-grain white basmati rice
1 tablespoons salt
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 large oranges
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups chicken broth (sub with water or vegetable broth for vegan)
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon saffron soaked in 3 tablespoons hot water (optional)
1/3 cup granular sugar
1/3 cup dried barberries or dried cranberries
1/3 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds
additional salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

A. Rinse the rice in a strainer under cool water then pour into a medium sized bowl and cover with about 2 inches of water. Soak the rice for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 24 hours (the longer you can let it soak the better). Drain and rinse the rice and set aside.
B. Bring a medium pot of water to a bowl and add the rice. Cook for 6 - 7 minutes until just tender then drain and rinse in cold water to stop it from cooking. Pour the rice into a bowl and gently fluff with a fork to loosen then set bowl aside.
C. Add the nuts to a skillet over low heat and stir constantly until nicely toasted, being careful not to burn. Season with salt and set aside for the moment.
D. Wash oranges and use a box grater to grate the orange skins and remove as much zest as possible. Make sure to stop at the white. Slice oranges in half and use a lemon juicer to squeeze out juices. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or a shallow wide-mouthed pot over medium high heat and add the onions and your zest shreds. Cook for 2-3 minutes while stirring until onions are getting translucent. Pour in chicken broth, orange juice, and spices, then stir over heat for 3-4 minutes until part of the liquid has evaporated. Add the sugar and most of the dried fruit (save back a little to sprinkle on top) and cook for another 3-4 minutes until fruit is softened and more liquid has cooked off.
E. Reduce heat to low then add the rice and gently stir with a blunt tool (such as a rubber spatula or spoon) to avoid breaking your grains. Add most of the toasted nuts (save some of these for the top too) and stir to combine, then season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Cover pan and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
F. Remove cover and allow the rice to cook for about 5 minutes more without stirring to get a nice brown on the bottom. Let your nose help you here, you should smell when it's toasted but not burned. Remove pan from heat as soon as you think it's there and cover with lid then allow it to sit untouched for 8-10 minutes.
G. Loosen rice from pan and scoop into a large serving bowl or platter, placing the crispy parts on the top. Sprinkle your reserved dried fruit and nuts over the top and serve immediately.

Notes

A. Garbanzo beans and pomegranate arils make a great addition to this dish. Also, the dried fruits can be substituted with preferred types such as regular raisins or dried cherries.

AND A HUGE MASSIVE SHOUT OUT TO@rigaronib for designing my logo!!!! 

I am always open to feedback, and would love to know how you feel I could do better and please do not forget to

UPVOTE AND FOLLOW ME

PAY ME 100% STEEM POWER