Shahi Jorda/Zarda

Shahi Jorda/ Zarda in boom boom way..very easy and hassle free recipe! Must Try!!!!!!!!!!!!

Traditional way of making zarda always made me sick !!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh Allah, please help me…too much hassle and loss of energy. Boil the rice, drain the water, make sugar syrup, and so on and on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I have always been a lazy bum and that lead me to create many shortcut recipes.. Shahi jarda/ zarda is one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My husband says “it is out of the world” ..Hahahahahah

Ingredients:

1. Aromatic Rice like kalojeera/ chini gura/ Basmati 1 cup

2. Water 2 and 1/4 th cup

3. Sugar 3/4 th cup + 2 tbl spoon – 1 cup or more ( coarse sugar has more sweetness than fine sugar , so adjust according to your taste and type of the sugar)

4. Fresh pineapple/ orange juice 1/4 th ( one-fourth) cup (optional)

5. Whole cardamom pods, bay leaf and cinnamon

6. Ghee  3-4 tbl spoon

7. Food color (egg-yellow color)

8. A tiny pinch of salt (optional)

Cooking Method:

1. Soak the rice in water for at least 1 hour before you make jorda. Wash the rice and drain the water very well.

2. Put the rice in a wide vessel with  water, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, bay leaf , a tiny pinch of salt , food color and half of the ghee (around 1 and 1/2 tbl spoon -2 tbl spoon). Turn on the stove on medium heat. Cook the rice with lid on.

3. Within 10 minutes the water will be almost dried out, add pineapple juice and sugar at this point. Don’t stir but once .. .Stir it with light hand just once, don’t stir vigorously and too much otherwise your jorda will be very sticky.When the water is almost dried out add the remain ghee and mix it with a light hand. Turn off your stove. Let it cool and then mix chopped morobba/ candied/dried fruits and nuts with it.

4. Garnish it with small gulab jamuns and cream . Your Shahi Jorda ( Bangladeshi Biyebari style ) is ready within 15/ 20 minutes without hassle.

Notes:

1. Don’t ever put sugar before your rice is cooked. Because, sugar prevents rice to be boiled. So Add the sugar just when your rice is cooked. Too much sugar can make your jarda very hard. So Use just the amount is needed.

2. Many asked me , whether the rice will be sticky , as unlike traditional way, we are using rice directly without pre cooking and draining any water. My answer is, “NO”, not at all. When we make pilaf/polau , does it get sticky since we don’t drain out the water?? NO, right??? It’s the stirring which makes your jarda/polau sticky. After adding water never, ever stir your jarda until the water is almost dried out and sugar is added. And even in this case the stirring should be done only once and with a light hand, not vigorously.

3. Don’t worry if the zarda seems soft before adding the sugar, because sugar hardens the rice, so after adding sugar it will be just perfect. That is why I used 2 cups and 1/2 cup water ( including orange/pineapple juice) for 1 cup of rice, which may seem a little more than usual to some people. Sometimes depending on the qualty of rice I had to add more water !!! Once I used almost 3 cup of water for 1 cup of rice and it was just perfect . Many complains that they end up making very hard jarda after it gets cooled down, it’s just because the water-sugar ratio..Try my tips, In Sha Allah you will be surprised at the end result!!!!!!!!

4. You can alwayz substitute orange pulp for pineapple juice, but careful, tangy ,sour orange may often ruin the taste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. As to foof color , alwayz use egg-yellow color for the perfect SHAHI look..Lemon-yellow or orange doesn’t bring that look!!!! You can alwayz experiment mixing colors. Like If you don’t have egg-yellow color mix yellow with little orange, you will have that Shahi color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. Have you noticed , in Bangladeshi “Biye bari” (* wedding style) zarda is not very sweet . If you add too much sugar the zarda will get too tight and will harden later . And just after cooking , it may seem not too sweet ,but after cooling down you will find it sweeter than the time you just cooked . So while cooking don’t add too much sugar just tasting it !!

7. zarda gets the perfect texture after 3/4 hours of cooking . After cooking spread the zarda in a wide dish and toss with a fork to get nice non-sticky zarda .

8. While cooking if you find the zarda needs sugar more .. Just spredd the sugar over it and don’t stir until it melts and dries out . It would help it to be non sticky . But always do it when the zarda has still little water in it . If there is no water , while spreding the sugar just add little water and cover . When the sugar is melted and drying out stir with a fork .