So it started during a phone conversation this morning, when a friend mentioned how he went to this restaurant called “Zafrani” at 4 AM and had Zafrani Lassi! Well, that knocked off the sleepy part in me as I was instantly transported to the fragrance and aroma of saffron, which along with cinnamon and cardamom, happens to be one of my favourite spices/flavours. Images of the zafrani lassi loomed before me and brought out long forgotten memories of the waft of a hot cuppa saffron tea, among many others .....
Conjuring up sights and smells of saffron tea, saffron lassi, saffron in the milk and saffron in what not, I go to meet my grandmom, who tells me that I should remember to buy saffron for her sometime during the day as we are out of stock. I am saved a response by the ringing of the door-bell. An uncle from Vienna is here, he hugs my grandmom [his aunt] and gives her a box of saffron, leaving my grandmom and I to exchange some furtive smiles!
Close to 5 in the evening, Saucy Sardonix comes back after shopping and produces a box of saffron and says “How about pulao for dinner?”
I quip sarcastically “Zafrani?”
“Why not?”
And that is how my maiden attempt at making Zafrani Pulao came about - Over 2 hours of preparation and 1 hour of actual cooking [that should speak a lot about my great cooking skills]. I followed the recipe posted here with decent success. And we were all scrapping the vessel for more, so perhaps the time and effort made up for it!
Just to add, this was done in the 'asli hyderabadi style', no cheeni at all which I am sure would gladden Tabu!
Oh, by the way, the other dish I set out to cook - Vegetable Jalfrezi - finally turned out like some mashed vegetable pulp cooked in some masala base!
Ah, well, no links to this dish as I followed the recipe in my mind and one needs to do all she can to prevent such disasters from recurring.
2 comments:
ummm... looks delicious!
Shukriya, madame! Thought of keeping some for you but thoda kam pad gaya yaar :(
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