Shahi Zarda with Gulab Jamun Recipe
\nServes: 6-8<\/p>\n
Ingredients
\nFor the Zarda \/ Sweet Rice:<\/p>\n
2 cups basmati rice – soaked 30 mins
\n1\u00bd cups sugar – adjust to taste
\n4 cups water
\n4-5 tbsp ghee
\n4-5 green cardamoms, slightly crushed
\n4-5 cloves
\n1 inch cinnamon stick
\n\u00bd tsp saffron strands soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk
\n\u00bd tsp orange\/yellow food color – for that bright color
\n\u00bc cup khoya\/mawa, crumbled – optional but rich
\nPinch of salt
\nFor Garnish:<\/p>\n
8-10 gulab jamun – store-bought or homemade
\n2 tbsp sliced almonds
\n2 tbsp sliced pistachios
\n2 tbsp raisins
\n2 tbsp dried coconut slices or coconut flakes
\n1-2 tbsp mixed nuts of choice
\nSilver leaf\/varq – optional, for that royal look
\nInstructions
\n1. Parboil the rice:<\/p>\n
Boil 4 cups water with cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, pinch of salt, and food color.
\nAdd soaked & drained rice. Cook until 80% done – grains should still have a slight bite.
\nDrain completely and set aside.
\n2. Make sugar syrup:<\/p>\n
In a heavy pot, melt ghee on low heat.
\nAdd sugar + \u00bd cup water. Let it dissolve to form a light syrup. Don’t caramelize it.
\nAdd saffron milk and mix.
\n3. Layer and steam ‘dum’:<\/p>\n
Add the parboiled rice to the syrup. Gently fold so grains don’t break.
\nSprinkle khoya, half the nuts, and raisins on top.
\nCover with a tight lid. Cook on dum for 15-20 mins on very low heat until rice is fully tender and syrup is absorbed. Place a tawa\/griddle under the pot to prevent burning.
\n4. Garnish and serve:<\/p>\n
Fluff the rice gently with a fork.
\nTransfer to a large decorative platter.
\nTop with gulab jamun, remaining nuts, coconut slices, and silver varq.
\nServe warm. It’s usually a wedding\/daawat special.
\nPro tips:<\/p>\n
Rice texture: Don’t overcook in step 1 or it’ll get mushy. 80% cooked means when you press a grain, it breaks into 2-3 pieces.
\nColor: Zarda literally means ‘yellow’. Use saffron + food color for that signature bright orange-yellow look you see in the pic.
\nGulab jamun: Add them right at the end so they don’t break. You can warm them slightly in syrup first.
\nGhee: Don’t skimp – it gives zarda its rich aroma and keeps grains separate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shahi Zarda with Gulab Jamun Recipe Serves: 6-8 Ingredients For the Zarda \/ Sweet Rice: 2 cups basmati rice – soaked 30 mins 1\u00bd cups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viral-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralarticle.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}