Bahraini Rice

This recipe called for three items in my pantry that I do not use very often at all, namely saffron, cardamon and rose water! In fact, up until now, I think I've only used each one separately in no more than two dishes.

I found this dish on-line searching for another use for rosewater, and I found this traditional rice dish from Bahrain. It also required date molasses which, again through a search I discovered is simply cooked and pureed dates. The trick with this dish though is to cook the rice, add all other ingredients and then add butter to a cast iron pan and very slowly fry the rice so that it has a crust on the bottom.

Very different taste with the rose water, cardamom and saffron. The crunchy bits of rice were quite delightful.