Sakharbath

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Goan Cuisine
Dish: Sakharbath
After two savory and spicy dishes from Goa, I was looking for a dessert recipe to try. Goan cuisine has ton of delicious desserts that use coconut, cashews. One dessert that really caught my eye is Bebinca, but after seeing that the dish has a dozen egg yolks and cup and a half of ghee (clarified butter), I changed my mind. Also I was making this dish just for myself since my husband is travelling, so I didn't want it to be too labor intensive and wanted just 1 or 2 servings.

Finally I zeroed in on this Sakharbhath recipe. This is a very simple, easy and quick sweet rice dish. I used only ¼cup of rice, but the recipe can be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd. Rice is cooked in just water and then sweetened to taste with sugar, so this is a dairy free which I'm sure my milk-hating husband will definitely appreciate.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1cup
Sugar - to taste (Start with ½cup and add more as per taste)
Dry fruits - 3tbsp, almonds, cashews, raisins
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Bay leaf - 1
Cardamom - 3-4 pods
Ground Cardamom - ½tsp 
Saffron - 4-5 strands

 

Method:

• Wash and rinse basmati rice. Soak in cold water for about ½hour. Then drain well and set aside.
• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a sauce pan, add the dry fruits and fry until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
• In the same add, add 1tbsp ghee and add all the whole garam masala, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and bay leaf. Cook until the spices start to smell aromatic, about 1-2 minutes.
• Next add the drained basmati rice and mix to coat the grains with ghee. Add 1½cups of water, saffron strands and bring the mixture to a boil on medium-high flame. Lower the heat and simmer covered until rice is tender, about 15 minutes.
• Finally add the sugar, roasted dry fruits and ground cardamom. Cook until the rice dries out a little bit. 

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 26.