Sweet Saffron Pilaf made by a clumsy girl

Sweet Saffron Pilaf with Nuts and Currants
(except I didn't have any currants)

I'm sure that you already know that I am clumsy in the kitchen. But if I forgot to mention it before, it's probably because a can of beans fell out of the cupboard and onto my head and affected my short term memory. Even I consider it a miracle that I have made it this far without having sacrificed a single finger or toe. Blood has been shed, on an almost daily basis, but never so much as to require stitches. Although, I am way over my Bandaid budget for the month.

Aside from the physical dangers that I risk with my clumsiness, I make a bit of a mess when I cook and yes, even sometimes when I eat. If the person across from me finds a miscellaneous pea or two under their plate, it's most likely mine, and not theirs as I generally hope they will believe. My boyfriend however, knows better, and shakes his head at the messes I frequently make. And this is where I say:
"What?" and pretend as though I have no idea what he is shaking his head about.

So perhaps it wasn't a great idea when my boyfriend and I decided to buy a new couch and chose a white one. I've been known to sit on the couch with a drink, a snack, sure, even a 3 course meal. But now, with the gleaming white surface beneath me, it only makes me nervous. Those plastic couch covers that you thought were only used by women named Ethel who have plastered every surface of their living room with doilies, suddenly seem not so much weird, as very, very practical. Well, the doilies are weird, but the plastic? Thumbs up Ethel.

But since I've got another year or two before I'm that crazy, the plastic is out of the question. Even if it meant I could sit happily on my new couch with a big bowl of spaghetti on my lap.
It seems that now I'm just going to have to take precautions.

Things were looking good when I decided to make this Sweet Saffron Pilaf. Right up to the very last minute I had deemed it relatively couch-acceptable. And then I poured on the bright yellow saffron/milk mixture and it was all over. It sure looked pretty though.

Sweet Saffron Pilaf with Nuts and Currants
Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness, Indian Home Cooking
Clarkson Potter, 2004

For copyright reasons, I have only listed the ingredients, so you can decide if it's a recipe you might want to try. Click here to read the recipe instructions at Leite's Culinaria.

1 1/4 cups basmati rice
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 tablespoon of milk or cream
1/4 cup ghee or canola oil (I used peanut oil and it was fine)
one 2 inch piece cinnamon stick
10 whole green cardamom pods
one inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup chopped blanched almonds
1/4 cup chopped shelled pistachios
2/3 cup sugar

About the rice
The rice is a very nice combination of flavours and smells great as it cooks. I would definitely make it again. If you want to break away from the standard white rice thing, which I rely on far too often, this is a good and somewhat exotic alternative. And you know, if you call it exotic, it just makes it seem that much better. Or is that just me?

My changes
-I omitted the black currants, because I could not find any.
-My basmati takes a ratio of equal parts rice to water, so I did not use the amount of water recommended in the recipe.
-The recipe instructs you to pound the 10 cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle so that the pods split open. But once the rice is cooked it does not instruct you to remove them. I'm not sure that biting into a cardamom pod or even a seed is going to be particularly appetizing to most people.
So next time I would be tempted to just throw them in whole to let them flavour the rice and remove them after the rice is cooked.