{"id":12706,"date":"2019-08-26T13:47:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T01:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascensionkitchen.com\/?p=12706"},"modified":"2021-12-18T14:21:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T01:21:59","slug":"saffron-rice-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascensionkitchen.com\/saffron-rice-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Vibrant Saffron Rice Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"
A healthy and vibrant saffron rice recipe. This is absolute, pure mood food! Saffron has been well-studied for its therapeutic use in anxiety and depression, so give this recipe a whirl for both its taste and uplifting benefits.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n This bright and cheery saffron rice recipe is an easy and nutritious dish, studded with pomegranate, cranberries, pistachios, orange zest and almonds.<\/p>\n It's the perfect side to accompany something like this Pumpkin Chickpea Rocket Salad<\/a> and this Green Bean, Cucumber and Mint Salad.<\/a><\/p>\n A little savoury (due to the spices), a little sweet (due to the fruit + nuts), visually impressive, perfect for a festive occasion (it would go well with my Plant Based Christmas Menu here<\/a>), and, it comes together in about 40 minutes.<\/p>\n This dish is food as medicine, friends. Saffron is a well-regarded mood-booster, whilst the other colourful additions bring their own benefits to the table (notably: gut-loving polyphenols!<\/a>).<\/p>\n I’m going to share a little on the kick-ass health benefits of this wonder spice then get straight into how to prepare saffron rice from start to finish.<\/p>\n Let’s go!<\/p>\n [bctt tweet=\"Mood-boosting antioxidant-rich Saffron Rice recipe with pomegranate, orange and pistachio – find it here!\" username=\"laurenglucina\"]<\/p>\n Saffron is derived from the Arab word for yellow, a nod to the carotenoids in the bright yellow stigmas, though the petals are an absolutely stunning purple. Saffron’s botanical name is Crocus sativus.<\/em><\/p>\n It is an incredibly precious spice. Saffron flowers contains only three stigmas each, and bloom for just three weeks out of each year. It takes approximately 75,000 saffron blossoms or 225,000 stigmas to produce just one pound (454g) of saffron as the spice we know it – doesn’t that just blow your mind?!<\/p>\n Saffron has a long history of traditional use in Greece, the Middle East, China and Europe.<\/p>\n Its therapeutic uses were listed in the Canon of Medicine<\/a> – a medical text written by the famous Persian physician Avicenna, back in 1025.<\/p>\n Today, it sits on the shelves of our Herbal Medicine dispensaries – with current evidence to support its use in mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, menstrual disorders, pain, gastrointestinal complaints, metabolic disorders, upper respiratory conditions, age-related macular degeneration and immuno-modulation.<\/p>\n It contains water-soluble carotenoids, which are potent antioxidants, helping reduce oxidative damage and protect against cancer.<\/p>\n There is particularly good evidence for its use in mood disorders<\/strong> – found to be significantly more effective than placebo, and comparative to anti-depressant medications, whilst being better tolerated, with less adverse effects, and benefits within starting within two weeks [1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>].<\/p>\n Herbs complimentary to saffron in the treatment of mood disorders such as anxiety and depression include St John’s wort, turmeric, ginkgo and American ginseng [4<\/a>].<\/p>\n Most of the clinical trials on saffron used 30mg per day – this is equivalent to a loose-packed half-teaspoon of saffron stigmas (I had to get my high-sensitive food scales out for this!).<\/p>\n You’d be hard-pressed to consume that daily just by using the spice in your cooking – but even including a small amount on a regular basis will support your health in positive ways.<\/p>\n If you would like to use saffron therapeutically for a mental health condition, be safe guys – book an appointment with a qualified, registered Naturopath and\/or Medical Herbalist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now that we know a little more about our power spice, let’s take a look at the wider benefits of this saffron rice recipe:<\/p>\n Start by sourcing a good-quality saffron, it should smell a bit like hay – see this post to learn how to identify qualify saffron<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n To prepare the saffron, grind half in a mortar and pestle, until it has powdered. Then add the remaining stigmas, with two tablespoons of hot water.<\/p>\n Let it steep for 10 minutes. The mechanical grinding and hydration both help to release the therapeutic constituents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now we need a large saucepan. Heat a glug of olive oil, then add your bay leaf, cinnamon, cumin and cardamom. Cook over low-medium heat until the spices release their fragrance (about a minute).<\/p>\n Add washed and drained brown basmati rice, and stir well to combine. Cook like this for another minute.<\/p>\n Then add vegetable stock and hydrated saffron – cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and leave to cook.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now – if you want to go to the effort of including the extra little goodies – pistachios, almonds, cranberries, pomegranate – fabulous – but if not, the dish is totally delicious plain.<\/p>\n I like to go the extra mile \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n So – while your rice cooks, dry toast (in a frying pan) pistachios and slivered\/flaked almonds (tip – pine nuts are a great alternative for either here), then set aside. Add a drizzle of olive oil back to the fry pan, then cook finely sliced onions until they’re soft and brown.<\/p>\n By now our rice should almost be done – so throw the dried cranberries into the pot so they have time to soften.<\/p>\n Remove the rice from the element and pick out the bay leaf and cardamom pods if you can (using tongs is helpful). Fluff with a fork, then add all remaining ingredients.<\/p>\n Boom! Our Saffron rice recipe is done, jewelled up and ready to serve!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Guys, in light of these Amazon fires, I really question how helpful the #govegan cries are at the moment. Telling people what <\/em>to do won’t get us very far, people need to be shown how<\/em> to do it! The truth remains the same either way – we really do need to address and reduce our meat consumption globally in the name of the planet’s welfare.<\/p>\n This is a 100% plant-based blog, and has been for the last 7, nearly 8 years. There are hundreds<\/em> of delicious free <\/em>recipes here – all of them healthy, most with accompanying nutritional notes. If you feel called to do so – please help me spread the word by sharing some of my recipes. Let’s educate and empower!<\/p>\n Love to you all,<\/p>\n Lauren. x<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you make and enjoy this recipe, please leave a rating below. And better yet – leave me a comment to tell me how you got on, or just say hi – I LOVE hearing from you. Follow me on <\/em>Instagram,<\/a> Facebook<\/a><\/em><\/span> or Pinterest<\/a><\/span> to see more of my everyday recipes and wellness tips.<\/em><\/p>\n If you’d like to chat with me about essential oils, or book in a class, you can do that here<\/a>.<\/span> If you’re after a Naturopathic consult, read more here.<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
Saffron: strands of gold<\/h2>\n
Key health benefits of Saffron <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Saffron Rice Health + Nutrition Benefits<\/h2>\n
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How to make Saffron Rice<\/h2>\n
Quick tips - how to cook rice perfectly<\/h2>\n
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Less meat, more plants<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udcd6Recipe<\/h2>
Saffron Rice<\/h2>\n