Zarda (Pakistani Sweet Rice)

What is Zarda?

Zarda is a traditional Pakistani sweet dish made with rice, sugar, nuts and cardamom seeds. The name Zarda comes from the Urdu word ‘Zard’, which means yellow – this is why Zarda is often a very bright hue of yellow or orange!.

How do you make Zarda?

The recipe I’ve seen the women in my family use is very long and complicated, some involving boiling the rice separately and making a ‘chashni‘, a sugar syrup infused with the cardamom and food colouring to pour over the plain rice separately.

I feel like those steps are unnecessary, make no difference to the flavour of the Zarda and just means more dirty dishes to wash later when you could be enjoying your divine Zarda.

My recipe is as simple as it gets –

1. Boil the rice with the food colouring and cardamom, whilst the nuts and raisins roast in a pan on the side.
2. Drain the rice once it’s cooked.
3. Stir in the sugar and roasted nuts + raisins.
4. Let it steam for 10-15 minutes.

‘m ALL about keeping things simple when I can.

This uncomplicated process, yet high ROI on flavour and satisfaction is exactly why this is one of my go-to desserts. Zarda, you are SO kind to me.

What makes a good Zarda?

In my opinion, the best Zarda is one where each grain of rice is long, separate and firm with no evidence of mush or overly softened rice, all whilst being coated in the sparkling syrupy goodness of the sugar. Finished off with a confetti of candied nuts and raisins laced in each bite, this becomes a festival of flavours and textures in your mouth!

Do I need to use food colouring in Zarda?

Some people may be hesitant to use food colouring in Zarda. You definitely don’t need to use powdered food colouring as instructed in this recipes. Alternatives to food colouring include:

Saffron (soak a teaspoon or so of saffron threads in water and use this to carefully stir into the rice). This will result in a very faint dye unless you use a lot of saffron, so I would advise you to just sprinkle the saffron water onto the top of the rice so some of the rice grains become yellow.
You can use any alternate natural food colouring product you may have – it will work absolutely fine. Add this at the same time you are boiling the rice.

How is Zarda served?

As a dessert, Zarda is served just as it is – sprinkled with nuts and dried fruit as a garnishing. It can be served alongside a cup of herbal tea or regular tea. You can also garnish it with khoya, various mithai, even clotted cream. It’s also best served warm.

In some households, it’s a thing to serve Zarda alongside a Biryani or a Pilau. I can attest to how delicious sweet Zarda is when mixed with a spicy and meaty Biryani – it’s a sweet and spicy flavour party and seriously, you can’t knock it until you try it!