Zerde is a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

, a sort of sweet pudding

Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...

 from rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 that is colored yellow with saffron

Saffron

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...

. It is a festive dish popular at wedding, birth celebrations and during the first ten days of the sacred month of Muharram

Muharram

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year in which fighting is prohibited...

.

In Turkey, zerde is very popular in regions, where traditionally paddy field

Paddy field

A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...

s are found. In Edirne Province

Edirne Province

Edirne Province is the westernmost province of Turkey, located in Eastern Thrace along the Greek and Bulgarian border. The city's wealth, population and importance increased after it was declared as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire...

 at Eastern Thrace, which provides almost the half of country's rice production, zerde is a favored dessert. Flavoring ingredients of zerde vary slightly from region to region in Turkey depending on the local fruits.

Zerde differs from rice pudding

Rice pudding

Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...

 insofar that it is prepared with water instead of milk.

One serving of zerde has approx. 215 calories.

Ingredients

Typical ingredients of zerde are:

• 1 cup rice,
• 8 cups water,
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar,
• 2 tablespoon corn starch,
• 1/2 cup rose water,
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron,
• 1 teaspoon curcuma
  Curcuma
  Curcuma is a genus of about 80 accepted species in the plant family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam Tulip. The name comes from Arabic kurkum meaning "turmeric". Since assembly of the genus Curcuma by Linnaeus in 1753 about 130 species have been described so far...
  
  
• 1 tablespoon raisins,
• 1 tablespoon pistachio
  Pistachio
  The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
  
  s.

Preparation

Put saffron in rose water to dissolve in two hours. Soak raisins in warm water to get plumped. Dissolve corn starch in 1/2 cup water.

Boil rice in remaining water until it gets soft. Add starch solution, sugar, rose water with saffron and curcuma. Temper while constantly stirring. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender. Remove from heat and let it to cool down.

Pour zerde in serving cups. Decorate by adding raisins and pistachios on top. Cool in refrigerator. Serve cold as dessert.