Choosing walnuts: kernels, paper-shell and colour grades
Light, light amber and amber halves, and whole walnuts you crack yourself: what the grades mean and what each is for.
How much saffron to use, and how to bloom it
A pinch is about 20 threads. How many to use for biryani, kheer and milk, and why soaking first matters.
Saffron is easy to waste. Thrown straight into a pot, a lot of its colour and aroma never leaves the thread. Used well, a 2 g tin of mongra lasts a family through a whole season of festivals.
First, know the measure. One gram of mongra is roughly 450 to 500 threads, so a pinch of about 20 threads weighs around 0.04 g. For a cup of saffron milk, five or six threads are enough. A kheer for six needs about 15. A biryani or pulao for six to eight takes 20 to 25, and a shahi tukda or phirni for a party, about 30.
Then bloom it. Crush the threads lightly between your fingers or in a small mortar, and soak them in two tablespoons of warm milk or water for 15 to 20 minutes. The liquid turns a deep golden orange. For biryani, drizzle it over the top layer of rice before you seal the pot; for kheer and halwa, stir it in during the last five minutes of cooking. Never fry saffron in hot ghee, which dulls the aroma quickly.
Lachha saffron, with some yellow style still on the thread, is milder. Use about one and a half times as much. Keep the tin closed and away from the stove, and use an opened tin within a year. If your saffron colours the liquid in seconds and the thread turns pale, it has been dyed; send us a photo and we will help you check.
