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Pistachio Saffron Seera

This thick, buttery semolina pudding, fragrant with saffron and sweetened with honey and sugar is a classic Diwali dish.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Semolina and pistachio share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 15 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep30 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Put the milk in a small saucepan with the saffron strands, warm over low heat until steaming but not boiling, then take it off the heat and let it steep for about 20 minutes.

  2. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the semolina and stir for about 4 minutes until it turns golden and smells nutty.

  3. Add the sugar and raisins and stir for 1 minute so the sugar begins to dissolve.

  4. Gradually pour in the saffron milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes until thick and glossy.

  5. Stir in the honey, then take the pan off the heat.

  6. Spoon into bowls and scatter the chopped pistachios over the top. Serve warm.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Semolina + pistachiotop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together15 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Saffron + pistachiotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Milk + honeytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,333 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Saffron + raisintop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together92 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (saffron, milk, butter, semolina, sugar, pistachio, honey):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  3. Apricotbetter flavor fit
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against saffron, milk, butter, semolina, sugar, pistachio, honey. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).