I came across a recipe for Persian Jeweled Rice. I thought that sounded interesting so I looked up 6 or 7 more recipes for Persian Jeweled rice and none of them were the same. But I did get ideas from all of them and I thought I could make a vegetable taste sort of like the Persian Jeweled Rice. I picked out the flavors that I thought would work the best with amounts that I guessed were good. One recipe called for rose petals. I happened to have rose water so I used a little bit of that instead. Somehow I guessed the amounts right because this came out really tasty. This recipe makes around 6 servings give or take.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 cabbage – remove core and rough chop

1 onion – rough chop

1 green bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop

1 red bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop

2 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on diagonal around 1/4 inch slices

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon rose water

1/2 teaspoon saffron (if you don’t have substitute ground turmeric )

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamon seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon date syrup

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup salted roasted pistachios – lightly crushed

1/4 cup dried barberries

1 Tablespoon dried mint (fresh is better but I didn’t have any if you use fresh mint mix with some fresh parsley to mellow out the strong mint)

1 orange – just the fresh grated zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, onion, bell peppers, carrots and set to the side.

In a small bowl that you will lightly microwave or in a sauce pan that you heat on medium heat on the stove combine the butter, oil, rose water, saffron, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, date syrup, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat gently till the butter is melted and the contents are fragrant. (about a minute)

Pour the small bowl of liquid over the vegetables and mix till the vegetables are coated. The vegetables go on sheet pan(s) preferably on the middle rack. Roast until slightly charred and so the carrots are fork tender (about 25-30 minutes).

Finish with pistachios, barberries, mint, and orange zest.

ENJOY!!!!