My daughter watching me cut open the rice dish – she was mesmerized by the crunchy sounds and steam rising!

Ingredients

• 3 cups rice + 1 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground saffron + 3 ice cubes
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 pound stew meat
• 1 cup apricots, diced
• 1 cup raisins, diced
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 cup butter
• 6 tortillas

Instructions

1. After rinsing the rice several times, soak the rice in a large bowl with water and salt for 2 hours.
2. Place ground saffron and ice cubes in a cup to melt.
3. Fry the onions and stew meat together for 10 minutes.
4. Add in apricots, raisins, walnuts, turmeric, salt, cinnamon and cumin and fry for another 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
5. Boil the rice for 10 minutes, until tender but not completely cooked. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water.
6. In a Dutch oven, melt the better. Butter both sides of each tortilla.
7. Place one tortilla on the bottom, and four tortillas around the side of the pot.
8. Take 1/3 of the rice and add it in the tortilla lined pot. Pour 1/3 of the saffron water over the rice, and 1/2 of the meat mixture on top.
9. Add another 1/3 of the rice, followed by the rest of the meat, followed by the rest of the rice. Drizzle the remaining saffron water on top.
10. Place the last tortilla on top of the rice, and fold down the tortillas from the side, making sure there is no rice exposed.
11. Cover the pot and bake for 55 minutes at 350.
12. Let the rice sit for 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven.
13. Flip over onto a serving plate or tray & carefully slice open the tortilla crust into fourths and enjoy!