AI-generated image
Mutanjan
Sweet coloured rice with candied fruit
متنجن (mutanjan): rainbow-coloured wedding rice with khoya, candied fruit, nuts and little sweets
If zarda is the everyday celebration rice, mutanjan is its showy older sibling: the grains are dyed in three or four colours, layered with khoya, tutti frutti, nuts and small milk sweets, and steamed so that a spoonful looks like confetti. It is a Lucknowi and old Delhi tradition that came to Karachi with the families who migrated in 1947, and it still turns up at nikah dinners and on Shab-e-Barat in Karachi and Hyderabad, as well as in the old mithai shops of Lahore. The texture should be soft, sticky-sweet and rich with ghee, the flavour heady with cardamom and kewra. The thing that ruins it most often is stirring the coloured rice together, which blurs the colours into a muddy brown. Chef's tip: colour the rice in separate bowls, layer it in the pot without mixing, and only fold it once, very lightly, after the dum.
- Total time
- 85 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the rice
- 14 oz basmati ricewashed and soaked 30 minutes
- 10 ½ cups water
Colours
- 1 pinch red food colour
- 1 pinch green food colour
- 1 pinch yellow food colour
For the syrup and layers
- 4 oz ghee
- 6 green cardamom podscrushed
- 4 cloves
- 12 ½ oz sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 5 ½ oz khoyacrumbled
- 1 ⅜ oz almondssliced
- 1 oz pistachiossliced
- 1 oz raisins
- 1 tsp kewra water
- 8 small milk sweets (barfi or chum chum) (optional)halved
- 2 sheets edible silver leaf (vark), plant-based (optional)
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/10 doneStep 1: Bring 10 ½ cups water to a rolling boil in a large pan.
2 minStep 2: Drain 14 oz basmati rice, add it to the water and boil for 5–6 minutes until about two-thirds cooked, with a firm white centre, then drain well.
6 minStep 3: Divide the hot rice between three bowls and sprinkle each with a few drops of water mixed with 1 pinch red food colour, 1 pinch green food colour or 1 pinch yellow food colour; toss each bowl gently with a fork so the colour is patchy but even.
Step 4: Melt 4 oz ghee in a heavy, wide pan over a medium heat and fry 6 green cardamom pods and 4 cloves for 30 seconds.
2 minStep 5: Add 1 ⅜ oz almonds, 1 oz pistachios and 1 oz raisins and fry for 1 minute until the raisins puff; lift out a third for the top.
2 minStep 6: Add 12 ½ oz sugar, ½ cup water and 1 tsp lemon juice and simmer for 4–5 minutes, stirring at first, until the syrup is thick enough to coat a spoon.
5 minStep 7: Take the pan off the heat and spread a third of the coloured rice over the syrup in patches, then scatter with half of 2 ⅝ oz khoya and half of 1 oz tutti frutti (candied papaya).
Step 8: Add another third of the rice, the rest of the 2 ⅝ oz khoya and 1 oz tutti frutti (candied papaya), then the remaining rice, and sprinkle over 1 tsp kewra water.
Step 9: Cover tightly with a cloth-wrapped lid, return the pan to the lowest heat on a flat griddle or heat diffuser and cook for 20–25 minutes, until the syrup has been absorbed and the rice is soft and glossy.
25 minStep 10: Rest for 5 minutes, fold once very gently from the bottom, then pile onto a platter and top with the reserved nuts, 8 small milk sweets (barfi or chum chum) and 2 sheets edible silver leaf (vark), plant-based.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 88 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does mutanjan take?
- About 85 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of basmati rice?
- Any long-grain rice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of ghee?
- Butter, same amount (keep the heat a little lower, butter burns sooner).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
MarquesitasCheese and cajeta crepes
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican