Pearl Divers' Rice

This could have been 5 stars - but as is, it only merits 1. Weird, huh? I had a hunch that it would go wrong - I read the recipe at least 5 times to be sure that I didn't miss a line anywhere saying 'add some water'.

Unfortunately, though, water was really necessary. Cooking the rice in water for 4 min, and then essentially frying it for another 15+ minutes won't get it cooked. Instead, the entire rice ended up partly uncooked and partly burnt black - not the "dark-brown crust ... at the bottom of the pan" that is described. I'll probably give it another try tomorrow as the flavour of the rice was really nice; though I will check other pilaf-recipes first, or just add some water to get it going for at least the first 10 minutes or so.

Served with Harissa-Marinated Chicken with Red Grapefruit Salad, which in theory made a really great combination!

Edited 10 April 2014: I made it again, this time shortly heating the 150g rice in the butter/oil, then adding 300ml boiling water and half the amount of all the spices (except for the cardamom pods, I used 4 of those), cooked it for 15-20 min - the result was a very nice rice, and a lot easier too! Next time I'd probably do the same, but tamper with the amounts of the spices - perhaps something like 6 cardamom pods, 2 tbsp rose water, saffron and 3 tbsp honey?