1. Drain and rinse your rice. Let soak.

2. Heat water to boil your rice. Before you add your rice, add your masala. Here, add your star anise, cardamom, cloves, and saffron. I shaved some nutmeg into the water as well.

3. Next, add your rice to the boiling water. Cook until done. Drain the water off of your rice and set rice aside.

4. Now, we add your jewels. We will cook and toast the things we are adding to the rice. Heat a skillet with some cooking oil. Finally, make sure you soak your orange peel ahead of time.

5. Next, to your oil, add pan. Add any dried fruit you like: cranberries, raisins, etc. Add your shallots. I want to add barberries which are prevalent in Afghanistan. Next, add your rehydrated orange peels—Cook all of that for a few minutes.

6. Add sugar, one teaspoon of salt, and rose water.

7. Finally, before assembly, for about 30 seconds, toast some almonds and pistachios.

8. Finally, stir your jewels and nuts into your rice. Cover it in a pot, add a little water, and cook on med-low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Bonus Steps

9. If you want to do the acorn squash, before making your rice do the following:

10. Cut three acorn squash in half. Melt a half stick of butter and drizzle over the squash, and add one teaspoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt to each half squash.

11. Roast the acorn squash on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 for 45 minutes.

12. Take the squash out. Now you know how we steamed the rice above when we didn’t use the acorn squash? Ok, skip that step and cook it this way if you use acorn squash. Stuff the squash with rice, cover it with foil, and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.