Sour Cherry Rice

Tonight I made this rice in an attempt to duplicate one of my favorites from a Persian restaurant in Dallas. It came out really tasty, but it just needed a little more lemon juice and some chopped fresh dill added in at the end. But I'm posting what I did:

Sour Cherry Rice

Main Ingredients:

1/2 glass of uncooked white basmati rice (about 1/4 c)
1 glass water (important ratio is 2 parts water to 1 part rice)
about 1/4 c (a small handful) of dried sour cherries (I get mine at Whole Foods in the bulk foods aisle)
one VERY small onion (or about 1/2 of a regularly small one)
1 clove of garlic
Salt to taste
1 T oil (I used sunflower seed oil)
Squeeze of lemon

Spices:

1 black cardamom pod
2 small green cardamom pods
2 whole peppercorns
1 "petal" of a star anise
1 small bay leaf
2 whole gloves
1 tsp. of cumin seeds

Method:

Wash the rice well, then set it aside. Have the water ready to pour into your saucepan. In the saucepan, warm the oil. When it shimmers, add the onion, chopped, fry till golden brown (careful not to burn!) and stir in the garlic, minced. Push the onion-garlic mix to one edge of the pot, and let the oil pool on the other side. Add the spices (except bay leaf) into the oil. The oil should be hot enough that you can hear a quiet sizzle. Once you can smell the fragrance of the spices (about 30 seconds), stir everything in the pot together, add the rice, let the whole thing lightly fry for another 30 seconds or so, and then add the water, cherries and bay leaf, salt and a squeeze of lemon. Let the rice gently boil until it's just almost dry, then remove from heat and let sit covered for about 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. If your rice is still a little too wet, you can pop it in the microwave for a few minutes, or gently cook it on the stove, stirring, until it's drier.

Serving Suggestion and Notes: I thought this was really tasty, and a good approximation of the rice at the restaurant. Theirs is a little drier and fluffier than mine came out, and also less pink (from the cherries). Probably they add the cherries in just at the end, and they get kind of plumped from the steaming rice, but aren't cooking with it. Chopped fresh dill would've been great, but I didn't have any.