Lightly butter your baking dish and set aside.
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Cut off edges from the bread, slice in half on the diagonal.
Place pan on medium high heat and smear with some butter, then add a few drops of oil (approximately 2 tsps).
Fry bread till lightly brown on both sides. You will have to keep adding more butter and oil as you fry the batches of bread.
Transfer fried bread into baking dish. Do not double layer the bread.
Slowly begin to pour half-and-half on bread. As the bread absorbs the liquid, pour more.
In the meantime place a saucepan on the stove on high heat and add sugar,water and cardamom pods.
Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low, add saffron powder and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour half of heavy cream over the bread.
Now pour hot syrup on top of bread, then pour the remainder of the whipped cream and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Garnish with almonds and pistachios.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
