Persian Rice ( Beghali Polo)

Rice has always been a staple food in my home particularly for lunch, back home we always had rice for lunch and other types of food for supper/dinner. Rice is served with varieties of curries be it chicken, fish, lamb etc and vegetables or grains.

Being a rice eater it is no surprise why am attracted to rice dishes from every cuisine and Persian is definitely among the few of my favorite that I have come across. Persian cuisine is very wide and extensive in it own unique way so I am only going to focus on the rice at the moment.

Long grains rices are widely consumed they are  and graded based  on where they are grown and the aromatic fragrance they produced. The closest I can get is Basmati rice which is equaly fragrant. Most rices are prepared with one or two additional ingredients varying from herbs, vegetables, meats, legumes, grains, nuts, dried fruits etc. and Safron

Theres a specific and unique approach to cooking Persian rice as far as I am concerned. The Basmati rice is socked in cold water for about an hour to remove the starch ; in some recipes its soaked with a lot of salt (up to 8 Tablespoons!!!) then par boil it in very salty water, its then drained and shocked cold water. Next you heat a pan with any kind of cooking oil preferably one the has no strong smell such as sunflower, canola add the rice to and pile it up in a shape of  a pyramid and make holes and insert the butter cubes or sometimes without it. The rice is then well covered tightly and cooked on medium high heat for about 10 mins and then totally low heat for another 15 mins or so. This process creates a very a delicious golden crispy and crunch rice at the bottom ( Tahdig) and fluffy rice on the top.

I loved Persian food but  discovered the passion sometimes in the 90's  in Dubai, there was a restaurant nearby where I worked and we used to go on every chance and excuse we could come up with. The food was not only delicious; the buffet had such a spread and was ridiculously cheap. And you know whats next...I went out hunting for Persian cuisine cook book, I must say that I was disappointing not to find any !!

I could not understand why considering the obvious and large Persian population in UAE. Nevertheless, I managed to find one after many months of searching every Bookshop I could see. The book 'Persian Cooking A Table of Exotic Delights by Nesta Ramazani' is not one of those attractive with colorful pictures but I bought it anyways. It took me a while to figure out what I really wanted to learn since I was not familiar with the names and no pictures to guide me through... Now I can say that it is an excellent book and I am so glad that I picked it up

Today I am sharing with you two types of rice dishes which are my favorite especially Beghali Polo ( Dill rice) my other favorite is Javaher Polo (Jeweled Rice) it is very decadent both in the ingredients and the time and love to prepare it....I will definitely show you when get chance to make it.

The ingredients here they are just approximate due to the nature of the dish.

Serves 4 - 6 

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups

Fresh Dill or dried - 1/2 cup

Baby Lima Beans 1/2 - 1 cup 

Cumin powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tspn

Salt - 3 tspn ( as per yr taste)

Butter - 3 Tbls

Oil  - 1 - 1 1/2 Tbls

Safron - a pinch

Potato - 1 large

Dried Barberries or cranberries   

Water to boil the rice - 6-8 cups

Method:

Wash , rinse and soak the rice for minimum 20 mins.

On medium high heat , bring to boil water with salt 

Peel the potatoes and slice into round disks

Grind the saffron into a fine powder

Drain the rice and add to the boiling water

Let it cook for about 7 mins

Remove from the heat and drain, run some cold water for a minute

In a medium pan, add the cooking oil ( Medium high heat)

Layer the potatoes, sprinkle some cumin powder

Layer the rice , add the Lima beans, sprinkle some  dill 

Add another layer of rice, white or yellow ( however you prefer)

To color the rice with saffron; add 2 Tbls of hot water to the saffron powder , pour it into the rice and mix to combine till all rice is yellow.

Once you have finished layering the rice with the herbs and beans ( in shape of pyramid like so) make holes all the way till you touch the potatoes at the bottom . Insert the butter cubes.

Cover it very well so the steam does not come out, use kitchen paper underneath the lid. Let it cook on slow heat for about 30-45mins.

Plate it anyway you like it, garnish some dried berries before serving . Enjoy your meal with anytime of grill or veggies.