I recently had a similar dish to this at a friends house and it was absolutely delightful. So when we had left over Salmon from Christmas lunch this year I decided to make my own rendition of Sabzi Mahi Polo. Hope you enjoy it.
My husband had cooked the salmon on the BBQ for Christmas lunch, and had drizzled it with a glaze of lemon marmalade before cooking it. This added a sweet lemon taste to the fresh salmon, and combined with fresh dill this dish incorporated wonderful flavors creating a truly unique Sabzi Mahi Polo.
Once you have mastered the standard Persian Layered Rice, you can really make it with anything. And this was a wonderful way of using excess Salmon.
Things to note when making Salmon and Dill Layered Rice – Sabzi Mahi Polo
When making Persian layered rice, you always need to start with a well greased rice dish to form a crunchy tahdig. I always use my Persian Rice Cooker as this makes the whole process much easier.
Start with a layer of potato, and then a layer of rice. It is essential that you are gentle with the rice when handling the par cooked rice. I always say that you have to treat the rice with love. Then add a layer of fresh dill, and broken pieces if the cooked salmon. Repeat until all the rice, dill and salmon is used. You can see that lovely gleam of the lemon marmalade glaze on the salmon.
Once all the layer are completed, sprinkle with powdered saffron. This adds a lovely flavor to the rice along with the golden color saffron is so well known for. Add a few nobs of ghee to add that lovely buttery taste and pop it into the rice cooker.
To ensure that a good tahdig is formed, you need to be sure that no moisture drips to the bottom of the rice cooker pan. This is traditionally achieved by placing a tea-towel on the top of the rice cooker bowel before putting on the lid. This traps the steam in the cloth preventing drips of water ruining the tahdig.
When cooked turn the rice cooker dish upside down onto a round rice serving dish and admire the wonderful golden, crunchy tahdig.
Salmon and Dill Layered Rice – Mahi Sabzi Polo
Equipment
- Persian Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 cups basmati rice
- 500 grams cooked salmon
- 1 bunch dill – shivid
- 3 tlbs ghee
- 1 large potato
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Par boil the rice untill three quarters cooked. Al dente
- Wash the cooked rice in running water untill the water runs clear, and set aside to drain.
- Peel and thinly slice the potato and saok in water untill ready to prepare the rice.
- Wash and drain the dill well to remove excess water. Then finely chop the dill.
- Break the cooked salmon into pieces about 2 cm square.
- In your rice cooker bowl, rub one tlb of ghee around the base and up t around 2 cm of the sides.
- Sprinkle salt on the ghee, and then layer the drained, dried, potato slices on the ghee to form the tadhig.
- Gently spread around a quarter of the cooked rice across the potato layer.
- Spread around a third of the fresh dill on top of the rice layer.
- Then gently place a third of the salmon on the dill. Sprinkle with salt and safron powder.
- Repeat untill finishing with a layer of rice.
- Sprinkly the top with safron powder, and dollops of remaining ghee.
- Cover the top of the rice cooker pan with a tea-towl and fit the lid.
- Cook using the rice cooker program for around 45 minutes.
- Turn out onto a round rice serving tray.
