Tag: rice

Salmon and Dill Layered Rice – Sabzi Mahi Polo
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

A wonderfull way to use left over cooked salmon.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Course Main Course
Cuisine Persian

Servings 8 people
Calories 381 kcal

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.

Notes
Serve with a green herb salad and Shirazi Salad.

Nutrition
Calories: 381kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 18gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 615mgPotassium: 581mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 36IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 33mgIron: 1mg

Keyword dill, salmon

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December 28, 2020
Baghali Polo – Rice with Broad Beans, Dill & Chicken
Baghali Polo is a traditional rice dish combining the flavours of the delicate Broad bean with Dill. This recipe includes chicken and becomes a complete meal. Although it can be a little time consuming to remove the outer husks from the bread bean, it is a quick and easy Iranian meal, served with Yoghurt, mixed tomato and cucumber salad and a bowl of Sabzi (fresh herbs).
Baghali Polo – Rice with Broad Beans, Dill & Chicken

A delicious Persian rice with layers of chicken, dill and broad beans

4.75 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Course Main Course
Cuisine Persian

Servings 8
Calories 440 kcal

Equipment
1 Persian Rice Cooker Recommended

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice
2 tlbs salt
1 kg diced chicken breast
1 onion
1 tsp turmeric
2 tlbs salt
500 g frozen Broad Beans
1/2 cup dried Dill
1 piece Lebanese flat bread
2 tlbs butter or olive oil

Instructions

Place chicken, onion, salt and turmeric in a large saucepan with some vegetable oil.
Seer the outside of the chicken pieces, and add about 1 cup of water.
Lower heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the liquid has reduced.
Strain and wash the rice under running water until the water runs clear, to remove any remaining starch.
Remove the outer husks form the broad beans and discard.
In the bottom of a heavy based saucepan, or a Persian Rice cooker add the melted butter or olive oil.
Separate the 2 layers of the Lebanese bread and lay one piece on the butter in the bottom of the saucepan or Persian Rice Booker to form the tahdig.
Gently spoon a layer the rice over the bread.
Add a layer of cooked chicken and fresh Broad Beans.
Generously add a layer of dried dill.
Repeat the layers until the chicken and dill is used. Usually 2 layers of each. Finish with a layer of Rice.
Gently pour over any remaining juices form the chicken on the top. Add an extra knob of butter if desired.
Place a tea-towel or a cloth under the saucepan or rice cookers lid to absorb any excess moisture while the rice is steaming.
Cook on a high heat until the sides of the pan are hot to touch, then reduce the heat to low and cook for about 30 – 45 minutes. Alternately if using a Persian Rice cooker, allow to run the full cycle.
Place the bottom of the saucepan or rice cooker pan in about 3 cm of water in a sink to loosen the tahdig.
Turn the pan upside down onto a round serving dish to serve.

Notes
This recipe uses flat Lebanese bread for the tahdig, you can also use potato if you wish.

Nutrition
Calories: 440kcalCarbohydrates: 62gProtein: 38gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 402mgPotassium: 1205mgFiber: 6gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 912IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 314mgIron: 9mg

Keyword Chicken, dill, rice

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Additional Tips.

A Persian rice cooker makes this dish much easier as the Tahdig is formed perfectly each time with out the risk of either soggy or burnt Tahdig.
August 31, 2013
Easy Adas Polo with Lamb
This Adas Polo recipe with Lamb, and although it takes a while to cook, it is one of the easiest Persian recipes.

Boil the lamb, onion, turmeric, salt pepper in a pressure cooker until the lamb pieces are well cooked.

Bring lamb, onions and tumeric to boil.

I usually then place this in fridge over night to remove excess fat that has solidified over night. Keep some though, as this is delicious on in the rice and adds the required fat to keep the rice grains separated and to crisp the tahdig at the bottom of the pan.

Cool stock to remove excess fat

If you wish, you can boil more lamb pieces and then store the remainder in the freezer to make the recipe a second time, for a lazy Sunday night meal. Just defrost the stock and lamb pieces before using.

Add cooked lamb with sultanas and cooked lentils

The rice is not precooked, rather washed and stirred through with the cooked adas (green lentils), boiled chunks of lamb, and sultanas. Then spooned into the rice cooker and the lamb stock is gently ladled over the rice. The rice cooker is then set to cycle through it’s normal cycle.

Stir though washed, uncooked rice

The trick to this Adas Polo recipes is to ensure that you use the correct amount of liquid to the rice. This can be quite varied depending on the type of rice you use. I usually find that 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of liquid ratio works well for the Indian Basmati rice.

Layer potato on the bottom of the rice dish

Spoon uncooked rice mixture over the potato slices

Add the lamb stock over the rice

I tend to prefer the green lentils over brown lentils for this recipe as the green lentils tend to retain there size and shape better during the cooking process in the rice cooker.

I have made this recipe with Brown rice, and it is equally delicious, but our family much prefer the white rice version. The natural sweetness of the sultanas makes a delicious combination through the rice and lentils.

Adas Polo with Lamb
Easy Adas Polo with Lamb

An easy version of the traditional rice dish with adas (green lentils), sultanas and lamb. This version allows for the rice to be cooked in the stock similar to Italian risotto

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 3 hours

Course Main Course
Cuisine Persian

Servings 6 people
Calories 2462 kcal

Equipment
1 Persian Rice Cooker

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice
2 tlbs salt
1 kg lamb pieces
1 onion
1 tsp turmeric
2 tlbs salt
1/2 cup sultanas
1 cup cooked adas (green lentils)
1 potato

Instructions

Place lamb, onion, salt and turmeric in a large saucepan. Cover with water, bring to boil.
Lower heat and simmer until the meat is falling off the bones, about an hour.
Remove lamb, and discard the bones.
Boil the lentils in water till half cooked and strain.
Wash the rice in water and soak while the lamb is cooking.
Strain and wash under running water to remove any remaining starch.
In a large bowl, add the uncooked rice, lamb, lentils and sultanas and stir carefully to distribute the ingredients.
In the bottom of a heavy based saucepan, or a Persian Rice cooker ladle about 1/2 cup of lamb stock, and cover with a layer of sliced, peeled potato to form the tahdig.
Gently spoon the rice mixture over the potato.
Measure out 4 cups of stock and gently pour over the rice mixture, being careful not to dislodge the sliced potato.
Place a tea-towel or a cloth under the saucepan or rice cookers lid to absorb any excess moisture while the rice is steaming.
Cook on a high heat until the sides of the pan are hot to touch, then reduce the heat to low and cook for about 30 – 45 minutes. Alternately if using a Persian Rice cooker, allow to run the full cycle.
Place the bottom of the saucepan or rice cooker pan in about 3 cm of water in a sink to loosen the tahdig.
Turn the pan upside down onto a round serving dish to serve.

Notes
A Persian rice cooker makes this dish much easier as the tahdig is formed perfectly each time without the risk of either soggy or burnt tahdig.

Nutrition
Calories: 2462kcalCarbohydrates: 518gProtein: 84gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1607mgPotassium: 3908mgFiber: 73gSugar: 54gVitamin A: 81IUVitamin C: 61mgCalcium: 305mgIron: 21mg

Keyword lentils

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Suggested accompaniments for Adas Polo is thickened plain yogurt and Shirazi salad.

Lentils are high in protein and folate (folic acid) otherwise known as Vitamin B9, and are often a staple in vegetarian and vegan diets, making this recipe both economical and nutritious.

This recipe can be adapted to a vegetarian dish by replacing the the lamb with vegetables, such as carrot and celery, to develop a good quality vegetable stock.

Our standard layered Adas Polo recipe where you cook rice first in water, is a vegan recipe.
July 28, 2013