I’ve been blessed with some incredible friends in Melbourne. What’s more, most of them join me in my passion for good food. They have been more than willing to initiate me into the cuisines of their home countries, through cooking and sharing food together.
My friend Pouya is from Iran, and he offered to teach me about some delicious Persian dishes. He came over with bags full of dried spices, fresh and pungent as we opened the bags.
We are cooking Loobia Polo: fried and steamed cooked lamb, rice, and green beans – similar to a biryani. A common comfort food, this dish should comprise of a nice golden tahdig, pronounced tah-deeg, which literally means “bottom of the pot” in Farsi. The bottom layer of rice crisps up and creates a delicious crust.
Loobia Polo and Salad Shirazi
Simple, easy to make one-dish Persian comfort dish, made from long grain rice, turmeric, lamb, and green beans.
Dry fry the onions, then add the broken up lamb mince.
Cook until dry, if meat isn’t terribly fatty add a dash of oil (but lamb is usually sufficiently fatty on its own). Add turmeric and cook over a low heat until cooked through. Make a well in the middle and add the tin of tomato paste, cook without stirring until the tomato paste has browned a little on the bottom.
Then mix through the mince. Add green beans and about 1 cup of water, stir. Cover with a lid and cook meat for 1 hour until well cooked through and beans are very soft. Stir every 5-10 minutes and top up water if it dries out to prevent it burning.
Cook 3 cups of rice until par cooked – the grains should be soft but still with a little crunch on the inside.
In a cast iron pot, put in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Heat and layer the potato slices on the bottom, and fry in the oil for 1 minute. On top, scoop on 1/3rd of the rice, then layer with 1/3rd of the meat and repeat until all used.
Pull the rice away from the sides of the pot so that the meat and rice is sitting in a mound, not touching the sides at all.
Wrap a tea towel tightly around the lid and place the lid on (this allows the rice to steam) and cook over a low heat for about half an hour, until the meat and rice have combined through and the rice is completely cooked.
Mix all together and serve as a side.
Chop the spinach, removing the stems, and steam until well wilted. Mix through the yoghurt with the dried mint.
Ingredients
Directions
Dry fry the onions, then add the broken up lamb mince.
Cook until dry, if meat isn’t terribly fatty add a dash of oil (but lamb is usually sufficiently fatty on its own). Add turmeric and cook over a low heat until cooked through. Make a well in the middle and add the tin of tomato paste, cook without stirring until the tomato paste has browned a little on the bottom.
Then mix through the mince. Add green beans and about 1 cup of water, stir. Cover with a lid and cook meat for 1 hour until well cooked through and beans are very soft. Stir every 5-10 minutes and top up water if it dries out to prevent it burning.
Cook 3 cups of rice until par cooked – the grains should be soft but still with a little crunch on the inside.
In a cast iron pot, put in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Heat and layer the potato slices on the bottom, and fry in the oil for 1 minute. On top, scoop on 1/3rd of the rice, then layer with 1/3rd of the meat and repeat until all used.
Pull the rice away from the sides of the pot so that the meat and rice is sitting in a mound, not touching the sides at all.
Wrap a tea towel tightly around the lid and place the lid on (this allows the rice to steam) and cook over a low heat for about half an hour, until the meat and rice have combined through and the rice is completely cooked.
Mix all together and serve as a side.
Chop the spinach, removing the stems, and steam until well wilted. Mix through the yoghurt with the dried mint.
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