Baghali Polo — Dill and Broad Bean Rice with spinach
Baghali Polo — Dill and Broad Bean Rice with spinach. Independently written modern Persian halal variation, with broad culinary inspiration from Najmieh Batmanglij, Food of Life: Ancient Persian and…
- 300 g basmati rice
- 25 ml olive oil
- 4 g salt
- 0.2 g saffron threads
- 1800 ml cooking water
- 300 g fully cooked peeled broad beans
- 35 g fresh dill
- 100 g fresh spinach
- Rinse rice until the runoff is nearly clear; soak in cold water for 30 additional minutes, then drain. Wash and chop the spinach. Steep saffron in 30 ml of the measured hot water for 10 minutes.
- Bring 1400 ml of the measured water and half the salt to a boil. Cook rice for 5–7 minutes until the outside softens but the centre stays firm; drain.
- Chop dill and combine with the cooked broad beans. Combine the variation ingredient with the beans. Heat oil in a heavy nonstick pot, spread 2 tablespoons of rice across the base, then layer remaining rice with the additions and variation ingredient. Add saffron water, remaining salt and 70 ml of the measured water; unused cooking water is discarded.
- Cover tightly and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then on the lowest heat for 30–35 minutes. Rest off heat for 10 additional minutes. Fluff the upper rice and lift out the golden crust separately. Serve four portions. Cool leftover rice rapidly in shallow containers and refrigerate at 4 °C within 1 hour; use within 24 hours.
- Photo: MRG90 — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baghali_Polo.png Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 Resized and converted to JPEG; no crop. Dill and broad bean rice illustration; variation vegetables and presentation differ.