Lubia Polo — Green Bean and Tomato Rice with courgette
Lubia Polo — Green Bean and Tomato Rice with courgette. Independently written modern Persian halal variation, with broad culinary inspiration from Najmieh Batmanglij, Food of Life: Ancient Persian…
- 300 g basmati rice
- 25 ml olive oil
- 4 g salt
- 0.2 g saffron threads
- 1800 ml cooking water
- 300 g green beans
- 250 g tomatoes
- 100 g onion
- 2 g ground turmeric
- 120 g courgette
- Rinse rice until the runoff is nearly clear; soak in cold water for 30 additional minutes, then drain. Cut the courgette into 1 cm pieces. 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.
- Trim and cut beans into 2 cm lengths. Soften finely chopped onion in 5 ml of the measured oil for 5 minutes; add diced tomatoes, beans, turmeric and variation ingredient. Simmer covered with 100 ml of the measured water for 15–20 minutes until beans are tender; reduce excess liquid before layering. 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: مانفی — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loobia_Polo.jpg Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 Resized and converted to JPEG; no crop. Green bean rice illustration; the pictured version may include meat, while this formula is a vegetable rice dish.