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Savta’s Pulao

This delicious Persian rice recipe was my grandmother’s. It takes some effort to make but when it comes out right, it’s wonderful.

Ingredients

For the Rice

  • 3 cups long-grain white rice

For the Greens

  • 1 large head dill
  • fava or lima beans (frozen is fine)
  • 2 onions
  • (optional) 1 bunch swiss chard
  • (optional) 1 head cilantro
  • salt
  • (optional) cayenne pepper

For the Potatoes

  • 3-4 medium-large potatoes (Russet, Idaho or similar variety)

For the Spice Mixture

  • vegetable oil (1/2 to 1 cup)
  • a lot of ground coriander seed
  • a lot of cumin
  • some curry powder

Also

  • 1 lemon

Preparation

Rice

Parboil the rice:

  1. Put rice in a large pot; cover with 4 inches of water.
  2. Add salt.
  3. Bring to a boil, then let boil for 10 minutes (only partially cooking the rice).
  4. Drain and set aside.

Greens

  1. Finely chop the dill and other herbs and greens. (If using chard, remove the tough stems).
  2. Dice the onion.
  3. Saute the onion (plus salt and cayenne) until it starts to get soft.
  4. Add the chopped greens (and optional lima/fava beans).
  5. Cover and cook briefly–just until they wilt; no longer.

Potatoes

  1. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/4 to 1/3″ lengthwise slices (with the long side of the potato).

Spice Mixture

  1. Put the 1/2 to 1 cup oil in a large bowl. (The bowl should be large enough to accommodate a potato slice; see below.)
  2. Mix in generous amounts of spices: ground coriander seed, cumin, curry.

Assemble

  1. Dip each potato slice into spice mixture, covering it generously with oil and spice.
  2. Sprinkle additional spices to potato slice, if desired.
  3. Lay potato slices in bottom of large pot, covering the bottom with a layer of potato.
  4. When bottom layer is finished, begin a second layer, third layer, etc., until all of the potato is layered in the pot.
  5. Pour the remaining oil/spice mixture over the potatoes.
  6. Add 1/2 cup water to the pot.
  7. Spread half the rice evenly over the potatoes.
  8. Spread the greens in a layer over the rice layer.
  9. Squeeze a lemon over the greens.
  10. Add the remaining rice on top of the greens layer.
  11. Create a slight convex cone with the top layer of rice; like this: /\
  12. Pour 1/2 cup water down the edges of the pot, around the outside of the rice cone.

Cook

  1. Cover the pot tightly: put 2 paper towels under the pot lid to help create a seal, and put a towel on top of the lid.
  2. Place the pot on a medium-high light, until you hear the oil bubbling.
  3. Once the oil is boiling, reduce the heat to low.
  4. Do not open the pot for at least 1 hour.
  5. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, until the potatoes smell “cooked.” (Yes, I know this is vague.)

Serves 6.

Serving Suggestions

With a large spoon, mix up the rice, greens and potatoes. The bottom layer of potato gets stuck to the bottom of the pot (and tastes the best), so you’ll need to pry it up.

Serve with salt and lemon. Special guests get the deliciously crisp potatoes from the bottom (called Ta’adiq).

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