Polo Shevid Baghali (Rice, Favas & Dill)
Recipe by Tannaz Sassooni
When I was a kid, it was my job to shell the fava beans for this dish. These days, you can find shelled, skinned favas in the freezer section of Middle Eastern markets. Either fresh or frozen will work here.
My mom, Violet, uses a combination of fresh and dried dill for depth of flavor. Her secret ingredient is a sprinkling of ground cardamom, a trick she learned from her mom. Between these herbs and spices, onions caramelized with saffron, fava beans, and basmati rice, this is a very fragrant dish.
If you place sliced potatoes at the bottom of the pot, you’ll end up with golden-brown potato tahdig. It’s totally optional though; you could have two pots of just tahdig, without the potatoes, and there’d still be no leftovers."
Ingredients:
For the rice
2 ½ cups basmati rice (washed and soaked, see previous recipe for details)
For the piaz dagh (saffron caramelized onions)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
pinch ground saffron
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 3/4 C prepared fava beans
1 1/2 C finely chopped fresh dill, stems and all
2 ½ tsp salt
2 tbsp neutral oil + ½ cup neutral oil
1/2 C neutral tasting oil
1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices (optional)
1/2 C dried dill
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tsp ground cardamom
Instructions:
Remove the individual fava beans from their pod. Slice each bean in half lengthwise and slip the bright-green bean out of its skin. (Having trouble slipping them out of their skin? See our handy fava bean 1-2-3 trick!)
Par-boil the rice: After the soak, bring 6 cups water to a boil (covered, over high heat) in a large nonstick pot. Add the water from the soaking rice and wait for it to come back to the boil. Carefully add the rice and turmeric, and stir gently to combine. Cook covered, on high heat, until parboiled. (See Tannaz's Tips). If it starts to boil over, lift the lid and stir. You don’t want it to be totally soft at this point—you can always cook it longer later.
Prepare the onions: Combine the chopped onion and saffron in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until golden (Violet says, “Golden is tasty, brown is bitter”), about 8 minutes.
When it’s ready, remove the rice from the heat and drain into a large colander. Spread out the rice to increase surface area and speed up cooling. Rinse with cold water.
Rinse and dry your pot. Add the oil and 3 teaspoons of water to it, and shake to incorporate. If using potatoes, place them in a decorative pattern in the bottom of the pot.
Into the colander of rice, add about one quarter of the fresh and dried dill. Gently combine about one quarter of the rice into the dill with a fork. With a wide spatula, pour the herbed rice into pot, creating an even layer across the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle evenly with one quarter of the fava beans, then drizzle with one quarter of piaz dagh, with its oil. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon cardamom.
From here, use steps 5-8 of the previous Sabzi Polo recipe.