Today I want to talk to you about one of the popular Persian mixed rice dishes. Loobia Polo or Iranian green bean rice is a traditional dish that reflects the flavors and cooking styles of Iran.
How to make Loobia Polo? Where is Loobia Polo from?
This dish is an extremely delicious dish which you will notice the aroma of cinnamon and saffron from the first moment. Iranian people make Loobia Polo with chopped meat or ground meat or chicken it depends on you but I recommend you chopped meat is the best recipe for this food.
Ingredients:
. 2 cups rice
. 1 pound green beans, trimmed and chopped
. 2-3 onions to cook the meat
. 1 onion, finely chopped to cook Loobia Polo
. 1 pound beef or lamb, chopped
. 2 tablespoons tomato paste
. 2 tomatoes, diced – optional
. 1 clove garlic
. 1 teaspoon turmeric
. Cinnamon stick
. Rose water – optional
. 1/2 teaspoon cardamom – optional
. A pinch of saffron, brew
. Salt and pepper to taste
. Oil or butter
To prepare Loobia polo, chop the onion, put a suitable pot on the heat, and add a little oil or butter. Next, add chopped onion to the pot. sauté the onion until it becomes light. Wash the green beans, and cut them into 1 cm pieces. Add beans and cinnamon stick to the pot and wait until the beans cook.
If you want to use tomatoes, in this step add diced tomatoes and fry very well, it’s the turn of the tomato paste, again fry well.
Now, we add spices: turmeric, salt, and black pepper, brewed saffron and rose water, also cardamom, garlic, and fry it a little until the onion is combined with spices.
Cook the chopped meat with onions in another pot and add the meat to the ingredients. Thereafter, lower the heat also cover the pot. Let it to simmer for 5 minutes until the ingredients are completely cooked and combined.
Pour the rice into another pot, when the rice is half cooked, add the meat and beans ingredients into the rice pot or pour the rice and ingredients in a suitable pot in layers.
For the first way: When the rice is half cooked, add the prepared meat and beans ingredients to the rice pot and cover the pot to let it simmer.
You can put Tahdig for your Loobia Polo. We use sliced potatoes or Lavash bread for Tahdig. For the layer way: Pour some rice ( a layer ) on the Tahdig and then add some of the meat and green bean mixture ( next layer ). In the same way, we pour the ingredients into the pot in layers.
Cover the pot, it takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to brew the food. After Loobia Polo is cooked, mix it slowly in the pot and remove the cinnamon stick, then serve the dish.
