晚饭- Dinner - Havij Polo

I was recently talking up a wonderful Persian rice dish and was asked for the recipe, so here you have it, in my improvised form!

The fun thing about the recipe is that it is VERY flexible! Want more carrot? Go ahead and add more? The only risk is that if you add too much oil, you'll have an oily rice... but I don't see any problem there... do you? Feel free to ask if you have questions - this is the first time I've written up a recipe from memory!



Havij Polo

Ingredients:

*white basmati rice
*5 medium carrots, grated
*2-3 onions, finely sliced
*cooking or olive oil
*1/2 c. sugar or 3/4 c. honey (or alternative sweetener)
*salt
*1 potato, cut into 1/8" slices.


In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until translucent, then add carrots. I always have to add more oil at this stage, to accommodate so many carrots! Add enough salt that this mixture will be on the slightly salty side. Add sweetener. Simmer until carrots are soft.

While onions are cooking, in a large pot, add 3 cups of rice to a whole pot of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat so the rice is simmering, uncovered. Cook until the rice is al dente. Drain in a colander and keep rice in colander.

When both the rice and the carrot/onion mixture are done, cover the bottom of the pot used for cooking the rice with oil (butter if you're feeling indulgent!) and turn burner on medium high. When oil is hot, add potato slices to cover the bottom of the pan and salt potatoes.

Spoon carrot mixture on top of the rice, blending the two as you go. Once the rice and carrot mix are combined simply add by the spoonful to the pot. When all ingredients are mixed and in the pot, take a clean kitchen towel or cloth napkin and cover the pot, then put the lid on the pot.

Continue to cook at medium high heat for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for another 30 minutes or so, until the rice is fully cooked.

To serve, carefully spoon rice onto a platter, and then use a spatula or flip pot to remove the crisply cooked potatoes & rice from the bottom of the pot. This part of the rice is called tadik and is a much-loved part of any Persian rice dish! (see top photo)

Enjoy as-is or serve with kabobs, lamb, meatballs, or other rich meat.


the finished rice, without tadik.