Rice in All Its Yumminess - Part 5

Baghali Sheveed Polow - rice with Lima beans and dill

(serves 3-4)

Rice

Baghali means Lima beans in Persian and sheveed means dill leaves. I usually add chicken or chopped lamb pieces to this delicious dish.

Ingredients:

1. 4 cups of white long grain rice.

2. 200 grams of butter.

3. Fresh Lima beans each cut into half (remove the skin first)

4. 2 onions - chopped finely.

5. 500 grams of de-boned chicken pieces or 500 grams of cubed lamb pieces.

6. Salt and pepper as per taste.

7. Turmeric - half a tsp

8. 3 cups freshly chopped dill (dried dill with work well too).

Directions:

I usually soak the rice for at least half an hour (if it's new rice) or for 1 hour (if it's old rice) in warm water and some salt before cooking.

Take a medium sized pot and fry the chopped onions in about 4 tablespoons of butter until it turns a lovely golden brown. Add the dill leaves and stir fry for a few minutes. The aroma of the dill leaves fill the kitchen and believe me, it makes the mouth water.

Add the chicken/lamb along with turmeric, salt and pepper and stir fry until the meat changes its color. Add the halved Lima beans. Boil till the meat or chicken is tender. Be careful with the chicken because it can easily over cook and break into small pieces. You could add the chicken a little later which I recommend. Check to see if the Lima beans are cooked.

Add the rice to this boiling mixture and make sure that the level of water above the rice is just about a couple of centimeters. Mix the rice well with this and put it on high heat and keep stirring occasionally so that the rice does not clump together or stick to the bottom. Change to medium heat midway and When most of the water has evaporated, put it on low heat. Heap the rice like a small hill in the center of the pot and make holes all over with a skewer to aid in steaming it further.

Add thick slices of butter all over the top of the rice and cover with the lid. This delicious rice will be ready in about 15-20 minutes.

To make the saffron rice mix to decorate the served rice:

Take some saffron in a heat-resistant glass and add some hot water to it. Let it stand in the rice while it is cooking. The heat brings out the beautiful aroma of saffron. After the rice has cooked, put this saffron in a bowl and add some of the cooked rice to it and mix it to give the rice a beautiful golden yellow color. Decorate the rest of the rice with this saffron mix.

Tip:

Serve the rice hot decorated with a mix of rice and saffron.

This exotic Persian dish is usually served with yogurt and salad. You could serve this with steak, roast chicken, or lamb chops if you haven't cooked the rice with chicken or lamb.

Rice in All Its Yumminess - Part 5

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