Loobia Polo is my absolute favourite dish! I know I say this a lot, but hands down, if I could only pick one favourite, it would be Loobya Polo.
It is a mouthwatering Persian rice dish with lamb and green beans. The sauce is cooked first and then combined with the rice. They both steam together for around 1 hour, allowing the rice to absorb all the rich flavours of the sauce.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when making Lubia Polo to make sure that it turns out as delicious as it should be. It’s not the most healthy dish. If you want to make something healthier, please go for another dish and don’t make bone-dry Loobia Polo. It doesn’t make it much healthier, just less fatty and frankly ruins it. So my recommendation is to prepare it occasionally as a treat on weekends, but allow it to be the juicy dish, that it is meant to be.
Time
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 2 h 45 min
Total: 3 h 15 min
Ingredients (serves 4)
500g / 1.1lbs lamb leg or shoulder (leg is leaner; if your lamb comes on the bone, keep the bone for the sauce)
400g / 2 cups French (green) beans
400g / 2 cups basmati rice
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
8 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp turmeric
1 to 2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground saffron
3 ice cubes
2 tbsp salt for the rice water, plus extra to taste
A beef marrow bone, for extra flavour (optional)
Method
Prepare
Put the ice cubes in a glass, sprinkle the saffron over them and set aside in a warm place. Finely chop the onion and garlic, keeping them separate. Cut the lamb into 2.5cm / 1-inch cubes.
Cook the sauce
Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and sear the lamb until golden brown on all sides. Lift it out, leaving the oil behind. Gently caramelise the onion in the same oil over low-medium heat for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and sauté for another 3 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and fry briefly with the onion and garlic. Pour in 2 cups / 470ml of freshly boiled water, season with turmeric, black pepper and salt, and add the cinnamon stick. Return the lamb (and any bones) to the pan, put the lid on and simmer gently over low heat for about 1 hour 30 minutes.
Sauté the green beans
Wash the beans, trim both ends and cut them into 2cm / 0.8-inch pieces. Sauté in 1 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat until lightly browned. Once the sauce has simmered for 1 hour 30 minutes, stir in the beans and the saffron water and simmer for another 20 minutes while you parboil the rice.
Wash the rice
Wash the rice in a bowl of cool water, moving it around with your hand, then drain. Repeat 3 to 4 times to remove as much starch as possible. This gives you fluffier, less sticky rice.
Parboil the rice
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and dissolve 2 tbsp salt in it. Add the rice and bring the water back to the boil as quickly as possible. For Loobia Polo you can keep the rice more al dente than usual, because the sauce will soften it as it steams. Depending on your rice, this takes 3 to 10 minutes.
Drain in a sieve and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and wash off the excess salt.
Layer and steam
Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a non-stick pot with a lid over medium heat. Remove any bones from the sauce. Add a layer of rice, then some sauce with a few pieces of lamb, then a sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Repeat until everything is used up, finishing with sauce and cinnamon.
Poke a few holes down through the rice with the handle of a wooden spoon. Wrap the lid in a clean kitchen towel, close it firmly, turn the heat to low and steam for 50 to 60 minutes.
Serve
Serve with Salad Shirazi, creamy yoghurt and torshi (pickles). And be good: don't fight over the tahdig! Nooshe jan!
Hami's tip
Loobia Polo is meant to be juicy. Making it bone-dry doesn't make it much healthier, it just ruins it. Make it as a weekend treat and let it be the dish it's meant to be.
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