Meygoo Polo, also known as Havari Polo is a flavourful southern Iranian port dish that can be prepared with fish or shrimp. Having prawns as one of the main ingredients, as well as its subtle heat make this dish so unmistakably southern.
Meygoo Polo is very well known in the regions of Bushehr and Khuzestan and well-loved for its fragrant and aromatic flavours. Like so often every region in southern Iran prepares this dish a little differently. Below I explain my personal method of cooking it.
Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.
Time
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 1 h 10 min
Total: 1 h 30 min
Ingredients (for 4 portions of Meygoo Polo)
400g / 2 cups basmati rice
330g / 1 cup prawns or shrimps (fresh or pre-cooked frozen)
1 onion
5 cloves garlic
4 cm fresh ginger
1 bunch (60 g / 1 1/2 cup) of coriander/cilantro (cleaned, washed, chopped)
50g / 1/4 cup sweetcorn (canned or fresh)
1 or 2 small chilies if you like your Havari spicy (optional)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp tomato paste
10 cardamom pods or 1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 cumin powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp crushed saffron
2 tbsp salt + to taste
Chopped chives as garnish (optional)
Method
Preparation
If you’re using fresh prawns remove the shell and the intestinal tract (the black vein along the back). You can do that by making a shallow cut along the back and then carefully pulling it out. Then rinse the prawns under cold water.
Skin off and finely chop the onion.
Roughly chop the coriander/cilantro.
Crush the cardamom pods. Simply squeeze the pods and remove the seeds. Place them in a mortar and grind the seeds with a pestle.
Skin off and finely grate the garlic and ginger into a paste, using a grater or microplane.
Chop the chilies. (Rinse and wash the knife, chopping board and your hands thoroughly with soap and water.)
Making the sauce
Gently fry the onions in 3 tbsp of butter over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and tomato paste and fry them together for another 3 minutes.
Now add the turmeric, paprika, curry powder, cumin powder, black pepper, crushed cardamom, sweetcorn, chopped cilantro and chopped chilies. Add the prawns in the end and combine everything well.
Cover the ingredients with 1 cup / 240ml of freshly boiled water.
Add the saffron.
Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
Parboil the rice
Bring a large enough pot of water to boil and dissolve 2 tbsp salt in it. Don’t worry, you will rinse most of the salt off later.
Wash the rice in a bowl by adding cool water to it, moving it around with your hand, draining the water, and repeating this process 3 to 4 times to remove the rice starch as much as possible. This results in fluffier, less sticky rice.
Add the rice to the pot and keep the water boiling. Let the rice parboil until the rice corns are soft on the outside but still have a bite in the center.
How long this process takes depends on your rice. I’m using Tilda Pure Basmati Rice and it takes 4 minutes for the rice to cook to this stage. It might take anything from 3 to 7 minutes.
Once your rice is parboiled, drain it in a strainer and immediately rinse it with cold water to interrupt the cooking process and wash off any excess salt.
Layer the rice and sauce
Place a non-stick pot over medium heat and add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil to it. Give it a quick shake.
Now add a thin layer of rice to the pot, then add a little sauce, including prawns. Continue layering this way, finishing with a layer of sauce that covers all the rice.
Poke three holes halfway through the rice with the back of a wooden spoon. This helps the moisture evaporate and allows the rice to cook evenly.
Once you see steam rising from the rice, cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel, and press it firmly on the pot.
Let the rice steam for 45 to 50 min over low to medium heat.
Serve your Meygoo Polo
Remove the lid and replace it with an upside-down plate. Carefully flip the pot over. If the tahdig doesn’t come out of the pan easily, you can submerge it in a sink filled with a little cool water. This usually does the trick.
Transfer the tahdig onto a separate plate.
Garnish with chopped chives and serve the prawn rice with Torshi (pickles). Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you have any questions please let me know in the comments, I’m always happy to help.
I’d love to see your Meygoo Polo! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!