Morasa Polo – Persian Jewelled Rice
Morasa Polo is a gorgeous Persian jewelled rice dish with a delightful sweet and sour taste. This fragrant and beautiful dish doesn’t only look stunning, but it tastes heavenly too!
It is easy to prepare and looks like a work of art. Serve it with a chicken dish, like this simple, yet tasty chicken.
A variation of this jewelled rice dish is Shirin Polo, which translates to “sweet rice”.
Please note, the orange peel should be soaked in water a night before you plan on making Morasa Polo. This is to reduce bitterness. Other than that, this beautiful dish is quick to prepare.
Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.
Time
Soaking: 12 to 24h
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking time: 1 h
Total: 1 h 20 min (+ soaking time a day ahead)
Ingredients (Serving 4):
400g basmati rice (2 cups)
50g raisins (1/4 cup)
40g dried barberries (1/2 cup)
25 g dried bitter orange peel (1/2 cup)
2 tbsp slivered pistachios
2 tbsp slivered almonds
5 tbsp vegetable oil
7 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp saffron
2 ice cubes
2 tbsp salt + extra to taste
Edible flowers like dried cornflowers and marigolds (optional)
Method of preparing Morasa Polo
The evening before
To eliminate the bitterness from the orange peel transfer them to a bowl with cool water and let them soak overnight. In the morning drain the water and replace it with fresh water. Let it soak until you start preparing Morasa Polo. If the orange peel still tastes bitter you can boil it for 5 minutes.
On the day
If you want to serve your Morasa Polo with chicken, start with the chicken first. While it is simmering and doing its magic in the pot, you can prepare the rice.
Prep 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 centre.
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.
Place a non-stick pot over medium heat. Cover the bottom with 4 tbsp vegetable oil. You can combine some of the parboiled rice with a few tsp saffron water and add it to the pot first for a nicer-looking tahdig. Then add the remaining parboiled rice.
Poke a few holes halfway through the rice, using the handle of a wooden spoon. This helps the rice steam evenly.
Once you see steam rising from the pot or you can hear the sizzling sound, cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel, close it firmly and reduce the temperature to low. Let the rice steam for about 50 to 55 min over low heat.
Caramelise the dried orange peel
Try the orange peel that you have left to soak in water. If it still tastes very bitter, you can boil it in water for a few minutes, drain it and try it again. You can repeat the process a couple of times, if necessary. Once the orange peel tastes only slightly bitter and orangey, it’s ready.
Heat a small pan with 5 tbsp sugar and 1 cup water in it. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the orange peel to it and let it caramelise for 10 minutes. Set it aside.
Prepare the raisins
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a small frying pan. Briefly sauté the raisins in it, for only about 15 to 30 seconds until they bloat. Set them aside for later.
Prepare the dried barberries
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the same small frying pan. Briefly sauté the barberries in it and add a few tbsp of water and 2 tbsp sugar to it. This only takes about 30 seconds.
Toss the nuts
Toss the slivered almonds and slivered pistachio until you get your desired color for 3 to 4 minutes.
Combine all the ingredients
Transfer a small part of the rice into a bowl and combine it with the saffron water until it is evenly distributed and the rice has a bright yellow colour. Arrange the yellow saffron rice on top of the white rice. You can serve the tahdig (crispy bits) separately.
Decorate the rice with the bitter orange peel, raisins, barberries, slivered almonds and pistachios. Enjoy!
I’d love to see your Morasa Polo! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!
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