Table for TwoZereshk Polo ba Morgh
Persian celebration rice: fluffy saffron basmati jeweled with sweet-tart barberries, served with golden saffron chicken.
⏱ 80 min📶 Hard👫 Serves 2☪ Muslim-friendly
Ingredients (for 2)
- Basmati rice, 300 g
- Chicken thighs, 4, bone-in
- Onion, 1, sliced
- Dried barberries (zereshk), 40 g
- Saffron, a large pinch
- Butter, 40 g
- Sugar, 1 tbsp
- Turmeric, ½ tsp
- Pistachios or almonds, slivered, to garnish
Steps
- Soak the rice in salted water for 30 minutes; grind the saffron and steep it in 3 tbsp hot water.
- Fry the onion with turmeric until golden, add the chicken, half the saffron and 250 ml water, and simmer covered for 40 minutes.
- Parboil the rice for 6 minutes, drain, then steam it in a lidded pot with a little butter for 30 minutes on low.
- Rinse the barberries and fry them for 1 minute in butter with the sugar — they burn fast.
- Mix a scoop of rice with the rest of the saffron, pile everything on a platter and scatter barberries and nuts on top.
Cook it together: One of you tends the chicken, the other handles the rice and the barberries — the saffron is the shared treasure.
👩🍳 Cook this together — step-by-step mode, timers & passport stamp
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