Adas polo

Adas polo

Rice with lentils and dates

Ingredients for people 6

• 360 g of lentils
• 600-700 g of basmati rice
• 450 g of lean and tender meat (veal or lamb or chicken)
• 1 onion (for the sauté)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 180 g of oil
• 200 g of dates
• 200 g of sultana raisins
• 1 teaspoon of powdered saffron pistils and dissolved in 4 tablespoons of hot water
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 / 2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of mixed Iranian spices (advieh)
• 2 spoons of yogurt in case you want the crust on the bottom of the pan to be particularly high and soft

Preparation

Soak the lentils for a few hours and cook them in salted water for 10 '. Drain and set aside. Boil the rice for a few minutes and drain it al dente. Stone the dates and cut them into 2-3 pieces; wash the raisins. Then fry the onion first and then add the meat cut into chunks and the well crushed garlic, shortly after the cinnamon, turmeric and mixed spices. Stir and pour 2 glasses of water over the meat, add salt and cook the meat over medium heat and with a lid, making sure that at least one glass of cooking water remains, which you will keep aside once the meat is cooked. Add half the saffron and oil to the meat water. Pour 1 glass of water, the other half of the oil, salt and yoghurt into the bottom of a high-sided pan: let it boil slightly and then proceed by arranging rice, meat, lentils, dates and raisins in alternate layers. This last operation allows the formation of a tasty rice crust on the bottom of the pot, the Tah dig. Cook over high heat for 10 '. When steam begins to develop, lower the heat and continue cooking (with the lid on) for about 40 ', wetting the rice with the cooking water of the meat that you had kept aside when it tends to dry, especially on the surface. Finally, take a couple of handfuls of already cooked rice and add them to the saffron dissolved in the remaining water, mixing thoroughly so that it becomes evenly colored with the beautiful yellow color of the spice. Use it to garnish the dish once poured onto the serving tray. You can also melt a knob of butter on the stove and pour it over everything before serving.
What I proposed is the richest and most substantial variant of this dish; in fact it can also be prepared without meat and / or dates, using only lentils and raisins. The meat can also be ground instead of in small bites: the preparation method remains unchanged.

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Adas polo