soulfood+

Passport & Plate - Zereshk Polow

Australia | Thursday, January 29, 2015 | 1 photos

Ingredients
4 cups long-grain rice, rinsed
3 tbsp salt, plus 1 tsp salt extra
3 pinches saffron threads
sugar
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp baharat
¼ tsp pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp lemon juice
250 ml hot water
1 chicken, quartered
1 onion, sliced
olive oil
1 large potato, sliced (like potato scallops)
4 tbsp butter
1 cup dried barberries, rinsed
2 tbsp almonds, cut into slivers, for decoration
2 tbsp pistachios, cut into slivers, for decoration

 

How to prepare this recipe
Put the rice and salt in a bowl and cover with water (Soak for 1–2 hours)

Place the saffron and a generous pinch of sugar in a mortar and grind to a fine powder. Place in a cup and fill three-quarters full with hot water. Set aside.

Combine the spices, pepper and extra salt in a small bowl. Add the garlic, lemon juice, hot water and 1 tbsp of the saffron water.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Wash the chicken pieces, pat dry and place in a deep baking tray. Scatter with the onion and pour over the spice and garlic mixture. Cover with foil and bake (1 hour).

Drain the rice, add to a pot or large saucepan and cover with water. Add 2–3 tbsp of olive oil if desired to stop the grains sticking to each other. Boil the rice for 10–15 minutes or until al dente. Drain in a colander.

Put the pot back on the stove and add 3–4 tbsp of oil. Lay the sliced potato in the base (to protect the rice, but also to create a delicious edible crust of rice and potato). Top with the drained rice and cover with a lid. Cook until the rice begins to steam (about 3–5 minutes), then turn the heat to low and wrap the lid in a tea towel (covering the underside) and place back on the pot. The tea towel catches the condensation, stopping it from dripping back onto the rice. Leave to steam for 45–60 minutes.The result will be perfect, fluffy, separated rice.

Heat half the butter in a frying pan and add the barberries. Sauté for a few minutes then add 2 tbsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of the saffron water. Stir briefly then remove from the heat.

Place a layer of rice on a serving platter, followed by a sprinkling of barberries, nuts and a little saffron water. Keep layering, mounding up into the shape of a cone. Leave some barberries and nuts for the top. Melt the remaining butter and mix together in a bowl with the remaining saffron water. Mix in a cup of rice.

Arrange the chicken quarters around the platter then spoon the saffron rice on top of the mound. Add a final sprinkling of barberries and nuts.

 

The story behind this recipe
Although I am not Persian, my own personal studies in Comparative Religion and History led me into the Cultural and Intellectual heartland of one of the oldest and most noble civilisations to date; the formidable and varied land of Persia.

The Persian culinary style has, historically, influenced and has been influenced by Iran's neighbouring and conquered regions at various stages throughout its history. In particular, there have been mutual culinary influences to and from Anatolian cuisine, Caucasian cuisine, Mesopotamian cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Greek cuisine, Central Asian cuisine, and minor aspects from Russian cuisine. The cuisines of the Caucasus and Turkey are heavily influenced by that of Iran, due to geographical proximity, ethnic relations, shared empires, and inevitable conquering by the Achaemenids, Sassanians, Seljuks, Safavids, Afsharids, Ottomans and Qajars.

From my own personal experience, Persian cuisine bares the hallmarks of 'peasant food being transformed into regal banquets by the virtue of fresh, organic ingredients, coupled with a spiritually-effacing method of cooking; one that requires measured patience and holy monotony'.

The result is, more often than not, a cultural, philosophical and corporeal ascension, into a time and space where a peasant is elevated to the stature of a king, and king is humbled in the presence of a peasant.

Onto all of you be Peace.
Bon Appétit...!