Loobia Polo - Green Bean Mix Rice with Potato Tahdig (Crust)

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Rice and beans are a type of dish made from a combination of staple foods in many cultures around the world. The grain and legume combination provides several important nutrients and calories and both foods are widely available.

The word polo in the Persian language translates to 'cooked rice' in English. Our Polo recipe here is inspired by a very popular and delicious Persian dish named Loobia Polo (Green Bean Rice). Our cooking method explained is based on the traditional way of cooking steamed rice and Gheymeh or Tabrizi sauces give super tasty flavour to any mixed rice dish. Persian aromatic spice would be a magical blend that could work in any rice dish recipes and it tastes amazing with this Loobia Polo. Feel free to prepare rice in any other way that you prefer.

Here are the steps for preparing this dish :

*Parboil rice
*Marinate mushrooms
*Prepare mixing sauce
*Steam rice layered with sauce

(Serve 4)

The Rice:

Ingredients:

3 cups Basmati Rice
Salt & Pepper to Taste
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
3 tbsp Oil
2 Medium potatoes sliced

Directions:
1- Soak rice for at least 1 hr with 4 tbsp salt
2- Bring 1L water to boil in a pot. Drain the salty water from rice away and add the rice to the boiling water.
3 -When water comes back to boil again, drain the rice in a colander.
4- Use a non-stick pot. Add the oil to the pot and tilt in around to make sure all the bottom of pot is covered with oil. Then sprinkle some salt and arrange sliced potatoes to cover the bottom of your pot.

The Marinated Mushrooms:

Ingredients:

2 cups of button mushrooms
1/4 tsp grounded saffron
2 Spring of rosemary
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix all the marinade ingredients together first then and the mushrooms and gently toss them to make sure all the mushrooms are covered with marinate.

The Sauce Mix:

Ingredients:

1 Jar of Exotic Bazaar Tabrizi sauce
2 cups chopped green beans
1 medium onion diced
1 cup colourful capsicum chopped
2tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed

Directions:
1 Add the oil to the frying pan and heat it on medium-high.
2 Add onions and green beans and fry them until they are golden a bit
3 Add Capsicum and fry for 2 minutes
4 Add a jar of Tabrizi Stew and mix well and cook for about 15 minutes occasionally. Remove from heat
5 Add in the crushed garlic

Layering Instructions:

1 - In our potato layered pot, we start with pouring a few scoops of rice, Sprinkle some cinnamon over each layer, then a couple of spoons of the sauce mix and rice again. We keep layering until all of the rice and sauce are used.

2 - Turn the heat on medium to high first 5 minutes, add half a cup of boiling water to Rice. wrap a kitchen towel around the lid and cover the pot.
3 - After 5 minutes turn the heat to low and cook for about 30 minutes.

Serving:
1 - 10 minutes before you serve the rice, heat a pan and add marinated mushrooms. Fry them for 5 minutes until they change colour
2 - Serve your rice in a large dish and put the fried mushrooms on top.
3 - As a side, pickles, marinated olives, salad and the best part of those fried potatoes and bottom of the pot (called Tahdig in Persian) taste great with this dish.