Zereshk Polo – Rice With Barberry and Chicken.

By aliex · · , · Leave a comment

Portions: 4-6

Ingredients:

Rice:

  • 3 Cups Long-Grained Basmati Rice
  • 2-3 tsp Salt
  • A sprinkle of Saffron*
  • 5 tbsp Oil**
  • 1½ Cups Water
  • 1+ Liter of water (Not a typo. Water is needed twice)

* If you have a lot of Saffron, you can grind it with a sugar cube in a spice grinder and
** I’m very conservative with the oil.

Chicken:

  • 1 Whole chicken or 4-5 Large chicken legs. (1-2 per person)
  • 2 Onions
  • A sprinkle of ground Saffron*
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 Cup Water

Garnish 1 – Barberries/Zereshk:

  • ½-1 Cup Barberry/Zereshk(dried)
  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • 1 tbsp Sugar

Garnish 2 – Golden rice:

A sprinkle of Saffron*

  • 3 tbsp Oil

Preperation:

Rice:

  • Wash the rice 2-5 times. This removes some excessive starch and brings out the aroma of the basmati rice. The warmer the water is, the more of the starch it will be remove. This prevents the rice from getting sticky and gives those individual grains.
  • Soak the rice in salt water for about 30-60 Min.
  • Soak the Barberries about 15 minutes before your food is done.

Chicken:

  1. Cut each onion into 4-8 pieces and the garlic cloves in 2-4 pieces.
  2. Clean and cut up the chicken, preferably de-skin it.

Cooking:

Chicken:

  1. Put the pot on the stove on maximum heat. When it’s warm put the onion in the pot and add 4 tbsp of water.
  2. Add the Garlic, salt, pepper, turmeric and saffron.
  3. Give is a stur and add the chicken.
  4. Stur the chicken and give is some colour.
    7. Add the cup of water and close the lid.
  5. When the water is starting to boil, turn down the heat to medium-low. ( I put mine to 3-4 out of 9)
  6. let simmer until done (about 40 min) .

Rice:

If you’ve soaked the rice in salt water you can use the same water, otherwise it can be a good idea to pre-boil some water in a kettle.

  1. Put the boiling water in the pot and make sure it has salt. This water will later be drained, so don’t worry to much about having to much salt.
  2. Add the rice to the boiling water, and make sure the water is at least 3 cm over the rice.
  3. Let boil for a few minutes until the rice starts to linger at the surface. By this time it should be about half-cooked.
  4. Drain the water from the rice by pouring it all in a sieve, and wash the rice slightly with luke-warm water.
  5. Put the pot back on the heat and add the oil to it with a sprinkle of saffron and a cup of water.
  6. When the oil and water mixture is hot, pour most of it into a cup, for later use. Make sure there is enough left in the pot to cover the bottom.
  7. Pour the rice back into the pot.
  8. Pour the water and oil mixture over the rice.
  9. Leave it on a high heat until you see steam starting to rice from the rice.
  10. Lower the temperature to low and leave for 30-40 min.
  11. While the rice is cooking prepare the garnishes.

Garnish

1 – Barberries/Zereshk:

Let the Barberries soak for about 5 min, no more.
Use a small pot or a pan for the garnish.
Important. Use medium heat, or the Barberries will quickly change colour to black.

  1. Add some oil to the pan and heat slightly.
  2. Add the Barberries.
  3. Add the sugar on top and mix well.
  4. Pour into a cup or form for to use later.

2 – Golden rice:

You can use the same pot or pan as used for Garnish 1.

This garnish is to get the golden coloured rice on top.

  1. Add the oil to the pot or pan on medium heat.
  2. Add the saffron and then add the water.
  3. Heat slightly.

Make it all come together:

  1. Take about 1-2 cups of the cooked rice and add to the put with Garnish 2 and mix well.
  2. Cover the bottom of a tray with the white rice.
  3. Sprinkle some of the Barberries, but save the main part for the top.
  4. Add the chicken pieces spread out over the layer of rice. (Boned or de-boned is your choice).
  5. Cover with the rest of the white rice.
  6. Now garnish as you with with the Golden rice and the Barberries.

Links

For extra help, look at the following video:

Note that my recipe differs slightly from the videos.
Mine is firstly more healthy, since I don’t use as much Oil or sugar.

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