Sabzi polo: Meera Sodha’s vegan herby rice with saffron and pistachios – recipe

From theguardian.com

My take on the Persian dish, with fresh herbs and buttery saffron rice and a rich lemony tahini sauce 

This is a take on sabzi polo, a very traditional Persian dish typically served at Nowruz, or Persian new year. In the original, a small mountain of herbs is steamed into the rice and cooked into a crunchy crust (tahdig), but in this recipe I’ve kept the herbs fresh and vibrant and mixed them into buttery saffron rice. In place of the tahdig, there are nuts and fried onions for crunch and a rich, lemony tahini sauce just for fun.

Herbed rice with saffron and pistachios

You’ll need a medium saucepan for which you have a tight-fitting lid, and a receptacle in which to mix the rice with the herbs, nuts and currants. I like to do this in my nicest-looking baking tray, in which I can then also serve the rice.

Prep 10 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 4

350g basmati rice
50g vegan unsalted butter, cubed
20 saffron strands
1¾ tsp fine salt
75g parsley, finely chopped
75g coriander, finely chopped
7 spring onions, very finely sliced
60g pistachios, chopped
30g currants
1 large handful crisp fried onions (shop-bought are fine), to serve

For the sauce
100g tahini
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed

Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Maria Gurevich.

Wash the rice in a sieve, swishing with your hands until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain well and put to one side.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on a medium heat, then stir in the saffron and a teaspoon and a half of salt. Add the drained rice and 600ml water, bring to a boil, then pop on the lid, turn down the heat and cook for 12 minutes. Take off the heat and leave, still covered, to rest for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, make the sauce. Put the tahini in a jam jar, add the olive oil, the remaining quarter-teaspoon of salt, lemon juice, garlic and six or seven tablespoons of cold water, seal the jar and shake it like a person possessed.

Put the herbs, spring onions, currants and pistachios on a baking tray or in a large bowl, add the rested rice and mix really well – I use a spaghetti fork to do this, so as not to break up the rice too much. Tip out on to a platter, drizzle over the tahini sauce, sprinkle on a handful of the fried onions and serve.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/sep/02/vegan-sabzi-polo-herbed-rice-saffron-pistachios-recipe-meera-sodha