Persian Zereshk Polo (barberry rice with chicken) recipe with all the techniques you need to know

Hi there! we’re back!
Continuing our journey by classic Persian recipes in a detailed way, we thought maybe you want to try them more professionally. So here is the written recipe for you!


Essential ingredients:
• 2.5 cups of Persian rice
• 1-2 tsp Persian saffron
• 1.5 cups of barberries
• 1 tbsp pomegranate paste
• 2-3 tbsp Tomato paste
• Chicken (you choose the amount but remember the best part of chicken for preparing Zereshk Polo is the ham!)
• About 150g butter
• Olive and vegetarian oil
• And the favors such as turmeric, salt, black pepper powder and fresh lemon juice

Recipe for the rice:
• First, rinse 2.5 cups of your rice 2 or 3 times, then add 3 cups of water and 1 tbsp salt to it and let it rest for about 2 hours.
• In a bigger pot, bring 3-4 cups of water to a boil, and remember to add 1 tbsp olive or vegetarian oil to it.
• After 2 hours and when the oily water is boiling, add the rice that you soaked into the salty water to it and bring the rice to boil for about 15 mins or until the rice is semi-cooked.
• After that drain the rice, prepare the pot that you want to cook the rice in, add 3-4 tbsp vegetarian oil to that pot, then add the layers of the rice.
• Create a whole in the middle of the rice so that it will be cooked in a better way, then mix 1-2 tbsp olive oil with 10 tbsp water and add it to the rice.
• Use a piece of fabric as a steamer then cover the lid and cook your rice for about 1.5 hours on low heat.

Recipe for the chicken:
• In a pan or a pot add 3-4 tbsp vegetarian oil, then place the chicken ham on the oil.
• Add 3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice per each piece of your chicken ham. Then add 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp turmeric, and 1 tbsp black pepper powder to them.
• Peel and circle chop one onion and then place the onion ring on top of the chicken ham.
• Then very slowly add about 2 cups of water and cook your chicken for about 2 hours on medium heat!
• Remember to check it every 30 mins and pour some of boiling extract on top of the onion layer for a better result!


Recipe for the sauce:
• When you cooked your chicken. Remove the onion ring from the pot and keep then on a plate,
• Then remove the juicy cooked chicken ham and place them on another plate till you prepare the sauce. (don’t worry the chicken will be juicy as it is when you serve it!
• After that add 2 tbsp tomato paste, 50g butter, and some black pepper powder to the chicken extract and stir them very well (remember to mix these ingredients when they all have the same temperature, this is a great technique for having a better sauce!0
• Then add 1 cup of water to it, bring it to boil on low heat, and when it starts to boil add 1 tsp salt to it.
• Keep on the stirring and boiling for about 5 mins after that and then you can serve it.


Recipe for the barberries:
• Melt 100g butter, then add the barberries to it, mix it with 1 tbsp pomegranate paste and 0.5 cup of water.
• After about 5 mins they start to blossom, and the water will evaporate which is the best time to serve it.

For design:
• Mash 1 tsp saffron in a mortar then add 1 cup of hot but not boiling water (because it will ruin the sensitive saffron) to it, cover the lid, and let it rest for about 15 minutes to have a great saffron extract.
• Then when your rice is cooked, mix the saffron extract with 3-4 tbsp of the cooked rice, and have a great saffron rice for the design alongside the barberries!

Serving:
• The first layer is the sauce.
• Then the chicken ham,
• Add the onion on top of the chicken ham (or if you don’t like cooked onions skip this layer!)
• Add some more sauce.
• Add the rice.
• Design it with barberries and saffron rice!

Bon Appetit!


0:00 Hi there! ready to cook?
0:09 Essential ingredients that you need
1:27 preparing the rice
3:49 Preparing the saffron extract
5:12 Cooking the rice
7:21 Preparing the sauce
10:01 Preparing the barberries
10:46 Last minutes of preparing the sauce
11:25 Preparing saffron rice for design
12:31 You're done! serve it