Jeweled Rice (Morasa Polow)

• parisaskitchen

Hello Everyone & Happy Mehregan!

Have you heard of Mehregan? It’s the Persian Festival of Autumn, celebrating harvest season in ancient Persia. From almost 4th century BC, this day has been celebrated by Persians, and Zorostrians in particular to give thanks to God for being given food entering the cold months of the year. You could say it’s similar to Thanksgiving in the West. This was the tradition in ancient times.

Nowadays, the tradition is still followed. Persians set colorful tables and all the family members gather around the table at lunch time and pray and eat together. Like almost all Persian festivities, this day is filled with dance, music, food and laughter!

This year I’ve joined a group of 27 awesome Persian bloggers to celebrate this festival. We all have posted Persian recipes on our blog simultaneously now, so please check them out as well, they all are a true inspiration to me:

Ahu Eats    All Kinds of Yum    Bottom of the Pot     Café Leilee  Della Cucina Povera      Fae’s Twist and Tango    Family Spice    Fig and Quince  Honest and Tasty       Lab Noon            Lucid Food         Marjan Kamali   My Caldron     My Persian Kitchen     Noghlemey             Persian Spice          Sabzi Blog                Simi’s Kitchen             The Saffron Tales    The Salty Pear          Spice Spoon             The Unmanly Chef       Turmeric and Saffron     Veggiestan     West of Persia          Zozo Baking                 Coco in the Kitchen

Today’s recipe is called “Morasa Polow” which literally means “Jeweled Rice“.  And I think by looking at it you can see why! It’s full of colourful ingredients which adorn the plain white basmati rice. This is one of the most beautiful dishes of the Persian cuisine and whoever has tried it, has fallen in love it! So I encourage you to definitely give this dish a go, you won’t regret it!

Noosheh Jan (which means Bon Apetite in Farsi)!! 🙂

Ingredients:

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2.5 cups plain white Basmati rice
1 white onion
1 double skinless chicken breast
1 teaspoon Curry powder
1 teapsoon Black pepper
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Blanched almonds
1/2 cup Blanched pistachios
1 cup Barberries
1/2 cup Rasins
1 cup Boiled sweetened orange peel, cut into strips
2 teaspoons Saffron, soaked in boiling water
Olive oil, for frying

Method:

1. Sauté the onion in a pan, then add the chicken pieces with the curry powder, salt and pepper.

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2. Cook the chicken until completely cooked through.

3. Rinse the rice a few times with cold water then add it to a pan with enough water to cover it completely and a pinch of salt. Let it boil on medium heat until it is al dente.

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4. Drain the rice with cold water. Separate 1/3 of it in a bowl and add the saffron mixture to it. Mix well.

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5. Fry the barberries in a pan for 3 minutes.

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6. Fry the raisins in a pan for 3 minutes.

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7. Now is assembling time! Put the chicken pieces in the bottom of your chosen dish.

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8. Add white rice on top to completely cover it. Then decorate the top of the rice with the rest of the ingredients, in whatever shape you desire.

Enjoy! ~~~~ 🙂

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44 thoughts on “Jeweled Rice (Morasa Polow)”

  1. It is beautiful darling. The lovely and adorable colours of ingredients are giving a warm and enticing look. Your creative and beautiful taste in finding these colourful pieces and gather together has made it unique.
    Love.

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    1. Thanks so much! I’m soooo flattered! To be honest it was a mad rush trying to take pics while cooking and blogging and submitting in time, but I enjoyed it! Haha thanks for dropping by 🙂

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  8. Another gorgeous dish I’ve never tried. This #Mehregan2014 roundup is awesome! I love your step-by-step instructions. I think I’ll try this as the weather gets colder.

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  22. This dish is so beautiful ! I have never eaten any barberries (actually, it’s the first time I ear about it !) The colors are wonderful. And you also made me discover Mehregan …Thank you so much for all these beautiful things.

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    1. Thanks Sylvie! I’m so happy u liked my post 🙂 ..I’m slowly trying to make my blog more active!… Yeah barberries are a hard ingredient to find, they’re sour in taste, I guess only middle eastern groceries would have it… Let me know what u think if u try it! hope you’re enjoying your day xx

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