A comforting one-pot rice and beans recipe with Persian flavors

This herb rice and beans recipe, served with somewhat butter and a dollop of yogurt, is a grown-up model of my childhood consolation meals. It was impressed by two Persian dishes: sabzi polo, an herbaceous rice usually served with kebabs or roasts, and ghormeh sabzi, a stew of herbs, lamb and beans.

Though herb dishes are well-liked on Nowruz, the Iranian New Yr, which happens within the spring, I’ve tailored this recipe to make use of dried herbs, that are straightforward to seek out year-round.

I borrowed the multi-step, one-pot method from a technique Iranians generally use to make rice dishes like tahdig. It begins by boiling rice in considerable salted water, as if it had been pasta, earlier than steaming it. I like so as to add dried lime, a signature ingredient in ghormeh sabzi, to the water to start out flavoring the rice because it cooks. You needn’t rinse it earlier than boiling it this fashion, as you may drain off all the surplus starchy water, abandoning particular person, fluffy grains of rice.

That very same pot is rinsed, dried, and used to sauté a bunch of sliced ​​scallions till they begin to caramelize. Then a variety of finely chopped spinach and several other tablespoons of dried herbs, together with fenugreek, are added.

Dried fenugreek is pretty straightforward to seek out in spice outlets; may additionally be labeled methi. If in case you have entry to recent, use it, finely chopped. Whether or not dried or recent, fenugreek will add its attribute candy and bitter aroma to your dish and scent your total residence whereas the rice cooks.

I are likely to dry the herb bunches within the fall, so by this time of winter they’re going to be crisp and crumbly and prepared for use in dishes like this. It is also straightforward to substitute recent herbs right here if you would like; simply see the substitution part beneath.

Subsequent, it is time to combine all of it up: the pre-cooked rice is positioned, together with a can (drained and rinsed) of purple kidney beans. Stir nicely, in order that the greens fall between the grains. Then cowl tightly and permit the rice to complete cooking within the residual moisture over low warmth. After about 12 minutes, you may have splendidly fluffy rice, tinged with inexperienced and dotted with plump beans. It is scrumptious topped with somewhat butter and creamy yogurt on the aspect.

• Dried lime, or lemon omani, provides a tart observe; if you cannot discover dried limes, combine the completed rice with the zest and juice of 1 recent lime.
• You may wish to use as a lot of every scallion as doable. Trim dry ends, then thinly slice the remainder.
• That is particularly fluffy when made with white basmati >> however it’s also possible to use brown basmati. Simply know that it’s going to take longer to cook dinner in step one – take a look at it by biting right into a grain earlier than draining. It ought to be just a bit agency.
• If you do not have dried fenugreek leaves >> skip them.
• To substitute dried herbs for recent >> use 1 bunch every parsley and dill, finely chopped.
• Purple beans are conventional in ghormeh sabzi >> but when you do not have them, canned chickpeas or lentils work nicely too.

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• fantastic salt
• 1 1/four cups (eight three/four ounces) basmati rice
• 1 dried lime (Omani lemon; see footnote), fastidiously pierced in a number of locations
• three tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch chives, thinly sliced ​​(see opening observe)
• 2 cups (about 2 ounces) packed child spinach, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried dill
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves, crushed between fingers
• freshly floor black pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, ideally no salt added, drained and rinsed
• Butter, for serving (elective)
• Contemporary parsley or cilantro sprigs, for serving (elective)
• Plain yogurt, to serve (elective)

Carry a big pot (at the very least four quarts) of well-salted water to a boil. (It can be crucial that the water style salty in order that it seasons the rice because it cooks.) Add the rice and dried lime, stirring to verify the rice would not keep on with the underside of the pot. Boil till the rice is al dente, about 10 minutes. Pour the rice and lime right into a colander to empty. Rinse the pot nicely and dry it.

In the identical pot over medium-high warmth, warmth the olive oil till shimmering. Add the chives and cook dinner, stirring, till simply starting to brown, about three minutes. Add spinach and cook dinner, stirring, till wilted and shiny inexperienced, about 2 minutes.

Add the dill, parsley, fenugreek and a few floor pepper. Gently add the rice, lime, and beans, permitting the greens to fall between the beans. Cowl tightly, scale back warmth to low, and cook dinner – no trying! — for 12 minutes.

Uncover and, with a fork, fluff the rice. Serve sizzling, household type or on particular person plates, with somewhat butter on high and recent herbs and yogurt on the aspect, if desired.

Per serving (2 cups of rice)

Energy: 373; Whole Fats: 11 g; Saturated Fats: 2 g; Ldl cholesterol: 0mg; sodium: 220mg; Carbohydrates: 61g; Dietary Fiber: 6 g; Sugar: 1g; Protein: 10g.

This evaluation is an estimate based mostly on the accessible components and this preparation. It shouldn’t substitute the recommendation of a dietitian or nutritionist.

From the author G. Daniela Galarza.

Examined by Olga Massov; e-mail inquiries to voraciously@washpost.com.

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