Persian Dishes for Vegetarians

Both dishes are delicious with or without meat. Vegetarians will love the recipes alone or as side dishes. For those who desire meat, lamb or ground beef may be added to the green beans and rice, while fried fish may be served with the herbed rice.

Cooked with or without meat or fish, the two meals are a colorful feast for the eyes as well as the palate and are sure to satisfy both vegetarians and meat eaters.

Lubia Polow (green beans and rice)

Ingredients:

• 2 -3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 shoulder lamb chops finely cubed with fat cut off (optional, for meat eaters)
• 2 cups green beans (washed and chopped)
• ½ can tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1 lemon freshly squeezed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp saffron
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 cups basmati rice (dry)

Cooking Method:

1. Crush saffron with mortar and pestle.
2. Brown onion with oil in the bottom of a large cooking pot. (Brown onion with lamb if cooking for meat eaters.)
3. Add salt and pepper and turmeric to pot.
4. Stir in green beans.
5. Mix tomato paste with water, cinnamon, lemon juice and saffron. Pour mixture over green beans, onions and lamb (if used).
6. Mix ingredients and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7. In a separate pot, bring 4-5 cups of salted water (few dashes of salt added to water) to a boil. Add rice and bring to boil. Reduce heat and continue to boil for a couple of minutes until rice is half cooked.
8. Pour off water from rice.
9. Mix rice with bean sauce. Sprinkle a bit of oil over top.
10. Wrap pot lid with clean dish towel and steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
11. Scrape rice crust from bottom of pot to serve on top of rice. This crispy topping called tah dig is deliciois and should decorate the top of the dish.

Green Rice (rice with herbs)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups basmati rice (dry)
• 1 large or two small bunches of dill (washed and chopped)
• 1 bunch parsley (washed and chopped)
• 1 bunch cilantro (washed and chopped)
• 5 cloves garlic (diced)
• 2½ tsp turmeric
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

Cooking Method:

1. Mix chopped herbs with garlic. Add turmeric, salt and pepper. Combine well.
2. Boil rice in pot of salted water to create ½ cooked rice.
3. Add herb and spice mixture to ½ cooked rice and stir so that ingredients are evenly combined.
4. Put oil in the bottom of large pot. Add rice mixture and drizzle a bit more oil over top.
5. Cover top of pot lid with clean dish towel and steam 1 hour.
6. Scrape thick crust (tah dig) from bottom of pot and place on top of rice when serving.
7. Serve with fried white fish if cooking for non vegetarians.

Vegetarians will find these recipes a fun and exciting addition to their daily diets while non vegetarians may delight in the dishes as they are or with the addition of meat or fish.

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