Shivid Polow | Persian Dill Rice

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I somehow can’t explain the feeling as of now. Ramadan is reaching its end. Saying this itself makes me sad. We start off with so much excitement and then once it reaches the last days, a sense of dejavu always comes by. At the same time, everybody looks forward to the days of Eid – the days of celebration for those who did their duties during the month of Ramadan. The day of Eid-ul-Fitr is a literal stock taking of our own soul and heart during the last 29 to 30 days for strict fasting for the Almighty. It is a chance for us to mend our ways and get closer to what is the ultimate truth. And yes, a reminder to pay the Zakatul Fitr as well – first and foremost to myself…

The advancement of social media has actually sucked us up so much into worldly pleasures that each time we watch or follow a celebrity of maybe even a fellow socialite, our lives feel incomplete. I always feel that this month gives a chance to appreciate our blessings – whether it’s the four walls, the food on the table, the clothes we wear, the money we spend, and the good health that we have that helped us through the night prayers. “Which favors of the Lord do you deny?” – how many times has this been asked to us in Surah Ar-Rahman…

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I have always mentioned how much I love Iranian food, though it is one that I have failed to explore as much as I would love to. InShaAllah, hopefully soon… This is one rice dish that I totally love. In fact, I have never cooked with dill leaves and I decided to discover this lovely scented herb just for the love of this dish. Even though I love its taste in this rice, I am not sure how I am going to adapt it into my cooking. The process of making the Shivid Polow is very similar to the Zereshk Polo. You cook the rice just for some time and the rest is cooked through steaming. The process gives you such long grains that don’t stick to each other and is a delight to have!

The main highlight is the potato tahdig. You can use rice as well to create the tahdig, which is the crust that forms at the bottom, but I wanted to make it with potato so that it would feel like we were having french fries along with the rice. Hehe… I had this rice only with the Mast-o-Khiar, but if you want something to chew, then go ahead and make some Fesenjan or some Joojeh Kababs – I don’t have a recipe for this yet, so linking one of my favorite bloggers here in case you want to try.

If you like me want to take a dig with dill leaves and don’t know where to start, then try with this rice – I am sure you will love it. Or why don’t you hop onto Fami’s blog to explore her dill madness with these fritters or many more! Off to the recipe…

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Updated on June 13: Once Fami posted her comment, I checked my drafts and yes, I have posted two recipes that contains dill and surprisingly they are soups – the Broccoli Dill Soup and the Scandinavian Cucumber Soup. But the first dish I tried with dill leaves was this Polow. I took such awful pictures that I didn’t want it to come on the blog till I cook it again and click. The click of the dill leaves you can see above was the only good click which came out during that time. 😀 So, correcting what I wrote earlier – this is my first and then I cooked these soups with dill too. 🙂

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Shivid Polow | Persian Dill Rice

Course Rice

Cuisine Persian

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 3 -4

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup basmati rice soaked for an hour and drained
• A fat pinch saffron 15-20 strands, soaked in 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 bunch dill leaves cleaned of stem
• 40 gm butter divided
• 2 potatoes
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, not more than that. There will be a bite when tested. Drain immediately and pour cold water to stop cooking.
• Wash the dill leaves well and drain. Mix in 1/2 tsp salt.
• Add into the prepared rice and toss well to spread around.
• Cut the potatoes into thin roundrels and set aside.
• Heat a saucepan. Melt half the butter and pour in half the saffron water. Spread the potatoes on it. This process is the "tahdig".
• Spread the rice over it. Make around five holes around for steam to pass. Cover the lid with kitchen towel and close tight.
• Keep on meduim-low flame for 10 minutes.
• Melt the remaining butter and mix into the remaining saffron water. Open the lid and pour this over the rice. Keep the flame to the lowest possible flame and cook for 45 minutes.
• While serving, toss up the rice together or serve the rice and tahdig separately.