Havij Polo – Jewelled Carrot Rice
Havij Polo is a colourful jewelled rice dish. The aromatic Persian saffron rice is accompanied by caramelised bitter orange peel and julienne, sweet carrots.
This dish goes perfectly with Braised chicken.
The one less common ingredient you will need for Havij Polo is dried bitter orange peel. You can find them online or from Iranian grocery shops.
Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.
Time
Soak: 12 h Prep: 20 min Cook: 1 h Total: 1 h 20 min (+ soaking time a day ahead)
Ingredients (serving 4)
2 cups basmati rice (400g)
3 carrots (250g/8.8 oz)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp dried bitter orange peel
7 tsp sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp slivered pistachios
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp salt
1/4 tsp saffron, ground and bloomed
Method
The evening before
To eliminate the bitterness from the orange peel transfer them to a bowl with cool water and let them soak overnight. In the morning drain the water and replace it with fresh water. Let it soak until you start preparing Havij Polo. If the orange peel still tastes bitter you can boil it for 5 minutes.
If you want to serve your Havij Polo with chicken, start with the chicken first. While it is simmering and doing its magic in the pot, you can prepare the rice.
Prep the rice
Bring a large enough pot of water to boil and dissolve 2 tbsp salt in it. Don’t worry, you will rinse most of the salt off later.
Wash the rice in a bowl by adding cool water to it, moving it around with your hand, draining the water, and repeating this process 3 to 4 times to remove the rice starch as much as possible. This results in fluffier, less sticky rice.
Add the rice to the pot and keep the water boiling. Let the rice parboil until the rice corns are soft on the outside but still have a bite in the centre.
How long this process takes depends on your rice. I’m using Tilda Pure Basmati Rice and it takes 4 minutes for the rice to cook to this stage. It might take anything from 3 to 7 minutes.
Once your rice is parboiled, drain it in a strainer and immediately rinse it with cold water to interrupt the cooking process and wash off any excess salt.
Place a non-stick pot over medium heat. Cover the bottom with 4 tbsp vegetable oil. You can combine some of the parboiled rice with a few tsp saffron water and add it to the pot first for a nicer-looking tahdig. Then add the remaining parboiled rice.
Poke a few holes halfway through the rice, using the handle of a wooden spoon. This helps the rice steam evenly.
Once you see steam rising from the pot or you can hear the sizzling sound, cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel, close it firmly and reduce the temperature to low. Let the rice steam for about 50 to 55 min over low heat.
caramelise the carrot
Peel the carrots and chop them in julienne size cuts. (you can make each matchstick about 2 inches long and 5 mm / 0.2 inches thick) .
Let 2 tbsp butter melt in a pan with a lid and add the carrots along with 4 tsp of sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, put on the lid and let the carrots steam for about 5 minutes.
Remove the lid and let them caramelise for 5 more minutes.
Caramelise the dried orange peel
Try the orange peel that you have left to soak in water. If it still tastes very bitter, you can boil it in water for a few minutes, drain it and try it again. You can repeat the process a couple of times, if necessary. Once the orange peel tastes only slightly bitter and orangey, it’s ready.
Heat a small pan with 3 tbsp sugar and 4 tbsp water in it. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the orange peel to it and let it caramelise for 5 minutes. Set it aside.
Serve the Havij Polo
Transfer a small part of the rice into a bowl and combine it with the saffron water until it is evenly distributed and the rice has a bright yellow colour.
Transfer the rest of the white rice layer by layer along with cinnamon powder to a serving platter. Arrange the yellow saffron rice on top of the white rice. You can serve the tahdig (crispy bits) separately.
Decorate the rice with caramelised carrots, bitter orange peel, and pistachios.
Serve it on its own or with poussin or chicken. Enjoy!
I’d love to see your Havij Polo! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!
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