Zereshk Polo

Zereshk Polo with chicken is one of the famous Persian dishes. This delicious food is used in important and special ceremonies.
This food has good health benefits in most people due to its excellent ingredients such as barberry and saffron. Barberry is one of the cold and dry temperament food that is very effective in strengthening the liver and moderating hot temperaments. Saffron is also one of the most valuable Persian spices, which is one of the best enlivening medicinal herb.

However, due to the moderation of the temperament of Zereshk Polo, its consumption is permissible in most temperaments. If there is a depressed person in your family, try adding more saffron to the rice, and if you have an over active and hot temperament youngster who regularly complains of his pimples in your family, add more barberries to the food and be sure he/she will enjoy its sour taste.

Ingredients of Zereshk Polo:

• Chicken 4 pieces
• 2 medium onions
• 2 cups of dried barberries
• 4 cups of rice
• 75g of almond slices
• 75g of pistachio slices
• 4 table spoons of sugar
• Oil, salt, rose water and saffron as needed

Instructions:

1. Fry the chicken with chopped onion for 20 minutes then add tomato paste and continue frying for 2 more minutes. Then add 2 cups of boiling water to the pot and let it cook.
2. When the chicken sauce is halved and the chicken is cooked, add 2 tablespoons of brewed saffron and rose water to it. Again let it cook for 10 minutes.
3. In another pan, pour 1 tablespoon of liquid oil, barberries, 1 tablespoon of rose water, sliced ​​pistachios and almonds, and sugar and stir. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as sugar dissolved, because if the sugar stays on the heat for a long time, the color of the barberry will get darken and it will get bitter.
4. Wash the rice and pour it into a pot and also pour water as much as it covers the rice and comes up as high as a fingertip on the rice. Add a tablespoon of oil and small amount of salt into it, and lets boil for 15 minutes on a moderate flame. When its water evaporates, cover the lid and lets brew for 45 minutes.
5. Pour 1/3 of the cooked rice in a bowl, add 2 tablespoon of brewed saffron, barberries and slices to it and mix them with a spoon.
6. At the time of serving, pour a layer of rice which is mixed with saffron, and other ingredients, then pour a layer of plain rice. Repeat this process 3 times, and then put chickens in another bowl and enjoy your Zereshk Polo.

*How to brew saffron: Pour 1/3 of teaspoon of saffron in a cup and add 1/4 cup of boiling water. Cover the lid and lets brew on a kettle for 15 minutes.