A lovely Iranian dish. In lentil and rice pilaf, you can use all types of meat and if you want, you can omit the saffron. You can make the saffron water by grinding 1 pinch of saffron threads and adding 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Leave it for 10 minutes and it is ready to use. I make this dish for 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 pinch saffron
- 350 g rice
- 200 g dried lentils
- 6 dl water
- 8 tbsp sun flower oil
- 1 x yellow onion
- 300 g minced meat
- 1 tsp turmeric
- tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp black pepper
- tsp salt
Method
- Mix the saffron with 0.5 tbsp of boiling water per serving and set aside. Soak the rice in cold water and plenty of salt.
- Boil the lentils in salted water for about 15 minutes on a low heat. Strain and set aside.
- Heat 1/3 of the sunflower oil and fry the onion in it until it is soft and glossy. Add the minced meat and cook until brown. Add the turmeric, cinnamon, pepper and salt and cook for a few more minutes. Mix in the lentils and combine everything.
- Mix the rest of the oil with the saffron water plus a couple of tablespoons of water. Put a little of this on the bottom of the pot. Then you pour the rice back into the pot in layers with lentils and the meat mixture. Finally, you pour over the rest of the oil and the saffron mixture.
- Cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel. Then the lid closes tightly and preserves the steam in the pot. Steam the rice first on high heat for 1 minute. Then lower the heat to low. Let the rice continue to steam on low heat for approx. 15-20 minutes.
- Serve the rice simply with salt or the desired side dish.
