One-pot Persian food called lubia polo has rice, ground beef, green beans, tomato sauce, and curry seasonings. To invert the dish onto a serving tray while retaining its crunchy rice crust, you’ll need a nonstick pan.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 cups uncooked basmati rice, rinsed and drained
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Heat a large nonstick pan (one that has a lid) over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease. Stir in onion and jalapeño, and cook until tender. Season with curry powder; stir in chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, and stir in green beans. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until beans are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in rice, and cover the pan. Cook on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until much of the liquid is absorbed. Be careful not to overcook rice at this point, or the dish will be mushy; the rice should be firm. Transfer everything in the pan to a bowl or heatproof container, and return the pot to the stove.
- Heat oil in the nonstick pan over medium heat. Carefully dump cooked rice mixture back into the pan. Wrap a clean dish towel around the inside of the pot’s lid. (The ends of the dish towel will be folded over the edges on top of the lid.) Put the lid on the pot. Cook over medium-low heat for 35 minutes without uncovering or stirring. Remove the lid and place a tray on top of the pot, then carefully flip it over. The rice will hold the shape of the pot and have a nice crust on top called “tah digh.”
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 676 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 85 g |
| Cholesterol | 64 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 272 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I enjoyed this but my wife wasn’t a fan. I made as directed with no changes. It did not separates from the pan in the end stage as the recipe stated it would. I was left with a difficult to clean crust on the bottom of the pan. The taste of the rice overall was good.
This recipe should not use curry or chili or even chicken broth. Spices should only round the natural taste of the ingredients. Just turmeric with onions, cinnamon with the meat and saffron on the rice, but only towards the end.
My bf mom, who is Persian taught me how to make this and she doesn’t put any curry or jalepeno in it, just Tumeric. But I use this recipe as a base for remembering because it is my favorite persian dish and I make it all the time. This is a terrific recipe.
Used turmeric instead of curry
It tasted great! It was a bit watery though in the end. I would cut down on the chicken broth.
This was a good dish, but not authentic tasting… it had more of an Indian feel due to the curry
I can only give a 4 because of my own customizations (due to lack of certain ingredients and the fact that it would be served also to a 2-, 5- and 7-year-old). The base was great and I look forward to making it again for myself with the jalapeno! Just one thing to mention: didn’t need the full 35 minutes at the end, only about 15 and it was nice and crispy as desired. Good luck and eet smakelijk!
A great one pot dish. I had cut back on the curry, added turmeric, and seeded the jalapeño (needed to be kid-friendly). Since I had at least 1.5 cups of leftover white rice, I only added somewhere around 1 cup of broth. After turning off the heat, I let everything rest for a while so the rice can absorb the broth.
Wow, my husband and I loved this dish! It was a lot of food, but we finished it off in a couple days. We loved the ‘tah digh,’ too. I will definitely make this for company sometime. Thanks for sharing!
Sorry but as a persian this seems more like a arab, indian with a hint of mexican recipe than anything else. ground beef=wrong curry=wrong jalapeno=wrong and did i hear you say BROTH? although it may be good for the untrained persian the real deal recipe is so comforting that you can eat it over and over and over! Stew meat, beef – Fry meat in 2 tbl of oil until browned(season with salt and pepper (turmeric as well). (Drain excess oil) Return meat to pan, add one can of tomato sauce. You can caramelize 1 onion in another pan and add to meat. Simmer on medium/low until tender. Add water if needed as it simmers to keep it from drying up. Last 5 minutes, add 2 cans of green beans. (drained) Rice – Boil rice, up to 5 minutes. (do not cook rice all the way. Semi crunchy still) Remove and rinse. Add 4 tbl oil and 2 tbl of butter in a pot large enough for rice and meat until butter melts..(med/high) Add 1/3 of rice. 1/3 of sauce, ever so lightly combine, rolling it. Repeat 2 more times. Cook on med/high for 7-10min uncovered. Cover with lid (wrap lid with kitchen towel or few sheets of paper towels. Cook for additional 40 min. ( this will crisp the bottom of the rice. (Ta dihg) Get a large enough plate, place on top of pan and flip it. This will look like an upside cake. Serve with plain yogurt mixed with chopped cucumbers and some garlic and or dill weed. Serve it up!
Made a few mistakes my first time making it, and didn’t realize it would make so much, but my 1.5 year old loved it and that makes it a hit in our house. I think I will also try some of the alternative spice suggestions on future tries. Overall, it was very good though.
This is a great recipe for an easy and delicious Persian meal. My only suggestions for making this more authentic and closer to the original recipe: Skip the jalapeno peppers, replace the curry with turmeric, and add saffron too.
This is completely different than the lubia polo I make. I fry bits of stew meat in oil with onion and garlic, then add tomato sauce, salt/pepper and tumeric and/or saffron. It is much better with saffron that has been ground up fine and stirred into melted butter then added. I do blanch the beans to keep them bright,and I like them crisp so add them at the end of the sauce. I do not use broth, I just use basmati rice (cooked in a well oiled large pot “al dente” – not quite cooked so the rice stays firm and separated). You put the sauce on top of the rice and continue cooking on low for a while then 15 minutes before serving stir it all together and serve. I like my rice very tomatoe-y so add more sauce, which is not authentic but there you have it.
My Dad is Iranian and this was one of my favorite dishes when I was little but I haven’t had it in years because my husband it a typical American man and he doesn’t really like to go out of his comfort box. I didn’t use the jalapenos or the onions because I made this for my 2 year old daughter and my hubby is allergic to onions. I used turmeric (that’s what my fam. used when I was little) instead of curry but the rest I followed just as the directions stated and it turned out perfectly. My husband and my daughter (both very picky) loved it, we will definitely be using again!
Excellent winter warmer and family staple meal! I’m a lazy cook: here’s how I tweaked it to be even easier! Instead of jalapenos I used 1/2 fresh green beans and 1/2 chopped bell pepper (red is yummy). Lazy cook alert! Instead of using a pot on the stove, whack the mixture (after rice has barely absorbed the liquid) into your electric RICE COOKER, hit the start button and leave it alone! If your cooker is non-stick like mine, the ‘rice cake’ will pop out in perfect shape when you’re ready for dinner! An excellent one-pot meal!
If I could give this 4 1/2 stars I would. We loved it!! I even managed to get it out of the pot onto a plate in a mound shape, but it was a bit too crispy. Leftovers freeze really well too!
This was good! I skipped the rice-crisping because I don’t have the right kind of pot. I also cut the rice down to 2 cups and adjusted the liquid accordingly. I took the advice of another reviewer and omitted the jalepeno, and for the spices I did 1 tbsp. turmeric, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. curry, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Overall, it wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever made, but it was pretty good!
“Yum” says my 1/2 Persian husband – “Make that one again”. I followed the recipe exactly. We make plenty of persian rice in this house and this was a nice variation on the old standard. We did burn the crust (what a shame) but with practice we will make perfect. Can’t wait to make this for the rest of the persian side of the family – they will be so proud of me. This is a standard recipe served in all persian restaurants so we thank you for posting it!
Excellent! I used two cans of green beans (since I didn’t have any fresh) and cut out the 15 minutes to cook the beans. I also cut down the curry to 1 tablespoon and left out the jalapenos so it wouldn’t be too spicy for my kids. They LOVE this recipe!!
It didn’t hold the shape when I turned the pot over, but it was EXCELLENT, nonetheless. I will make this again and use less water for the rice to make it firmer.
Great taste!