Zereshk polo ba morgh, saffron chicken with barberry rice

• 1 hour 40 minutes
• Prep 40 minutes
• Cook 1 hour
• Serves 4

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

• Gluten free
• Dairy free

Ingredients

• 400g basmati rice
• 4 teaspoons fine salt (most of it goes into the rice water and is poured away)
• Half a teaspoon saffron threads
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 8 skinless, bone in chicken thighs (about 1.1kg)
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• Half a teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 lemon
• 60g dried barberries (small, sour red berries; zereshk in Persian), sold in Persian and Middle Eastern shops and online
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Let's cook

1. Rinse the rice in a bowl of cold water, swirling it with your hand, and pour the cloudy water away. Repeat 4 or 5 times until the water is almost clear. Cover with fresh cold water, stir in 1 tablespoon of the salt and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
2. Grind the saffron to a powder with a pinch of the sugar in a mortar and pestle, then stir in 4 tablespoons of hot water and leave it to steep.
3. Cook the chicken. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wide pan on a medium heat and fry the onions for 10 minutes until golden. Stir in the turmeric, add the chicken and brown it for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Stir in the tomato purée, the last teaspoon of salt, the pepper, the juice of the lemon, half the saffron water and 300ml water.
4. Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes, turning the chicken once, until it is tender, the juices run clear with no pink near the bone and the thickest part reaches 75C on a food thermometer. Take the lid off for the last 10 minutes so the sauce thickens.
5. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Drain the rice, add it to the boiling water and boil for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring gently once or twice, until the grains are soft on the outside but still have a firm bite in the middle. Drain in a sieve.
6. Wipe out the rice pan, add 3 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of water, and pile the rice back in, heaping it into a mound. Poke 4 or 5 holes in it with the handle of a wooden spoon. Wrap the lid in a clean tea towel, tie the corners up on top so they are well away from the flame, and cover the pan tightly.
7. Cook on a medium heat for 8 minutes until you hear it sizzle, then turn the heat to its lowest and steam for 30 minutes. The grains should be long, fluffy and separate.
8. Rinse the barberries, soak them for 10 minutes in cold water and drain. Heat the last tablespoon of oil in a small pan on a low heat, add the barberries and the rest of the sugar, and stir for 1 minute only, until they plump and shine. They burn very quickly.
9. Stir a few spoonfuls of rice into the remaining saffron water to turn it gold. Spoon the white rice onto a warm platter, top it with the golden rice and the barberries, and put the chicken and its sauce beside it.

Tips

• The crust at the bottom of the rice pan is tahdig: break it up and share it out. Soaking the base of the pan in cold water for a minute helps it come away.
• Cool leftover rice and chicken within 1 hour, keep them in the fridge, eat the rice within 1 day and reheat both until steaming hot all the way through.

Swaps

• No barberries: use dried cranberries, roughly chopped, and leave the sugar out of the barberry step as they are already sweet.
• Cheaper: use 8 chicken drumsticks and simmer them for 10 minutes longer.

Tags

• chicken
• saffron
• persian
• rice

None of the 14 allergens is in this recipe as written. The rice, chicken, saffron, spices, tomato purée and lemon contain none of them. Dried barberries are rarely treated with sulphites, but some dried fruit is, so check the packet for sulphur dioxide.

Check every packet for allergens.