Havij-Polo; A Delicious Combination of Rice, Carrot

Havij-Polo is one of the old Iranian mixed pilafs that is usually cooked with darker orange carrots to make the food look more colorful.

Ingredients (6-8 people):

1 kg of carrots

6 cups of rice

200 grams or one cup of sugar

6 tablespoon of frying oil

Water

500 grams of minced meat

1 teaspoon of saffron

1 medium onion

Half a tablespoon of cinnamon

Salt

Recipe:

• Wash and rinse the rice, then soak it in water for a few hours. Add salt to the water you are soaking the rice in.
• Wash the carrots and peel off the outer skin, then slice them in small pieces.
• Fry the grated carrots a bit in the oil. Mix the sugar with 1 cup of water and then pour it in the pan of carrots. Allow the carrots to cook until most of the water is gone. Then you can add the saffron. After some minutes, turn off the stove; now, the carrot broth is prepared.
• Peel off the onion, wash, grate and add it to the meat. Add salt and cinnamon to the meat and knead. Form the mixture like meatballs and put them in a pan of frying oil. Leave them on heat to sauté and then add the meatballs to the carrot broth.
• Prepare the rice by bringing it to a boil and straining it. Bring a pot and pour half a cup of water and oil into it and then put bread or potatoes at the bottom of the pot. Now cover it with a layer of strained rice. Place the carrot broth on top. Repeat this so that the rice and the broth are finished. In the end, pour some water and oil on the rice, place a towel on top of the pot and allow it to be cooked by the steam. Then fry some sliced pistachios in a little oil to design the dish.

When you are ready to serve the dish, design the pilaf with saffron and the fried pistachios. 

Notes:

* Some people like Havij-Polo with chicken, so they should use chicken rather than minced meat. For this amount of Havij-Polo, you will need one and a half kilograms of chicken meat.

* As this dish contains sugar syrup and the syrup is left at the bottom of the pot, the possibility of burning is more than the other pilafs. So, either lower the heat, or use a flame spreader. Usually it takes about 45 minutes till the pilaf is ready.