Baghali Polo with Lamb Shank

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

• Iranian rice 4 cups
• lamb shanks 2 pieces
• fava beans, fresh or frozen, shelled 2 cups
• dried dill 1 cup
• onions 2 medium
• brewed saffron 3 tbsp
• butter 50 g
• ground cardamom 1 tsp
• ground cinnamon 1 tsp
• cinnamon stick 1 piece
• turmeric 0.5 tsp
• black pepper 0.5 tsp
• salt 1 tbsp
• oil 4 tbsp

Method

1. Start the shanks first; they set the timetable. Slice the onions into half-moons and fry them in a few spoonfuls of oil in a heavy pot until light and golden. Stir in the turmeric and pepper, then set the shanks in and turn them for ten to fifteen minutes until they colour on every side.

2. Add the cinnamon stick and a third of the brewed saffron, pour in two glasses of boiling water, cover, and turn the heat right down. Let it barely simmer for three to four hours, until the meat is ready to fall from the bone and the broth has thickened. Add the salt only near the end. In a pressure cooker the same result takes about an hour.

3. Meanwhile put the rice in lukewarm salted water to soak, from thirty minutes up to three hours depending on the rice. Rinse and drain the shelled fava beans; if the outer skins are thick, slip them off and halve the beans.

4. An hour before serving, bring eight glasses of water to a rolling boil with a good spoon of salt and tip in the drained rice. When the water returns to the boil, add the fava beans and let them cook together, lid off. After four or five minutes start testing: the grain should be soft at the edge with the core still slightly firmer than for plain chelow, because the beans carry water into the pot and softer rice turns mushy in the steaming. Drain the rice and beans together.

5. Dry the pot, warm a few spoonfuls of oil with a spoon of the brewed saffron, and lay in a tahdig of lavash bread or sliced potato.

6. Build the pilaf in layers: a skimmer of rice and beans, a scatter of dill, and a pinch each of the ground cardamom and cinnamon, repeated until everything is in, mounded loosely. Poke a hole to the bottom with the skimmer handle.

7. Slice the butter thin and scatter it over the rice, splash half a small glass of water around the edge, and cover with a cloth-wrapped lid. Raise the heat until steam builds, then turn it low and let the pilaf steam for forty-five minutes to an hour.

8. Turn the finished pilaf gently with a skimmer so the dill runs through it evenly, and heap it on a platter. Mix a skimmer of rice with the rest of the brewed saffron and scatter it over the top.

9. Lift the shanks into a bowl, fish out the cinnamon stick, and pour the thickened broth and onions over them. Serve the bowl alongside the platter so everyone spoons broth over their own rice.

Cook's notes

Background

This dish belongs to the broader Iranian culinary repertoire and is prepared across the country with family and regional variations. Its cultural identity is tied more to home tables, gatherings, or everyday cooking than to a single local origin.

Nutrition

Diet

• Gluten free
• Lactose free
• No walnut, almond or pistachio

Where this comes from

Official documentation strongly supports the dish or geographic attribution, but all recipe fields are not traceable to one dish-specific official recipe page.

Record: IR0011 · Evidence: B (Officially supported)

Open the source page https://visitiran.ir/fa/type/persian-foods