Persian Morassa Polo | Jeweled Brown Rice

Morassa Polo is a traditional Persian dish that is made by rice and different ingredients. Those ingredients give the rice different and attractive colors. That is why the dish is sometimes called jeweled rice, because of the beautiful and various colors. People from Khorasan call this dish Ranginak Polo, which means colorful rice. Because of the pretty appearance it has, one of the party table’s members is Morasa polo.

Morasa polo is originally from Qazvin, Khorasan and Fars. This fancy Persian dish is usually served in ceremonies like wedding parties. This kind of rice is very popular among people but it is not usually made as it is time consuming to prepare for just an easy meal for yourself. But it can be an ideal choice for parties or family gatherings.

Morassa polo is a very delicious Persian polo like Shirin Polo and Kalam Polo. It is served with a stew or simply alone.

Traditional Morassa Polo Recipe

PersianGood Team

Morassa Polo is a Persian traditional Cholo and it is made by rice, silvered almond, silvered orange skin, silvered pistachio and raisins, it can be nourished by chicken breasts and minced meat.

To make the dish fancier, Persians prefer to make it by ghelgheli meat, which is a term used for meat balls. The ingredients are a little bit more than normal for a single meal. But the recipe is not such difficult. You can make it in less than 3hours.

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine persian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 4 unit Rice unit can be a simple cup you use for serving tea or a glass you use for drinking water
• 2 pieces Chicken breasts
• 1 Onion
• 1 teasp Salt
• 1 teasp Turmeric
• 1 teasp Pepper
• 1 unit Silvered orange skin
• 1 unit Silvered almond
• 1 unit Silvered pistachio
• 1 unit Barberries
• 1 unit Raisins
• 100 g Butter
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• Brewed saffron as much as required

Instructions

 

• Pick a pot, pour water into it and bring the water to the boil. Wash the rice. Better you soak the rice for at least 2 hours in order to have it prepared for steaming. Then add the rice to the boiling water and let it boil for 5 minutes or more. The time the rice is ready is when you pick some of it and chew it, you should have the rice seeds hard core but soft for the surrounding flesh.
• Then rinse the parcooked rice and place it in a pot and let it steam. Remember to cover the lid of the pot by a napkin to have the steam absorbed.
• Pick a pan and grease it with butter. Add the silvered orange skin, brewed saffron and sugar and stir it properly. Fry the content for at least 2 minutes. Saffron and sugar make the orange skin seem brighter.
  
• Soak the silvered almond, if you want you can do it by rosewater. Then stir fry the nuts in butter for awhile. You do not need to soak or fry the silvered pistachio because the color changes. You can fry it for some little time if you are interested.
• In the frying pan, pour some butter and add the barberries, brewed saffron and a teasp of rosewater if you want. Soak the raisins in warm water and rinse it. Fry it for very little time and then discard it from the heat.
  
• Shred the chicken breasts and dice the onions in cubic size and sprinkle some turmeric. Stir them perfectly for 15 minutes. Then add salt and pepper and water to the pot and let it cook properly. Then add brewed saffron to it and let it cook.
• Place two third of the rice in a plate you want to serve the food, add the shredded chicken breasts to the rice and pour chicken juice on the rice. Then place the remaining one third of the rice of the chicken breasts and garnish your polo with the ingredients you prepared.

Tips for cooking a better Morassa Polo

Tips for rice

• If you soak the rice a night before you are going to make the dish and add some salts to it. If you are using Iranian rice, you’d better add one cold cup of water in it to have a better cooked cholo.
• Do not boil the rice too much because it will become smashed.

Tips for chicken

• Marinate the chicken breasts with brewed saffron, pepper, salt, turmeric and onion. Let it rest for two hours. This way the bad smell will go away and the flesh will be softer.

If you made this dish let us know your comments.