Loobia Polo

Medium·25 min

A layered Persian rice dish of green beans and spiced ground meat folded through basmati rice, steamed with a golden tahdig crust.

Loobia polo turns the humble green bean into a weeknight feast across Iran. Cooks brown ground meat with cinnamon and tomato, simmer it with cut beans, then layer the mixture through parboiled rice to steam, trusting that the prize at the bottom of the pot, the crisp tahdig, will reward the patient.

Warmly spiced with cinnamon, the rice carries savory meat and sweet, tender beans in every spoonful. The tahdig shatters into golden, buttery crisps. Homey and deeply satisfying.

Layering keeps the beans and meat distributed without overmixing, while the dry-steam dum method lets the bottom layer dehydrate and fry into tahdig.

Variations

With saffron, beef or lamb, vegetarian without meat, with potato tahdig

On the Palate

Where Loobia Polo sits in the Persian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

8 steps · 25 min

1
8 min
Saute chopped onion until soft, then brown the ground meat.
2
7 min
Add cut green beans, tomato paste, cinnamon, turmeric, and a little water.
3
15 min
Simmer the bean-meat mixture until beans are tender and liquid reduces.
Watch out
Simmer until the beans are tender and the liquid's nearly gone — leftover water steams the rice soggy and drowns the tahdig; the mix should look glossy and thick.
4
12 min
Parboil basmati rice in salted water and drain while still firm.
Watch out
Parboil the rice only until the grains bend but the core is still firm, then drain — cook it soft here and the final steamed rice turns to paste.
5
5 min
Oil the pot and add a layer of rice for the tahdig.
6
5 min
Layer rice and the bean-meat mixture alternately into the pot.
7
40 min
Cover with a cloth-wrapped lid and steam on low heat until fluffy.
Watch out
Steam on low with a cloth-wrapped lid trapping the steam — listen and smell for a light toasty note near the end; that's the tahdig crisping, but sniff hard for any sharp scorch.
8
5 min
Invert or scoop to serve, breaking the crisp tahdig over the top.