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Persian rice and lentil dish adas polo is seasoned with cinnamon and saffron, piled with caramelized onions, raisins, and dates, and topped with crispy tahdig. Beautiful and tasty, this fragrant golden rice deserves center stage at your dinner table!
Adas Polo tastes like Mujadara but differently. Both Middle Eastern dishes include rice, lentils, and onions, although they are seasoned differently.
Adas Polo has crunchy tahdig, dates, and raisins and smells like saffron and cinnamon. Traditional lamb mince or small meatballs are piled throughout, but lentils provide enough protein to make it a delicious vegetarian meal. Mujadara uses fewer spices and fewer ingredients.
Our Persian family traditionally served Adas Polo during family gatherings (mehmoonis), weddings, Persian New Year festivities, and, in my case, Christmas with Roast Turkey and all the fixings!
This recipe also makes a golden Tahdig. Iranian tahdig means “bottom of the pot.” Like my Persian Rice With Potato Tahdig, it refers to the crispy crust generated after cooking. The bottom layer of rice fries in oil, making it crispy, while the rest steams and softens.
This dish’s components and taste are magnificent. For me, it celebrates Middle Eastern food.
Polo is stacked rice with additional toppings, while Adas means “lentils”. This famous Persian meal requires these ingredients:
- Persian rice recipes need basmati rice, a long-grain, flavorful rice. My preferred brand is Tilda, but any store Basmati rice would do.
- Dried green or brown lentils: Add protein, nuttiness, and texture to soft rice. To obtain al dente lentils, start with dried—canned will turn mushy. You may also use dried green lentils (available at the store).
- Dates: Add maple sugar sweetness.
- I prefer brown raisins, but you may use green, golden, or a combination.
- Onions: High-heat caramelized for crispness and sweet-and-savory taste, combining layers.
- Cinnamon warms and compliments sweeter flavors.
- Saffron: Adds fragrant and musky notes and golden flecks to the meal.
- Use neutral-flavored oil to crisp the tahdig layer over high heat (I use vegetable oil).
- Olive oil: Cooks onions and gently sautés raisins before topping rice. Olive oil fluffs and separates cooked rice. Persians traditionally use vegetable oil and melted butter or ghee, but olive oil adds taste and health.
- Kosher salt: Rice needs salt to taste well.
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine relies on lentils because they preserve well, are high in protein, fiber, and minerals like iron and folate, and offer texture to soup, salad, and more.
Adas Polo calls for brown lentils, but green lentils work well too. Green (or “Puy”) and brown lentils retain their structure when cooked, unlike red lentils, which turn creamy.
Some green lentils take longer to cook. Just cook them till soft on the exterior with a delicate bite in the inside before draining, regardless of variety. They finish cooking when rice is steamed.
Making Adas Polo
This outstanding side dish utilizes few ingredients but requires additional attention. This is the method:
The rice should be rinsed with cold water until clear. Cover with cold water two inches over the rice in a bowl. Soak for 30 minutes or overnight to eliminate starch and improve texture. Drain.
Let saffron bloom: Put 1 pinch of saffron threads in a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder). Mix 1/2 teaspoon ground saffron and 1/3 cup water in a small dish. Reserve to blossom.Saffron blooming in a dish from above.
Cook lentils: Add 1 cup brown or green lentils to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and cover with water to 2 inches above the lentils. Bring to boil. Drain the lentils using a fine mesh sieve after 20 minutes of cooking till cooked on the exterior but firm in the center.
Season lentils. Return lentils to pan (off heat). Stir in 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Prepare onions: Place a paper towel-lined plate near the burner. Heat a big cast-iron skillet on medium to high. Use the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 thinly sliced onions to the oil until it shimmers. Sauté until brown and crisp, stirring often. Reduce heat if needed to cook onions evenly without scorching, 20 minutes. Transfer the onions to the paper towel-lined plate to drain using a slotted spoon or tongs. Set aside.Skillet-cooked sliced onion.
Season the raisins: Add 1 cup raisins to the same pan as the onions and simmer on low. Stir for 1 minute to coat with onion-flavored oil. Reserve in a bowl.
Parboil rice in a large non-stick saucepan over high heat. Bring 8 cups water and 2 teaspoons kosher salt to a boil. Add the strained rice to the boiling water and simmer for 5–7 minutes until slightly softened yet firm. Drain through a fine mesh sieve and mix parboiled rice with cinnamon-spiced lentils. Return the rice pot to the fire after rinsing.
For the tahdig layer, combine 1 cup of cooked rice and lentils and 1 tablespoon of bloomed saffron water in a medium dish. Stir gently until rice is golden. Stirring lentils and rice in a pot.
Crisp the tahdig layer: Pour neutral oil into the rice cooker without heating. Push the saffron rice and lentil mixture into a flat layer across the saucepan with the back of a spoon. Skillet-cooked lentils and rice.
Layer the rice: Add the remaining rice mixture without pressing. After the caramelized onions, add the raisins, 8 pitted and quartered Medjool dates, and the leftover saffron water. Poke 5 holes in the rice from top to bottom using a spoon.A skillet with fried adas polo.
Steam rice: Cover the pot and heat on high. Reduce heat to low once steam rises, which should take around 5 minutes without a glass cover. Watch the pot to prevent scorching the tahdig. Wrap a tea towel over the pot lid and put it back. Cover and simmer for 1 hour over low heat to steam rice.A skillet with fried adas polo. A kitchen towel-covered skillet lid comes next.
Serve the rice and lentils: Remove the cover, combine the rice, and pour onto a serving dish. Grab the crispy tahdig layer by the edges with a spatula and gently remove it from the saucepan. The crispy tahdig may be served whole or broken up and placed around the rice.Overhead shot depicts two servings of adas polo on plates next to a glass of water and the remainder on a plate with a spoon.
Adas Polo Serving Ideas
Since lentils provide protein, serve adas polo with salad like Shirazi Salad and yogurt sauce like Tzatziki.
Serve with Super Tender Braised Lamb Shanks during a dinner gathering. Lunch with olive oil-fried Za’atar eggs is wonderful.
Adas Polo Storage
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Let the rice cool completely before refrigerating.
After cooling, put to freezer bags or containers to freeze. It may be frozen for 3 months.
Sprinkle little water over the rice and simmer on low heat to reheat. Reheat in the microwave using the right dish.
Crisp the tahdig in a hot oven or air fryer to reheat.
