Reshteh polo is a flavorful Persian dish featuring saffron infused rice and noodles. It is a remarkably delicious medley of flavors, incorporating sweet and savory elements with ingredients like raisins, caramelized onions, and warm spices like cinnamon, cumin and saffron.
Often enjoyed on the first day of Nowruz, or what we call the Persian New Year, each element of this Reshteh polo holds a symbolic significance associated with the arrival of spring and a new year.
- Rice: represents a plentiful year ahead, with prosperity and abundance
- Noodles (Reshteh): represents longevity and a life full of experiences and connections
- Raisins: represents good fortune, hope for the future, and a sweet life ahead
- Saffron: represents celebration, the golden color of saffron reflects a new day with the the arrival of spring (sun) after the long winter
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What are the Ingredients Needed to Make Reshteh Polo?
- Parboiled Basmati Rice
- Reshteh or Thin Noodles
- Spices: Onion Powder, Cumin, Cinnamon, Saffron, Salt and Black Pepper
- Protein of your choice: Ground Chicken, Turkey, Lamb or Beef
- Onions
- Raisins (currant or black)
- Yogurt
- Butter and Oil
View the recipe card below
Steps to Making Reshteh Polo (details in recipe card below)
Make the Meatballs
- Mix the ground meat with the salt, pepper, cumin, onion powder, and cinnamon.
- Form into small meatballs. Sauté in a frying pan until golden brown, then set aside.
- Sauté onions until golden, then add the raisins, cinnamon and liquid saffron.
- Add the meatballs back into the pan.
Boil the Rice and Noodles
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and oil to the water. Rinse the rice well, and then add to the pot.
- Break noodles into smaller pieces and toast them in a pan until golden.
- Add noodles to the same pot of boiling rice and cook until they just soften. Then, Drain rice and noodles in colander and set aside.
Assemble the Reshteh Polo
- Make rice and yogurt mixture by adding yogurt and oil to to some of the rice, then mixing well to combine. Afterwards, pour a few tablespoons oil into a large pot and spread the yogurt and rice mixture on the bottom of the pot. This will help form the crispy crust, or tahdig.
- Pour half of the rice and noodles from the colander to cover the rice and yogurt mixture in the pot.
- Layer the meat and onion mixture on top of the rice and noodles, reserving some of the onions and raisins.
- Spoon over the remaining rice and noodles to create a layer of rice over meat and onion mixture.
- Top with spoonfuls of reserved onions and raisins.
Steam the Rice
- Place your pot with the noodle rice on medium-high heat. After 5-10 minutes, the rice will start to give off steam. Drizzle a little oil and saffron water on top of the rice.
- Turn the heating element down to medium-low heat. Cover pot with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel and then put the lid back on. Cook on low for 45 minutes.
Serve
- When the rice has cooked, remove the lid and paper towel. Drizzle the top with a little butter melted with a pinch of saffron. Gently spoon the rice onto a large serving dish. Serve the tahdig, or crisp crust, along with the reshteh polo or on a separate plate.
What is Reshteh?
Reshteh is the word for Persian noodles, often made from wheat flour and toasted. If you are buying reshteh from a middle eastern supermarket, they will most likely be toasted.
However, if you are using angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti, break the noodles into 1-inch pieces. You can then:
Dry Pan Method: Heat a dry pan over medium-high heat. Then, add the thin noodles and toast them, stirring frequently, until golden brown and blistered.
Frying Option: Heat some oil in the pan and fry the reshteh pieces until golden.
How do I make saffron water?
You make Saffron water by blooming saffron in a small amount of water. The saffron is ground in a mortar and pestle to bring out the color and essence. Water is then added to the ground saffron so it can bloom. The time for the saffron to fully bloom will depend on the temperature of the water. Using ice cubes or cold water may take longer than hot water, but will preserve the fragrance and color of the saffron.
If you use hot water, the saffron will bloom quickly, but as a result, you certainly sacrifice some of the essence. My recommendation is to bloom saffron with warm water, which will take about 10 minutes and create the best result.
FAQ
You can make Reshteh Polo without the meatballs. Much of the flavor of reshteh polo comes from the savory and sweet caramelized onions, raisins and saffron. You will not compromise the flavor of this dish if you make it vegetarian.
The key difference between parboiled basmati rice and regular basmati rice is in how the rice is processed. Parboiled basmati rice has a firmer texture and is less sticky than its regular counterpart, making it a perfect choice for dishes like reshteh polo. It's also a very forgiving rice, rarely becoming mushy even if overcooked. Additionally, parboiled rice has a lower glycemic index than regular basmati rice.
On the other hand, regular basmati rice is more fragrant than parboiled, and it often comes with a slightly lower price.
Salad shirazi and masto-khiar are two popular sides that you would often serve with reshteh polo. You make Salad shirazi with diced red or white onion, tomatoes, and Persian cucumbers, then dress with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, olive oil, and dried herbs, such as mint, dill or parsely, as well as salt and pepper. Masto khiar is simply yogurt(mast) and diced cucumbers (khiar), dried mint, and salt and pepper stirred together. You can choose one and or both of these sides.
You can make Reshteh polo with a variety of different meats. For meatballs, you can choose ground chicken, like I have here, or turkey, lamb, or beef. Saffron chicken, a dish made with chicken thighs or chicken breast simmered in a saffron broth, is also a popular option. Lamb shanks or other chunks of meat that take longer to cook can be prepared separately and added to this dish when serving.
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Reshteh Polo (Persian Rice and Noodle Dish)
Ingredients
Meatball and Onion layer
- 1 lb ground turkey or chicken
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ⅓ teaspoon tsp ground cumin
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon separated to ¼ and 1 tsp
- ¾ teaspoon salt separated to ½ and ¼ tsp
- ¾ teaspoon pepper separated to ½ and ¼ tsp
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 3 onions, medium sized thinly sliced
- 1 cup currant raisins or small raisins
- ½ teaspoon saffron, ground dissolved in ⅓ cup of warm water
Rice Layer
- 1 ¾ cup uncooked basmati parboiled rice rinsed several times
- 6 oz thin noodles (reshteh)
- ½ cup yogurt
- 4 tablespoon oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoon butter optional
- ¼ teaspoon saffron
Instructions
Make the Meatballs
- In a medium bowl, mix ground meat, onion powder, cumin, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Using your hands or a mini cookie scoop, form the meat mixture into small meatballs.
- Heat oil in a saute pan, and lightly fry the meatballs so that they are golden on all sides.
- Remove the meatballs from the pan and add the thinly sliced onions. You may need to add a splash of oil. Sautee them until golden brown. Season with remaining salt and pepper.
- Stir in raisins, remaining cinnamon, and liquid saffron. Liquid saffron is made my grinding saffron to a powder, then adding 2-3 tablespoons of warm water to every ¼ teaspoon of ground saffron. It is ideal to let the saffron water bloom for 10 minutes.
- Return the meatballs to the pan and stir to combine. Then turn off the heat. The meatballs will soak up the sauce. Set aside while preparing the rice.
Boil the Rice and Noodles
- Break the noodles into 1 inch pieces. Dry toast them in a pan until they are golden. Set aside.
- Rinse the rice several times until the water runs mostly clear.
- In a large pot, bring 8-10 cups of water to a boil. Add 1.5 tablespoon salt and 2 tablespoon of oil.
- Add the rice to the pot. Once the water comes back to a gentle boil, let the rice cook for 6-8 more minutes or until it is a bit more firm than al dente.
- Now add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes, or until you are able to just break a noodle in half between your fingers. The general rule is to cook the pasta halfway, so if directions say cook for 12 minutes, cook for 5 or 6 minutes.
- Strain the rice noodle mixture in a large colander in the sink. Set aside while you prepare the bottom of the pot in the next step.
Assemble the Reshteh Polo
- Add 3 tablespoon of oil to the bottom of the pot.
- In a small bowl, mix 1.5 to 2 cups of your rice from the colander with ½ cup yogurt and 2 tablespoon of oil. Spread this on the bottom of the pot to form the crispy crust, or tahdig.
- Layer half of the rice and noodle mixture on top of the tahdig layer.
- Now add a layer with the cooked meatballs and onion mixture, reserving some of the onions and raisins for garnish.
- Add the remaining rice on top.
- Add the reserved onions on top of the rice layer.
Steam the Rice
- Turn the heat on the rice to medium-high. Wait for the pot to become hot and build up some steam (usually within 5-10 minutes).
- Drizzle 2 tablespoon of oil mixed with 4 tablespoon of hot water over the rice. Cover the pot with a clean cloth or paper towel and top with the the lid.
- Turn the heat to low or medium-low and cook for 40-45 minutes. The rice should steam but not burn.
Serve
- Remove lid and paper towel.
- Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of butter melted with ¼ teaspoon of ground saffron. (you can do this ahead and set aside)
- Spoon the rice onto a serving platter, and top with the meatballs.
- Remove the tahdig from the bottom of the pan and enjoy.
