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Celebrating Fourth of July with Albaloo Polo, or Sour Cherry Rice Dish

 

By Azadeh Torabi

Today is Fourth of July in 2021. It is the United States Independence Day. On Fourth of July, the Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain.

Earlier this week, Sara Jamshidi, executive producer for Goltune, talked about freedom fighters, people who use nonviolence to move a democratic political agenda forward. Celebrating Fourth of July is to honoring freedom fighters, and the people who underwent tremendous hardship to bring more justice to their societies. Similar to many nations, who fight for more democracy and independence, our nation received her independence from Great Britain on Fourth of July, in 1776. Happy the 4th !!

To celebrate Fourth of July, we chose dish rich in color, including Blue, red and white: Albaloo Polo or Sour Cherry Rice.

For this day, I decided to pay homage to a traditional Persian dish from the Mediterranean Cuisine: Sour Cherry Rice, or Albaloo Polo. The dish seemed to be the closest to the US flag in colors. Plus the sour cherries are the fresh fruits of the season right now. You can find them in almost in any major grocery stores.

I do not think there is a better way than using fresh seasonal ingredients. Besides, my cousin Soraya brought me the sour fresh cherries, that she picked them from her very own sour cherry tree in Michigan. I couldn’t resist to the delicious temptation of making Albaloo Polo.

Albaloo Polo, or Sour Cherry dish is considered a formal dish mainly served in weddings, anniversaries, or official ceremonies in Iran. The sour cherry rice is a tasty sweet dish that can be paired with mini meatballs or a rotisserie chicken.

Noosh-e jān!

 

Timing

Prep time: 30 min.

Cooking time: 1 hr

Ready in: 1 hr 30 min

Level: intermediate

Serves: 4-6

Star Spangled, or Sour Cherry Rice (Albaloo-Polo)

 

Ingredients

albaloo polo, sour cherry rice, mediterranean cuisine
©2021, Goltune News, All rights reserved.

4 cups sour cherry, pitted & reserved juice

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 cups basmati rice (1 1/2 cup cooked preserved for garnish if desired)

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup slivered almonds

3 teaspoons saffron, brewed

Freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Garnish (optional)

1 large Idaho or Golden potato, sliced

1 cup blueberries

Star-shaped cookie-cutter

 

Directions:

albaloo polo, sour cherry rice, mediterranean cuisine

Place the pitted cherry (including its juice) & 1/2 cup of sugar in a pot and let it sit for 5 minutes. If there is not enough juice with the cherries, you may add 1/3 cup of warm water. Put the mix over medium heat and bring to boil. Lower the heat. Taste the syrup. Depending on the origin of sour cherries, some may taste sweeter or sourer.

If you prefer it to be on a sweeter side, add the rest of the sugar. I used Michigan sour cherries and only added 3/4 cup of the sugar. I also added 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to give the syrup a pleasant kick.

Let simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Make sure all the juice is not evaporated. After simmering, my sour cherry mixture yielded ¾ cup of syrup which later I poured half of it over the rice and used the rest as sour cherry granita. Yummy!

 

Basmati Rice

While the syrup is in the making, wash Basmati rice under lukewarm water. Drain. Repeat rinse and drain (4-5 times) until the water runs clear. This will help to wash away the excess starch and prevent the rice from becoming too mushy.

Fill the pot with cold water 1 ½ times more than the amount of rice. Add about 2 teaspoons of salt to water. Bring to a boil. As soon as the rice appears to be floating on the surface of the boiling water, give it 1-2 minutes. Before the rice foam overflows the pot, pick it up and drain it into a colander. Rinsing it quickly with some cold water gives rice a shock and helps the grains to maintain their shape.

Since this dish contains sweet syrup, it is best to put a layer of thin flat bread like Lavash or flour tortillas at the bottom of the pot so the rice won’t be burned when the syrup travels down toward the bottom. If possible, use a non-stick pot since the rice will be sticky at the bottom

 

Almonds

Put 3 tablespoons of canola oil in the pot. Then add the flat bread to cover the bottom as much as possible. Then add enough rice to cover the bread. With a skimming ladle, spoon out cooked sour cherries and scatter over rice, trying to keep off of the edges. Continue layering until all is done.

Top with a small amount of syrup along with brewed saffron. Place on medium heat and cover. As soon as little sweats form inside the lid or steam comes out of the pot, lower heat and wrap the lid in a kitchen cloth or two sheets of paper towel and cook for another 20 minutes.

Place the almonds with butter in a skillet and sauté over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until roasted.

Before serving, mix the rice gently in the pot. Transfer the rice to a serving dish. Top with roasted almonds.

Garnish (optional)

For star-spangled rice, I sliced a big potato and used a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut potato slices. In another pot, I added 2 tablespoons of oil with a tad of brewed saffron. Then I arranged the star potatoes at the bottom and used about 1 1/2 cup of cooked white rice to cover the potatoes. Add 3 tablespoons of water. Place the pot over medium high heat and cover. Once again, as the steam comes out wrap the lid in paper towel and lower the heat. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes

To copy the navy blue color of the flag, I experienced with some blueberries. Place the blueberries with enough water to cover and slowly let it simmer until the juice runs out. When the color is deep enough, mix some rice from step 6 with the blueberry syrup and start decorating the Sour Cherry Rice with it. The color has a deep purple hue to it which I believe is healthier and more delicious than blue synthetic food coloring.

The making of this dish was a fruitful journey, both literally and metaphorically. Noosh-e jān!

 

#AlbalooPolo #mediterraneanDiet #mediterraneanKitchen #AzadehTorabi

#peace #compassion #kindness #halalfood


 

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