Have you ever tasted pumkin rice??
Mazandaran province استان مازندران is located in southern coast of Caspian sea دریای مازندران. The nature of Mazandaran is a mixture of forests, rainforests and coastal and very fertile region. Rice is mostly produces in North of Iran in Mazanadaran and Gilan provinces. Mazandaran is a producer of farmed fish, and Iranian caviar (black gold/black pearl) as well. Sea food is popular in coastal Mazandaran and you can find many different seafood in Mazandarani cuisine.
Mazandaran also in tourism industry is one of the tourists attraction.
What led me to talk about Mazandaran, is my pumpkin pliaf, a beautiful and delicious rice with pumpkin or what is called in Farsi (kadoo halvaei کدو حلوایی/کدو تنبل).
Pumpkin rice is a traditional meal of Mazandaran. It is very easy recipe to follow and prepare it.
In serving time this rice garnished with fried egg/s. As in Iranian food we try to make balance between nature of ingredients. Some ingredients have cold or cool nature and some have hot or warm nature. For example, pumpkin and rice have cold nature, but with adding spices like cinnamon or using fried eggs in this recipe we make balance between cold and warm nature of ingredients.
Mazandarani Pumpkin Pilaf کدو پلو مازندرانی
Ingredients
- 1 small pumpkin, peeled off and cut into small cubes
- 3 cups rice
- 250 g ground beef or lamb meagt
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp steamed saffron
- Salt- pepper to taste
- Olive oil or butter
Instructions
- Wash the rice (2-3times). Soak the rice in salted water for 1 hour before cooking.
In a pan add oil and sauté chopped onions until soft and translucent, and set aside.
- Add chopped pumpkin, season with cinnamon, sugar, turmeric, salt and pepper into the same pan. Sauté pumpkin for 10 minutes on medium heat. Add sautéed onion and steamed saffron to the mixture. Gently mix all together and set aside.
- Add some salt and pepper to the ground meat. make small meatballs and fry in the oil until brown and set aside.
- Bring some water to a boil. Drain salted water of the rice and add it to the boiled water. Allow to cook for 10 minutes. Then, using a colander and drain the rice.
- If you like to make tahdig (crispy crust from bottom of the pot), add some oil to bottom of the pot. Layer tortilla bread or slices of potatoes at the bottom of the pot, as you see in the photo I have layerd half of the pot with tortilla bread and other hald with slices of potaotes..
- Next, add a layer of rice and then mixture of pumpkin and fried meatballs. Repeat the process until all ingredients have been used.
- Cover the pot with a lid. Cook for about 10 minutes on the medium -high heat then reduce the heat to low and cook it for 20 minutes
- .Place cooked rice on a platter. Serve the pumpkin rice with fried egg/s, pickles and the crusty bottom (tahdig).
never tasted it, but if it looks like what I see in the picture, I would like to try it; it looks great
YaYYYYYYYYYY. Yes It’s delicious and thanks a lot for your comment ✨✨
you’re welcome…one day I will come across it and have a taste… thanks