Reshteh Polo / Noodle Rice
1 ½ cups basmati rice
1 Tbsp salt
4 oz roasted noodles, broken into 1 inch (2.5cm) length
~9 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion
1 cup golden raisins
12 pieces quality dates, cut in half (longitude) and de-pitted
3 Tbsp orange marmalade
smidgen ground saffron dissolved in 1 Tbsp hot water (optional, but makes a difference)
For tah-dig: 1 piece flour tortilla bread (large enough to cover bottom of the pot) –or- see other options of tah-dig
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- Roasted Noodles
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- Raisins-Golden Jumbo
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- Dates
To soak the rice:
- Wash rice in a bowl until the water is clear. (Or in a fine-meshed colander, rinse the rice thoroughly.)
Add 1 Tbsp salt, cover with water level one inch above the rice and set aside for more than an hour (this can be done in advance and soak for 3+ hours).
To prepare the dried fruit mixture:
Caramelized Onion
- Cut onions in half, putting cut side on the board. Slice longitudinally (from the root end to stem end) as thinly as possible.
- In a deep, non-stick pot, add 3 Tbsp oil and set on medium-high heat. When oil begins to ripple, it is hot enough. Add onions. Stir often, fry until evenly golden crisp. Spoon out and set aside.
- In same pot with remaining oil (on medium-high heat), add raisins and stir for a minute. Add dates and stir for another minute, turn off heat.
- Add orange marmalade, one-half of caramelized onion and dissolved saffron, mix and set aside.
To boil the rice and noodles:
- Have a colander ready in your sink (fine-mesh or with very small holes, hopefully, with legs and don’t touch the sink bottom).
- In a non-stick pot (9 cups capacity with lid) bring 5 cups of water to a boil.
- Drain water from soaked rice and add to boiling water. Also, add noodles. Pay attention to the pot or else foam from boiling rice may overflow (stir to avoid overflow).
- As rice starts to boil briskly, lower heat to medium-high and occasionally, gently stir the rice in a circular motion. At this point, taste the boiling water (carefully) to insure the salt content is to your taste. Add salt if needed.
In a few minutes, after rice begins bubbling like a fountain, it boils slower/thicker.
- Test/bite a grain to check its hardness. Do this repeatedly, as timing is very important. As soon as there is no more hardness in the center of the rice (don’t let it get completely soft), drain rice in colander waiting in sink. It is better for rice to be a tad undercooked than overcooked.
- Rice should not sit in the colander more than a minute (it will continue cooking and be sticky soft).
- At this point, you must act quickly. Rinse pot and have it ready for preparing rice.
To prepare the rice:
- Put 3 Tbsp oil in pot. Lay tortilla bread in bottom of pot (or tah-dig of choice).
- Gently, a spatula at a time, sprinkle ¼ of drained rice/noodle in pot.
- Layer 1/3 of raisin mixture evenly over rice/noodle layer (away from touching sides of pot) and cover/layer with ¼ of rice/noodle. Repeat this two more times.
- Poke a few holes into the rice. Pour 2~3 Tbsp of oil evenly over rice in the pot.
- Cover pot with 2 sheets of paper towel and tightly put lid on.
- On medium-low heat, steam for 45 minutes.
- Dish out rice, spatula at a time, into a serving dish (keeping tah-dig intact at bottom of pot).
- Sprinkle and garnish the other-half of the caramelized onion on top of the dished out rice.
- Loosen, dish out tah-dig with wooden or non-stick pot-safe spatula and serve in same dish or a different dish.
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Noushe jan! /Bon Appétit!
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Goes well with Lamb Shank
I want! I have everything in the house to cook this. But the question is “can I cook it as good as you have? ” Not sure Fae! I will try tho! :/
Do give it a try, and post it! Piyaz-dagh/caramelized onion is the secret to almost all dishes, especially Persian.
YUM! Looks delish Fae!
Oh, this one is so~ good!
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Looks incredible Fae!
Oh my gosh that looks so good Fae! I’ve never seen jumbo raisins like that – are they called sultanas or raisins?
Hmm… they are called ‘jumbo’ golden raisins. If it is the same thing or not, I don’t know.
They are soft and elegantly sweet and delicious. 
This looks absolutely scrumptious!
It was/is!
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Can’t quite get over how extraordinary Persian rice dishes are! I don’t feel confident in trying one, though. And I’ve never heard of soaking rice before cooking, neither. Huh, learning all the time on here!
Well, start from this post of mine Persian Rice (Polo). Soaking helps the rice to elongate and cook prettier… boiling and draining discards some starch so rice don’t stick together. Make just a small amount of plain rice and see how it turns. Then you can be creative. Soaking only works with basmati varieties.
It’s lunch time and I feel like wanting to attack my computer monitor and gobbling this off the screen. Not fair posting such deliciousness, Fae! The tahdigh looks awesome too. I now covet both reshteh polo AND lamb shanks. Lord have mercy!
I know exactly what you are saying… I feel exactly the same when I see your dishes! Tah-digs are very moody phenomenon, a hit-or-miss.
This time, it turned out perfect! Patience and slow steaming is the key. 
you put it just right: tah-digs are moody! But this batch is just picture-perfect and looks just the right amount of crispy/crunchy as well. It’s funny this is my mom’s favorite rice dish yet she made it maybe twice a year when I was growing up, for some reason it just doesn’t get as much rotation as some other rice dishes. I wonder why – it is so delicious. Great job Fae and now I’m back here and drooling over it yet again.This time for dinner!
You’ve done it AGAIN!!! I think I was born in the wrong family! I should have been persian!! !
You are so~ cute, Jasmine! You can be my sweet Persian daughter, when you visit my blog!
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Fae, this is one of the best rice dishes I have ever seen. I absolutely love the fruit mixture! You always have the most amazing recipes!
Thank you, Judy! There are other Persian dishes which use varieties of fruits and nuts (especially the one called the ‘jewel rice’). Some recipes which I cannot make in small portions (wouldn’t show its beauty… and due to ingredients come in quantity packaging -and expensive), I have to make them when I have company/visitors to justify. Stay tuned and they will show up someday.
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I’ve never had this dish before, it sounds amazing, I love with the lamb shanks.
Reshteh-polo is rarely made (I don’t know why?). I made maybe 5 time in my life time.
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My Mom use to make it once a year on the eve of Naw-Ruz… and of course, sabzi-polo va mahi on Naw-Ruz
When we were in Japan in the late 50s ~ early 60s, she could not find the ingredients (i.e. roasted noodles, dates, golden raisins and of course long grain rice let alone basmati). She would improvise with whatever substitute she could come-up with, such as roasting udon, Japanese noodles!