Sheveed Polo (Dill Rice) Recipe (2024)

"Wrap the lid in a kitchen towel to catch the condensation, ensuring that the kitchen towel is secured up top so it doesn’t catch fire."There's some good advice, here's some more:New cooks-do not do this, just leave the lid on and cook the rice for a total of 20 minutes or so. Then, if you want, remove the pan from the burner and let it sit a few minutes. Do the towel thing if you like but OFF THE BURNER.We want you to become old cooks, not a statistic.

Whenever I cook rice, I cook it for the required amount, generally about 15 minutes, then I take the pot off the stove and place a towel between the pot and lid and let the rice sit for another 5 minutes or so. I learned this from a sushi chef and the rice cooks up perfectly. It's certainly safer than having a towel over a low flame and I think the result is the same.

A little confused about the directions in Step 4. How do you cook the rice for an additional 15 minutes AFTER the water has been absorbed (per Step 2)? Do you mean to cook for an additional 3 min, in addition to the 12 min in Step 2, for a total of 15 minutes? That seems a little short to me for cooking 2 Cs of dry rice, even if the water/rice ration isn't quite 2/1, and cooking a dry pot of rice for an additional 15 min with the seems equally unsuccessful. What am I missing?

I made the rice in my rice cooker (2 to 1 ratio of water and rice) and mixed everything together when the rice was done. It was delicious- company had seconds and thirds.

This is not the Persian method of cooking rice. The Persian method would be to cook the rice in excess water, like pasta, until it is almost done - about 12 minutes is right but it will not absorb all the water. THEN drain the excess water, add a little butter and 2 Tbsp water back to the pot, put back the hot rice and dill, and do the towel-and-lid thing and steam on low heat for another 10 minutes or so. Use high quality basmati, rinsed x3 before cooking, to remove stickiness.

Your house will not catch fire because of the towel. Wrap a kitchen towel around the lid, securing with a rubber band, if concerned. Persian women have been doing the towel forever, so excess condensation does not ruin rice. Persian filled rices need to be made with Basmati rice to hold up to the streaming phase, but the cooking method given here has been amended for non-natives to make it easy. Look at Food of Life by Najamieh Batmanglij for the correct method. W/that, you can use brown Basmati

As others have noted, 12 minutes plus 15 minutes of cooking time seems excessive. I cooked as directed in step two, then folded in the dill as directed in step 3, then stuck a paper towel between pot and lid and let rest off heat for 15 minutes. Came out perfect!

I'm curious to know if it can be made with brown rice, and what would need to change.

I cook Sheveed Polo whenever I can get my hands on fresh dill. I use the traditional Persian method of rinsing the rice and soaking it for several hours in salted water. The rice gets drained and rinsed and then boiled in salted water for no more than 5 minutes. It gets very well drained again, mixed with the dill and mounded in a well buttered pot. Put it on medium heat, cover the lid with the towel, and let it steam gently for half an hour. You get fluffy rice and crispy tadig in the pot.

Wowie! Made this with the roasted dill salmon, easy and so delicious! Only cooked the rice for 15 minutes then turned off the stove and left it with the towel-wrapped lid. It was perfect! 🌟

I’m pretty sure she means to cook for 12 minutes, add dill and continue cooking to reach 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.

I was confused by the directions too. It seemed impossible to cook for another 15 minutes after the first 12 because the rice was already fluffy and dry. I used a heavy, cast iron post and cooked for perhaps another three minutes. At that point the rice was sticking to the bottom of the pot and I wished I had added more oil to make Persian crusty rice. It was delicious in the end but the timings were way off.

The recipe calls for basmati rice, not jasmine. They are really different.

The sweeter and more mild-tasting the rice, the better the flavor of the dill will come across. The flavor of the brown rice may obscure some of the delicate dill flavor.

Basmati would ensure a non-sticky result and, as others have pointed out, complement rather than obscure the dill.

We love dill. We raise it and dehydrate gobs of it. But the amount of dill in this recipe was overwhelming. Had to throw it out. Three tablespoon dried dill equals 6 tablespoons fresh. Add to that the bunch of chopped fresh dill equals an inedible failure. Definitely had my part in this by following recipe instead of using good sense, but I trust NYT recipes. Some are better than others, but this is the first time the outcome was inedible.

Too much dill for me. Would make with only fresh dill next time, not the dried.

I cut the recipe in half and it turned out well. I also added some petite peas towards the end.

I cooked the rice as specified for 12 minutes, folded in the dill, wrapped the lid in a towel and cooked covered, for 3 more mins (for a total of 15 mins). Then I removed the rice from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 15 minutes. PERFECT rice.

Yes you can use a rice cooker. You will need to open the rice cooker to do this at about the 3/4 done point but at this stage almost all the water is gone and it only takes about a minute or two to mix in the first batch of dill. Close the rice cooker and let it finish and then at the end put all the rice in a serving bowl and add the remainder of the chopped dill.

rinse rice in a sieve until water runs clearadd rice to cold water, bring to a boil, put a lid on it, lower to a simmerafter 10 minutes, remove from heat keep lid onlet rest for 10 minutesremove lid, fluff with fork, gently fold in dill 1 c. jasmine or basmati rice + 1 1/4 c. water works like a charm

Do.

I love this. My cheat version is to cook rice in the instant pot as however I cook the rice usually (brown or short grain works too) and just add dry dill (I used 4 tbsp for 2 cups of rice as I had no fresh dill) and salt per the recipe. Mix in butter after rice is cooked. Voilà, quick dill rice in less than 20 mins!

Gooey rice. Followed recipe to a "t." Thought water/rice ratios looked off, but followed recipe anyhow.Used Trader Joe's white Basmanti. Fancy new stove with a simmer hob, so temperature controlled well. Rinsed rice until water was clear. But, the rice was gloppy.

Thank you for all that recommended cooking for less time. I brought the rice to a boil, simmered with the lid on for 12 minutes and turned off heat. I added all of my dill as I fluffed with a fork, covered the lid securely with a kitchen towel and let it sit for another 10 minutes. It was perfect!!

This rice was practically life-changing. The recipe calls for a simplified version of the persian cooking method. You won't get the crisp tahdig on the bottom, but you will get effortlessly perfect, fluffy rice, enhanced with the delicate flavor of dill. Everyone at the table adored it and I will make it again and again. I served it with Eric Kim's gochugaru glazed salmon. Eclectic, but delightful.

Why not using a rice cooker, you will get the same result with less non sense, I eat rice everyday I have never heard of this towel business, my mum show me how to cook rice since I was 9 and she never used that towel idea and her rice was perfect and fluffy.

You don't need the dry dill you get the same result with just fresh dill, after washing your rice melt the butter in a frying pan and had the dill then add your rice and salt stir fry for few minutes then put all in the rice cooker add the water required and voilà, add few fresh dill before serving.

what is the purposde of using dried dill along with fresh dill?

Cut a paper towel to just slightly more than the diameter of the pot lid, fit paper towel in lid and cover pot for that step. Avoids possible flame touching an overhanging dish towel. Tried it, works. Yes, using paper towel, a waste, but paper will dry and can reuse or repurpose! Wendy