Name: Susa Polow with Lentils, Currants & Dates
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Servings: 4
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; ½ cup vegetable oil, butter or ghee; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 3 cups vegetable stock* or water; 2 cups long-grain Indian rice; 2 cardamom pods; One 4-inch cinnamon sticks; 2 cups pitted dates, halved; 1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed; 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced; 2 cups currants; 1 teaspoon ground saffron dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water (optional)*; 2½ teaspoons salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 orange rind

Preparation info

Servings:
4

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 15

Appears in

Silk Road Cooking

By Najmieh Batmanglij

Published 2000

About

Susa was the capital of Elam and the starting point of the 1,500 mile Persian Royal Road that linked the ancient Persian capital with Anatolia and the Aegean Sea. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, royal messengers were stopped by “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night” and traversed the entire road in nine days thanks to a system of relays. Normal travel time was about three months. A nourishing rice dish like this might might have made the journey seem more pleasan