Albaloo Polow is a Persian dish made of sour cherries and rice and it’s delish!! The sweet/tart flavor combo from the cherries mixed with the sweetness of the onion…Talk about perfection. Served with or without chicken it makes no difference, whatever your preference. I tweaked the traditional recipe a bit to fit the ingredients I keep on hand and this is what I’ve come up with. (You can easily double this recipe for larger crowds or cut it in 1/2 for a smaller group).
You’ll Need:
- 3 cups white rice (long grain if available)
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 sticks butter
- salt
- 1 large or 2 medium purple onions
- 8-10 oz. dried tart cherries
- Yogurt sauce, non-fat yogurt, or sour cream
- 1 – 2 cups of cooked chicken cut into bite size bits or assorted roasted chicken pieces (optional)
Let’s Get Started:
Make white rice as usual in your rice cooker or on the stove. [No minute rice!]. In the rice cooker I use a ration of 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water; for this recipe it’s 3 cups of rice, 4.5 cups of water, 1 stick of butter, and a tsp of salt all tossed in the rice cooker, you press ‘cook’, and that’s it….easy peasy! Feel free to cut down the amount of butter to 4 TB if you’d like, the rice will cook the same; I just prefer the flavor using a full stick of butter gives, but it’s up to you.
Dried Montmorency Cherries
Chicken Cherry Rice served with sour cream, a pickle, and a side of sauteed asparagus
Once the rice is finished cooking remove from pan and set aside. Heat 2 TB of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. While that heats slice your onion, then add it and the dried cherries to the skillet. Sauté until onions reach desired softness and cherries have plumped, about 10-12 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add an additional 2 TB of butter, the rice, and cut up chicken (if using) into your skillet. Mix until well combined then remove from heat.
Using larger chunks of chicken or bone-in pieces? You’ll do everything the same as above minus adding your chicken to the skillet with rice. Once the rice and cherry/onion mix are well combined remove from heat, adding chicken pieces on the side. Serve with a yogurt sauce or sour cream, a pickle is a nice flavor touch for this dish as well. Hope you enjoy!
