Ground lamb has become one of my staples.  It’s not terribly expensive, it’s fatty, and it’s... lamb.  Not everyone likes lamb, but I can’t get enough of it.  In the Seattle area, PCC carries a 100% grass-fed lamb from Oregon.

I’ve been cooking my whole life, but I have less experience cooking meats than other ingredients.  I was a vegetarian and was then a pescatarian/flexitarian for many years, so cooking with meat is less reflexive for me than, say, cooking with onions.  And ground meat requires some creativity.  I’ve made plenty of tasty things out of ground lamb, like a ragoût with tomatoes and flageolet beans or spiced patties with potatoes and yogurt, but this week I went looking for something new.

No surprise that the cuisine of Iran yielded an intriguing answer.  Persian food is known for melding harmonious, subtle flavors, and for doing wonderful things to lamb.  I browsed a couple of recipes for a dish called adas polow, which combines ground lamb, lentils, rice, dried fruit, and spices.  I chose what I wanted from each recipe.

The result was delicious.  The dish tastes both complex and simple.  The bits of meat, grains of rice, and lentils are all about the same size, and the spices blend together beautifully.

Adas Polow (Persian ground lamb, lentils and rice)

1. •1 cup small black lentils, green lentils, or

   

   brown lentils -- I used black
   

2. •1 cup basmati rice
   

3. •1 lb ground lamb
   

4. •butter
   

5. •olive oil
   

6. •1 onion, chopped into small pieces or thin strips
   

7. •zest of 1 lemon
   

8. •1 cup dried fruit -- I used a combination of cherries, raisins and currants.  Dates are traditional too.
   

9. •cinnamon
   

10. •turmeric
    

11. •cardamom (ground)
    

12. •cumin (ground)
    

13. •saffron: 3/4 t dissolved in 1 cup hot water, plus 1 pinch dry
    

14. •water
    

15. •salt
    

16. •pepper
    

17. •yogurt (optional)
    

18. •flat-leaf parsley (optional)
    

Serves 4.

1. Soak rice and lentils separately in advance of cooking, preferably overnight. 

2. Cook lentils and rice separately until just barely done, about 15-20 minutes.  Do not overcook.

3. In a heavy-bottomed pot, preferably one that doesn’t stick terribly much, heat butter or oil.  Add onion, lemon zest and a pinch of saffron.  Cook until onion is clear and a little browned, adding some salt as you stir. 

4. Add lamb, salt and pepper, and stir to break up chunks and mix the lamb with the onions well.  Add some of the cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric.  Let lamb brown, and then add a cup of water.  Let the lamb and water cook together until the water has nearly evaporated.  Remove lamb mixture and set aside.

5. Mix about half a cup of the cooked rice with a tablespoon of the saffron water, a tablespoon of olive oil, and 3 tablespoons of yogurt.  Spread this mixture on the bottom of the heavy bottomed pot. Add the other ingredients in layers: a layer of lentils, then of dried fruit, then of lamb, and so forth.  While adding lentil- and lamb-layers, sprinkle in more salt, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and cardamom.  Your top layer should be rice.  When you have reached this layer, pour the remainder of the saffron water over the rice.

6. Cook the contents of this pot together for about 15 minutes.  You can avoid stirring and intentionally get a browned layer on the bottom, and try to leave the dish in layers, or you can do what I did: let it cook in layers for a few minutes and then stir it all together.  If you stir it together, add in more salt or spices if needed.  I also stirred in a few tablespoons of butter and a few spoonfuls of yogurt.

Serve with yogurt and chopped parsley.

(For those who keep kosher, this dish still tastes great without the dairy products.  Use a little extra olive oil, and skip the yogurt.)

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