Lubia Polo recipe with ground beef

Lubia Polo is a famous popular Persian food. Persian Green Bean Rice is usually made in seasons with fresh green beans. However, because of its immense popularity, Iranians keep green beans in the freezer to enjoy this food every season. Lubia Polo is usually made with ground beef, lamb meat, or chicken.

If we want to describe Polo or Pilaf: in Iran, Polo is a food that consists of rice cooked alongside something else. For example, Rice can be cooked with green beans, lentils, barberry, cabbage, or even cherries. The final result is Lubia Polo, Adas Polo, Zereshk Polo, Baqali Polo, Kalam Polo, and Albaloo Polo. Each of these Pilafs has its own unique taste and aroma.

Since rice has a special place in Persian cuisine and is widely consumed, there are many fantastic recipes for rice foods in Iran.

Loobia Polo is among the best of these foods. Iranians were greatly aware of the taste combination of ground beef, rice, and green beans. They completed the aroma and color with a little tomato paste, turmeric, and saffron. The result is a food with fantastic taste, color, and aroma, which is known all around the world.

The cooking process is easy and consists of small steps. You should sauté the ground beef with green beans and steam them with the rice. The recipe explained in this post is one of the fastest, easiest, and most delicious recipes for Lubia Polo with ground beef. So keep reading!

What kind of meat is used in Lubia Polo?

Lubia Polo with ground beef is the perfect combo. However, you can make it with other types of meat too:

• Loobia Polo with ground beef (My recipe)
• Green bean rice with meatballs
• Lubia polo with lamb
•  Lubia polo with chicken

How to make Lubia Polo with ground beef?

Step 1 – Preparation

Soak the rice for at least an hour.

Wash the green beans and cut them into small pieces, around 2 cm.

Step 2 – Prepare the ground beef and bean mixture

Dice one onion and sauté with oil. It doesn’t need to be completely fried.

Add crushed or grated garlic to the onions and sauté for a few seconds until the scent of garlic is noticeable.

Add ground beef. Mix with the back of a spatula or spoon to avoid clumping. Add turmeric, curry powder, pepper, and cinnamon. Sauté for 5 minutes. This step is like other Iranian recipes with minced meat.

Add the green beans to the meat and mix well. Let the beans fry a little.

Hollow the ingredients in the middle of the pan and add tomato paste to the empty part. Sauté the paste until it no longer smells raw, and then mix it with the meat and beans surrounding it.

After cooking these ingredients together, add half a cup of water. Close the lid and let it steam. Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer and soften for 10 minutes.

Wait until green beans become soft. Once the water is evaporated, turn the heat off.

Step 3 – Prepare the rice

Boil a pot of water. The amount depends on the amount of rice you’re using. It’s better if the water is one knuckle above the rice surface.

After the water is boiled, pour in the soaked rice. Add some salt.

After 5-7 minutes when the rice becomes al dente, drain it in a colander. Al dente is a state where the rice grains can be crushed on the outside between your fingers or teeth, but still raw on the inside.

Step 4 – Lubia Polo Tahdig

Put the rice pot on medium heat. Pour in some oil and add your preferred Tahdig to the bottom.

You can use bread Tahdig, or slice a potato and put the slices in the pot as I did. Fry both sides of the potatoes and add salt and turmeric.

You don’t have to thoroughly fry them since they cook well and become crispy and gold while the rice is steaming. Read the full recipe of potato tahdig here.

If you want more information on Persian Tahdigs, check this post out.

Step 5 – Add the green bean-meat mixture to the rice

After preparing the tahdig, pour half of the rice into the pot, then half of the green bean-meat mixture. Add the rest in the same manner. You can add some cinnamon to the meat layer for a great aroma.

In the end, pour steamed saffron on the rice. Close the lid. Set the heat on medium for 2-5 minutes until your food steams. Then, lower the heat. Let your Lubia Polo cook for 40-60 minutes and the tahdig becomes gold and crispy.

If you notice some leakage from the lid, use a cloth cover to avoid steam leakage. In this way, the rice cooks faster. Iranians call this Kitchen towel-lined lid “Dam-Koni” and sew it using thick colorful fabrics.

After the mentioned time is over, taste a little bit of the rice. If it’s fully cooked, turn the heat off. Stir the components of the pot. Place the food on a proper dish and serve it with shallot yogurt, pickled vegetables, or Torshi. Enjoy!

Serve the crispy and golden potato Tahdigs next to the green beans pilaf.

Vegetarian Loobia Polo Recipe:

You can prepare Lubia polo in a vegetarian way as well. You need to omit the ground beef and use Soy instead.

You can also use mushrooms which are rich in protein and fiber while being low on calories.

Remember to boil the soybeans for 5 minutes before using them to get rid of the raw taste. Then, sauté them with onions and use them for your Loobia Polo!

How to make Lubia Polo with lamb meat:

You can use lamb meat in your Lubia polo too. The recipe is almost the same as the one with ground beef, the only difference being the lamb meat needs more time to cook.

300-400 grams of lamb meat is sufficient for 3 cups of rice.

To make this Lubia Polo with lamb, follow these steps:

1- Dice the lamb meat.

2- in a pan, sauté onion, garlic, spices, and tomato paste with the meat. Add 3 cups of boiled water. Close the lid and let the meat cook for 2 hours.

3- separately, sauté the green beans and add some water for them to cook and soften.

4- When the meat is thoroughly cooked and the water evaporates, add the cooked green beans.

5- Boil the rice to the Al dente state in a separate pot. Drain it in a colander.

6- Put the pot on the stove. Add a little bit of oil and put the tahdig of your choice at the bottom of the pot. I recommend bread or potato tahdig.

7- Pour in the rice and layer the meat and green beans on it. Let them steam for 40-60 minutes.

Conclusion: 

Loobia polo, just like Adas Polo, Kalam Polo, and Qanbar Polo, is a popular Iranian dish. All these pilafs consist of rice with ground beef. They’re all made with simple ingredients found in every kitchen.

If you want to make Lubia polo and have any questions, ask away in the comments.

Persian green bean rice with Torshi bademjan shekam por:

In this post, I talked a lot about Polos. Do you know that Iranians have a word called “Chelo” as well? It is another type of Persian food.

Do you know the difference between polo and chelo?