Zurbiyaan is a traditional Yemeni recipe for a classic one-pot dish of lamb, potatoes and spiced rice where the predominant flavouring is saffron. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Yemeni version of: Zurbiyaan.
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What is distinct in this dish is the taste of the most expensive spice in the world–saffron. In Aden this is a dish we usually make for special occasions–weddings and special guest. It is usually made with lamb but chicken works almost as well. You have to be generous with the spices for this dish to turn out aromatic.
Ingredients:
500g of lamb cut into medium pieces
4 potatoes halved
2 onions, sliced
2 tbsp of plain white flour
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of lemon juice
600g of basmati rice
2 tbsp of ground cumin
2 tbsp of ground coriander seeds
6 green cardamom pods, crushed
6 black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 of tsp of food colouring (for the rice)
2 pinches of saffron threads
125ml of yoghurt or sour cream semn for dotting
salt, to taste
Method:
The night before, marinate the lamb and potatoes in a mixture of the ground cumin, coriander seeds, ground cinnamon, ground black pepper, a pinch off saffron and the yoghurt blended with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Place in the refrigerator.
Dust the onions with flour then deep fry in hot oil until golden. Add half the onions to the marinated lamb mixture then scrape into a large pyrex baking dish (enough to hold the marinated lamb and the parboiled rice).
Transfer to the refrigerator and chill until you're ready to cook.
About three hours before you're ready to serve, add 250ml water to the lamb mixture. Cover with a lid or kitchen foil then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180C and bake for 2 hours, or until the lamb is fully tender. Make sure the mixture does not dry out during this time, top up the liquid with water as needed and if it's cooking too quickly reduce the oven to 150C.
Boil some water with salt, a few peppercorns, cardamon pods, and sticks of cinnamon, add the washed rice and cook until it is almost done (about 8 minutes). Drain the rice and set aside.
When the lamb and potatoes are cooked through layer the rice on top. Sprinkle the remainder of the saffron and food colouring. A little water–about 4 tbsp evenly sprinkled over. Distribute the remainder of the fried onion on top of the rice then dot with a few pieces of semn. Cover the dish, return to the oven and bake at 150C for another hour, or until the rice is fully cooked through.
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