Albaloo Polow, Sour cherry Pilaf(Rice with Sour cherries)

A couple of days ago  I found out that I have got a packet of  sour cherries left in the freezer  so I decided to cook Albaloo polow, Albaloo is sour cherry in Farsi,  I usually freeze some summer fruits such as different types of berries for winter use,  I love sour cherry a lot,  I don't like sweet taste in many foods but this  polow is something special, Albaloo polow is delicious combination of sweet and sour taste, I like to taste  actual flavor of every ingredients in foods instead of expulsion of supper power adviyeh(spices).


Ingredinets
3 cups rice (long grain)
1/3 cup sugar
4cups sour cherries
 oil (canola oil)
1 table spoon (Adviyeh for polow)....how to make mixed iranian spice or adviyeh: mix 1tea spoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 2 tea spoons ground dried petal rose, 1 tea spoon ground cardamom)
1 teaspoon saffron
600 gr chicken filet
2 medium onions


Direction


wash and soak  rice in salty water for a few hours,
prepare saffroon by brewing saffron powder in a cup of boiling water,
Lets see what we will do with sour cherries, this part is time consuming , you should  make sure all of them are pitted!! Add sugar onto the top of sour cherries and then stir it gentley with your hand and set it aside for 30 minutes,

This part is like  making jam, but the syup doesn't have as thick consistency as jam, put sourcherries  in a  pan on a medium  heat,  stir it for a while, then let it simmer,  when it s perfectly done  remover from  heat  and  set it aside,

In the meantime,  cook chicken filtes with sliced onions and a cup of water, add a pinch of salt , 2 table spoons of prepared saffroon  and  add adviyeh to the chicken,cover it  to cook  for 20 mins or until the water level reduced,  remove  the remianing  juice and set it aside, add a table spoon of oil to the pan and stir fry chicken filtes for a short while until  they turn golden, you can skip this part if you are on any special diet,

In a heavy sauce pan or pot  bring  9-10 cups of water to a boil , drain the soaked rice  and add  it to the boiling water... reduce the heat to the medium heat to stop boiling ...
TIP:
 you can add a table spoon of white vinegar to the boiling water , this will preserve the white and pearly color of the rice.

drain the rice after 7 mins( for basmati ) 4 mins for iranian rice.....this part is very important  because you should watch the rice carefully to not
over cook it, the rice grains should be  half cooked or barely cooked NOT FULLY cooked. try one or two grains to see if it is ready.

try and test the rice to see if it is salty or not, if it s salty stream water over the drained rice , don't rinse rice thoroughly...just that  much to dissolve the extra salt.

rinse the sauce pan or pot  you  parboiled rice, pour 2 table spoons of melted butter or canola oil in the pan and arrange the already  peeled and sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pot,
then  place the parboiled rice over the potato slices , mound it  to form a pyramid...and  pour 2 table spoons melted butter or canola oil, add chicken filets as additional layer over the rice and sprinkle the  preserved   chicken broth over the rice, cover the pot with  its lid wraped by a clean cloth and cook it for 10 minutes over the medium heat , then reduce the heat  to low to prevent burning the bottom . when rice is ready add sour cherries to the rice and chciken and sprinke saffroon over it and mix it gently ,add pistachio flakes on top of the rice before serving !