Loobia Polo - Persian Lamb & Green Bean Rice

500 g lamb leg
1 tsp SIDS CRAZY SALT
½ piece beef bone with marrow (optional)
2 cups basmati rice
2 cups green beans
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
4 tbsp tomato paste
6 tbsp rice bran oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp saffron
2 ice cubes to bloom the saffron
2½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp New York Cut pepper
2 tbsp salt + more to taste

Transfer the ice cubes into a glass. Sprinkle the saffron over them and set it aside for later.
Cut the lamb leg or shoulder into about 2.5 cm cubes and rub in SIDS CRAZY SALT.
Finely chop the onions and garlic.
Fry the lamb pieces in 3 tbsp oil until they are golden brown on each side. Remove the meat from the pan.
Gently sauté the onions in the same oil over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and sauté them together for another 5 minutes.
Cook the Sauce
Add the tomato paste and briefly fry it together with the onions and garlic. Add 2 cups of freshly boiled water. Season with the turmeric, black pepper and salt. Also add the cinnamon stick. Additionally I added a beef bone with marrow for extra flavour, but this is optional. Return the meat to the pan, put on the lid and let it simmer gently over low heat for about 2 hours.
Wash the green beans and chop them into 2.5 cm long pieces. Sauté them in 1 tbsp oil over medium heat until they are nicely browned.
Add the sautéed beans and the saffron water to the sauce once it has been simmering for 2 hours. Simmer for another 20 minutes while you parboil the rice.
Parboil the Rice
Wash the rice by moving it around in a bowl of water, draining it, adding fresh water, and repeating this process 4-5 times.
Bring water to boil in a large pan. Add 2 tbsp of salt. Once the water is boiling, add the rice and briefly stir to make sure it does not stick together.
After 3-7 minutes (depending on the rice you use) fish out a rice corn and either bite or cut through it. If the rice corn is soft on the outside and still firm in the centre, it means the rice is parboiled.
Drain the rice in a colander and rinse it thoroughly with cold water. This will interrupt the cooking process as well as wash off any excess salt.
Layer the Rice and Sauce
Add 1-2 tbsp of oil to a non-stick pan with lid. Also add a little bit of the sauce.
Add a layer of parboiled rice and some more sauce, including a few chunks of meat, then sprinkle with cinnamon powder. Continue with a layer of rice and so on, until all the ingredients are used up, finishing with a layer of sauce and cinnamon powder.
Poke a few holes through the rice with the back of a wooden spoon. Heat the pan over medium temperature. Line the lid with a clean kitchen towel. As soon as steam rises from the rice, put the lid on.
Reduce the temperature to LOW and let the Loobia Polo steam for 45 minutes.
Your delicious Loobia Polo is now ready to serve. Serve it with refreshing Salad Shirazi, creamy yoghurt and torshi. (pickles) Enjoy.