In Iran they are celebrating Nowruz, it is their New Year. So I thought I might prepare a Persian rice with peas and aubergines to honour the new year. Happy, happy Nowruz!!
I love this dish, it has quite a few steps but so worth wile. I just served some labneh with the polow and a sabzy salad ( a salad made with all sorts of herbs). It was such a perfect meal.

• par boil 500 gr fresh, shelled peas, drain and set a side
• boil 250 gr of lentils, the Puy variety or the green lentils, drain and set a side
• wash 2 cups of Iranian rice or long grained Basmati
• cook in plenty of water until just soft, set a side

• burn off the skin of 4 young aubergines, peel and shred them
• finely chop 1 Spanish onion
• crush 2 garlic cloves

• fry them in some olive oil and a little butter
• add 2 teaspoons ground cummin
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon Nigella seeds
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• gently cook all for a few minutes

• add the shredded aubergine

• mix the cooked peas and lentils through the aubergine mix
• gently cook for a few more minutes add salt and pepper and taste
• squeeze 1/2 a lemon in , mix

• mix 4 tablespoon of cooked rice with
• 2 tablespoons of yogurt and 20 gr melted butter
• in a large pan, push the coated rice gently down to a thin layer
• now cover this layer with half of the cooked rice

• the next layer is the aubergine, lentil and pea mixture, spread it out evenly

• now add the remaining rice, spread it out as the top layer
• push the back of a wooden spoon down through the various layers
• insert in every little hole a nub of butter
• put a tight fitting lid on the pan and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes
• remove the pot from the heat and rest it on a damp cloth for about 5 minutes
• this should loosen the ‘tahdig’ ( the crust)
•  replace the lid with an upside down serving dish
• grabbing the pan(careful it is hot use a tea towel) and the plate turn the whole dish upside down
• you should have a beautiful crust on top of the rice

• roughly chop some pistacchio
• add a handful of barberries as decoration on top of the crust ( tahdig)

• my ‘tahdig’ did not turn out perfect, apologies, I still have to work on this technique
• happy Nowruz!