Chelo means rice and shibit means dill, in Dari, one of the national languages of Afghanistan. Basmati rice in Afghanistan and Iran is prepared in what is known in Dari as the 'sof' method. The rice is parboiled, the water discarded and then the rice is placed back in the pan and allowed to cook in its own steam. Dill is used widely in Persian and Afghani cooking. It lends a lovely herbal quality to the rice- which can be paired with an eggplant casserole or a roast chicken.I have learnt that the trick with this rice is to move very fast- once the rice has been parboiled and drained, the layering with the dill has to be done very quickly so the temperature of the rice doesnt drop too fast.

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