In nearly each meals tradition, there’s an obsession with the “crispy bits.” Whether or not it’s the crunchy items of pasta on the corners of lasagna or the coveted edge items clinging to the facet of the brownie pan, we’d battle family and friends to the loss of life for these prized morsels. Perched on this pedestal in Persian delicacies, tahdig could also be the perfect crispy bit of all of them. Actually translating to “backside of the pot,” it’s the crispy layer that kinds when rice is cooked low and gradual. Once you invert the pot onto a platter to serve, a mound of fluffy saffron rice is topped with the golden, crisp tahdig, holding all the pieces collectively till you break it open like a piñata. It’s simply what it is advisable to take in any Persian stew or kebab. I don’t know of a greater rice dish!
A number of months into relationship my husband, I arrived residence to discover a package deal from his mom. It contained two presents that—as I’ve since found—each Persian mom sends to her baby’s important different: a Persian rice cooker and a replica of Meals of Life, the Iranian cooking bible by Najmieh Batmanglij. The package deal was a not-so-subtle sign: discover ways to make Alex’s favourite Persian dishes or else she would begin delivery frozen Tupperwares of stews to maintain him well-fed. I didn’t want a lot convincing, since, a lot as I had with Alex, I fell head over heels in love with Persian delicacies, and particularly with tahdig.
The inclusion of yogurt—a trick borrowed from tahchin, a heavenly baked Persian rice casserole typically filled with hen—helps the crust keep collectively and prepare dinner evenly. And whereas not each household makes use of yogurt of their tahdig, I discover it makes the dish a lot extra luxurious! That yogurt-coated combination traces her rice cooker earlier than getting topped with the remaining rice and much more saffron water and oil. With the press of a button, the rice cooker goes to work, spitting out a wonderfully golden tahdig each time.
Name me a glutton for punishment, however I used to be set on studying easy methods to make it in a pot the old school method. By way of many failed makes an attempt involving each burnt and soggy rice, I’ve persevered to turn out to be the tahdig connoisseur I’m at the moment, mastering widespread variations with potato and pasta, to very nontraditional creations like latke tahdig and buffalo hen tahchin.–Jake Cohen
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE MAKING TAHDIG?
Earlier than we get too far, let’s go over some ideas to assist novices venturing into the magnificent realm of crispy Persian rice. First issues first: Spend money on an inexpensive nonstick skillet. To this present day, I exploit a pot I saved from Alex’s bachelor house kitchen, and I swear by it! I’m not going so as to add any science to this piece of recommendation—simply belief me. When you’ve acquired your vessel, follow makes good.
The terrifying factor about this dish is your incapability to see the way it’s cooking till you flip it out. It’s worthwhile to birdbox the state of affairs, so familiarize your self with the smells and sounds the rice makes. Hear for a delicate, gradual sizzle, which tells you the rice is slowly getting golden and never scorching, after which scent for a toasty aroma to know when it’s prepared. You’ll additionally need to wrap the pot lid in a kitchen towel earlier than you cowl the pot to soak up steam and forestall the crust from getting soggy.
To be trustworthy, my coronary heart nonetheless drops somewhat every time I flip a tahdig out of the pot, however this recipe has by no means steered me fallacious!–Jake Cohen
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Place rice in a big bowl, add chilly water to cowl by 1-inch and 1 tablespoon of salt. Let soak for 1 hour, then drain in a .
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In the meantime, in a medium bowl, mix saffron with boiling water, let sit till shiny pink, about 10 minutes. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of salt and 6 tablespoons of melted butter.
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In one other medium bowl, whisk yogurt, egg yolk, and half of the saffron butter till clean.
☞ TESTER TIP: Save your self some dishes and whisk the yogurt and egg combination within the rinsed-out bowl that the rice soaked in.
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Convey a big pot of water to a boil. Season with the remaining 1 tablespoon of salt. Add rice and boil till simply tender however not absolutely cooked, about 5 minutes, then drain.
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Slick a shallow 10-inch (25 cm) non-stick pot with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
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Gently stir 3 cups of the parboiled rice into the yogurt combination, till rice is properly coated. Unfold coated rice over the underside of the buttered pot and a couple of inches (5 cm) up the edges. Prime with remaining parboiled rice, drizzle remaining saffron butter excessive.
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Wrap a kitchen towel across the lid of the pot, masking the underside, then place the lid on the pot. Place the pot over medium-high warmth and prepare dinner till you start to listen to the rice scorching loudly, 4 to five minutes.
☞ TESTER TIP: Don’t go away your tahdig unattended in case your kitchen towel begins to begin burning.
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Cut back warmth to low and prepare dinner till rice is golden brown, 25 to half-hour. The tahdig is prepared while you start to scent toasted rice–you’ll be able to peek on the sides with a spatula to make sure the sides are golden.
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Take away from the warmth and run a rubber spatula across the sides of the pot to make sure the rice doesn’t stick. Place a platter over the pot and thoroughly however shortly invert them collectively, take away pot so the crispy rice is on prime, then serve.
Can I bake tahdig within the oven?
You’ll nonetheless get a flawless crust in case you pivot absolutely to a dish referred to as tahchin: a baked Persian casserole. Assemble it in a greased 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish, cowl tightly with aluminum foil, and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 2 hours. The most effective half is you’ll be able to see the underside to make sure it’s golden earlier than flipping it out of the dish.
Serving: 1 servingEnergy: 586 kcalCarbohydrates: 95 gProtein: 11 gFats: 17 gSaturated Fats: 10 gMonounsaturated Fats: 5 gTrans Fats: 1 gLdl cholesterol: 72 mgSodium: 3504 mgFiber: 2 gSugar: 1 g
Vitamin info is mechanically calculated, so ought to solely be used as an approximation.
Recipe © 2021 Jake Cohen. Picture © 2021 Matt Taylor-Gross. All rights reserved.
Recipe Testers’ Evaluations
This is among the most scrumptious and most spectacular rice dishes I’ve ever made! I had Persian neighbours rising up they usually launched me to tahdig after I was a child–I used to be obsessed and I’ve dreamt of creating it ever since! This recipe is barely totally different than what my neighbours used to make (their model used pita because the crust) however it’s equally scrumptious!
It’s a little time-consuming, and positively requires some bravery when it’s time to flip it out of the pan, however it’s properly price it. The crispy rice crown is to die for and the fluffy, white and yellow speckled tender rice on prime is simply beautiful and buttery. It makes rather a lot, so it is a good one while you need to impress your dinner company, in any other case, I could counsel reducing the recipe in half.
Early in pre-pandemic 2020, I attended a Persian cooking class in LA the place we made tahdig. Sadly, our group’s tahdig struggled on the dismount with a fractured (although no much less scrumptious) crust that caught to the pan and whereas I’ve needed to strive it once more, I knew I’d want a unique recipe.
What you might have right here is I imagine an ideal recipe that leads to a gloriously crisp crust with a aromatic and well-seasoned pilaf layer beneath. The yogurt-yolk combination is borrowed from the sturdier baked casserole model (Tachin) and serves because the insurance coverage coverage that holds the whole crust layer collectively. Salting the rice at every step (the soaking, the par-boiling, and the saffron-butter drizzle) ensures there isn’t a bland chew in sight and also you’ll need to shovel the whole factor into your mouth, going again for chew after chew of saffron-tinted serenity. Much more particular is the custom infused into the phrases and course of, handed from the mother-in-law’s household to him, and now out to us, a whole digital neighborhood of crispy-rice converts. It looks like that closely-guarded, particular household recipe that may by no means be shared with outsiders, and I’m so grateful the creator did.
I used my Breville Pizza Pan as my serving platter. Rice flipped out with out sticking in a wonderfully uniform form. We served ours with Center Jap grilled hen and a salad.
I simply must say that I recognize tahdig a lot! I really like how the creator factors out the “crispy bits” obsession in lots of cultures, too, as a result of it’s so true. I grew up nibbling pagao, the Puerto Rican model of tahdig. Nevertheless, I imagine the Persians take it to a complete different stage by making tahdig, which is, for my part, not solely a scrumptious strategy to prepare dinner rice however an artwork kind, too.
The flipping it over and presenting the crispy tahdig as a centerpiece simply makes me so completely happy. I’ve made tahdig as soon as earlier than and was excited to do that recipe out as a result of as most cultural staples go, everybody has their very own model and claims that to be one of the best ways. I discovered this recipe to be solidly written and executed. I’m not a tahdig professional, however this system labored very properly for me.
I used to be so excited to see this recipe present up–I’ve all the time needed to discover ways to make tahdig and this appeared like a reasonably simple model to execute.
And it was! Even the massive flip on the finish labored out fairly properly. I didn’t have an ideal completed product however it nonetheless appeared higher than I assumed potential. Crispy and golden on the highest with a very tasty inside.
The one factor that I’d change is to make use of much less rice and not likely trouble with the plain rice layer. I discovered it acquired form of dry and took away from the extremely flavoured inside and prime rice. The yogurt, saffron, butter, and egg combination is simply SO good when cooked into the rice.
