Tahdig

Ingredients

• Basmati rice — soaked an hour500 g
• Potato — in 5 mm rounds2
• Thick yoghurt3 tbsp
• Saffron1 pinch
• Butter80 g
• Neutral oil3 tbsp
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and soak it in salted water for an hour. That removes surplus starch and lets the grains grow longer.

   65 min

2. 2

   Boil the rice in plenty of salted water for five to seven minutes: a grain should bend but snap under pressure. Drain and rinse with warm water.

   10 min

3. 3

   Grind the saffron and steep it in two spoons of hot water. Mix a couple of spoons of the rice with the yoghurt and saffron: this becomes the crust.

   5 min

4. 4

   Heat the fat in the pot, lay the potato rounds edge to edge, spread the rice and yoghurt mixture over them and pile the rest of the rice on top in a mound.

   8 min

5. 5

   Make five holes down to the base with the handle of a spoon for the steam to travel. Pour melted butter over.

   3 min

6. 6

   Cover with a lid wrapped in a cloth, five minutes on a high flame and forty-five on the lowest. Do not lift the lid.

   50 min

7. 7

   Stand the base of the pot in cold water for a minute and the crust releases. Invert it onto a plate in one movement.

   3 min

About the dish

Tahdig is not a side dish but a trophy: the crust from the bottom of the pot, shared out in Iran as the most valuable part. The whole method of cooking the rice is built around it.

The rice is first parboiled in plenty of salted water and drained. Only then does it go back into the pot onto fat and finish in steam — that two-stage method is what gives separate grains and a crust at once.

A cloth goes under the lid. It absorbs the condensation that would otherwise drip onto the rice and soften the crust from below.

Worth knowing

• — A heavy-based pot is essential. On a thin one the crust burns in the middle and stays pale at the edges.
• — If the inversion fails it does not matter: spoon the rice out and lift the crust off with a spatula to lay on top.
• — Flatbread in place of potato gives a different crust — thinner and crisper. Both versions are equally traditional.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

8 g

Fat

14 g

Carbs

66 g

More from Iran

• Ghormeh sabzi — Lamb stewed with a mountain of herbs, beans and dried lime. The herbs are fried until nearly black.