Tahdig

About This Recipe

Tahdig — literally 'bottom of the pot' — is the crown jewel of Persian rice cooking. This golden, shatteringly crispy rice crust is created by carefully steaming rice over low heat with butter and saffron until the bottom layer becomes a perfect golden disc. Flipping the pot to reveal a perfect tahdig is a moment of triumph in every Persian kitchen, and guests always fight over the crispy pieces.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 500 gbasmati rice
• 80 gbutter
• 3 tbspvegetable oil
• 1 pinchsaffron threads(dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water)
• 2 tbspyogurt
• 1 tbspsalt

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and parboil rice

   Soak rice in salted water for 1 hour. Drain, then parboil in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5-6 minutes until just al dente. Drain.

2. 2

   Prepare the crust

   Mix 2 cups of the parboiled rice with yogurt and saffron water.

3. 3

   Layer the pot

   Heat oil and half the butter in a non-stick pot. Spread the saffron-yogurt rice mixture evenly on the bottom. Mound the remaining rice on top in a pyramid shape. Poke 5-6 holes with a chopstick.

4. 4

   Steam

   Wrap the lid in a towel, cover tightly. Cook on medium for 5 minutes, then reduce to very low heat and cook for 45-50 minutes.

5. 5

   Flip and serve

   Place a plate over the pot and quickly flip. The golden tahdig should release as a beautiful crust. Dot remaining butter on the fluffy rice.

Variations

• •

  Make potato tahdig by layering thin potato slices on the bottom instead of rice.

• •

  Bread tahdig uses lavash flatbread on the bottom.

Storage

Best eaten immediately. Leftover rice (without tahdig) keeps 2 days refrigerated.