Tahdig

The second of Samin's recipes for this evening is a crispy-topped Persian rice. I love crispy rice--whether it's the bottom of a Korean stone pot or a grilled musubi from an izakaya, so this recipe has been on my radar for a while.


Here's the cast!


The basmati rice needs to be rinsed really well--until the water runs clear.


Soak it for about 30 minutes.


To avoid condensation dripping off the lid onto the rice, the lid was wrapped with cheesecloth and secured with one of Layla's hair ties.


A generous amount of salt is added after the pot of water comes to a boil. It seems like a lot but the rice is really not cooked for long and this is the only seasoning opportunity it gets.


The rice should be cooked only till al dente. That took about 5 minutes. Drain the rice and then run it under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain it well and measure one cup of it into a bowl.


I added oil and butter to a nonstick skillet on medium-high heat.


While the butter melted, I added unsweetened yogurt to the one cup of the cooked rice. I thought it would be fun to use this locally made one. It says Hawaiian Passion Fruit but it's really just coconut.


The yogurt and cup of rice were mixed together...


...then spread in a thin layer onto the oil and melted butter.


The rest of the rice was spread on top with a slight mounding towards the middle.


To allow some moisture to escape, I used the back of a wooden spoon to poke holes into the rice.


The rice is cooked this way for a total of 8 minutes; the pan is rotated halfway through to cook it evenly. The butter and oil should be visibly bubbling around the edges and in the steam holes. I admit that I got nearer to the pan to study the bubbling than would probably be recommended. 


Then the pan was covered with the cloth-encased lid and the heat was turned to the lowest setting. The rice cooks for an additional 45 minutes and the pan is rotated about every 10 minutes.


When it finished cooking I ran a butter knife gently along the outside to make sure it was loosened.


Ta-da! A perfect flip onto a serving plate. It looked and smelled really good.


The crust was nicely crisp and the coconut yogurt was a nicely subtle touch. The fluffy underside had a buttery flavor but it was not at all greasy! The tahdig was a perfect accompaniment to the buttermilk-marinated chicken.

Here is the promised link:

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