...Roll up your sleeves and secure your top bun because you’re not gonna want to miss out on this!
Let’s face it. Those of you who know about it can’t get enough of it. And those of you that haven’t had it soon won’t be able to get enough. Iranian rice is a magical thing.
An Iranian pantry is not complete without a hefty bag of rice, saffron, and loads of dried herbs, lentils, and vegetables which are common components of rice dishes. In this post I will be highlighting traditional white rice and its elements. The product of this rice makes a rice crust called tahdig (tah-deeg) which translated means "bottom of the pan."
I’m talking about that crunchy, crispy, salty, can’t-get-your-hands-off-of-it rice crust that forms when you set your rice cooker to the “MAX cooking” setting.
It’s the first thing that gets grabbed off the table and it’s the last bite you take when you‘re finishing up a meal. We’ve patiently waited for the ‘ding’ of our beloved rice cooker to notify us that our rice and tahdig is ready. We’ve munched up every last piece of our tahdig on our plate, and especially savor the last piece that mom decides to give us because even though we‘re full we’ll make more room for it.
With every rice cooker I’ve used it’s always been one that my mom has used herself. I think I’ve adopted three of them over the years, and it usually goes down like this: My mom picks one out at an Iranian market, like you do when you’re shopping for a new car. She scans the shelf looking for two or three potential candidates. Next, she compares their functions meticulously to make make sure it has a setting for tahdig, has a wide enough diameter, and can hold up through a couple years of cooking rice two to four times a month. Once the winner is chosen it’s brought back home, thoroughly washed and cleaned and is tested out that evening with its first batch of white basmati (bass-mat-ee) rice. When the time comes that the current rice cooker has done it’s fair job of cooking she decides to upgrade to a new one or sometimes a bigger one which makes the family wonder, “do we really need a bigger one?” And the answer is, “yes...do not get in the way of me and my tahdig.” And so the process continues and each time a new one arrives I gladly welcome the old one into my home and take it off her hands.
"Do not get in the way of me and my tahdig."
Ok. Enough talking about rice cookers let’s get straight to talking about how to make my mom's rice and tahdig.
The best way to go about making your own tahdig is making sure you have these three things before you start the process. A timer, olive oil, and saffron spice (which can be ordered on amazon). Once your rice is cooking you’ll want to locate the halfway point of cooking, which can be done by checking the dial on your cooker and looking at the rice. It should look fluffy and the water should be almost absorbed. I’ve listed out these steps to follow next.
Steps:
1. Set your timer for ten minutes and boil water in a kettle.
2. While waiting take a very small measurement of ground up saffron (size of an orange seed) and place it in a small cup ( I like to use a glass yogurt cup).
3. When the water has boiled pour the water in the cup and let the saffron step.
4. When your timer ends add a generous amount of olive oil to the cup and a dash of salt.
5. Stir the mixture and add it to your rice. Start at the middle of your rice and make circle swirls till you reach the rim of the cooker.
6. After you’ve added the saffron mixture to your rice your rice cooker will do the rest!
Not bad huh! The trick to getting the tahdig out is by removing all the rice from the cooker into a tray and allowing the rice to cool down while you remove the tahdig from the cooker. You’ll soon realize that more often than not half of the it makes it out and the other half tends to end up eaten before it ever leaves!
Looks amazing!!