by Eliza W » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:00 pm
So, because of my almost obsessive love of the tahdig at Shiraz, I've been making Persian rice at home.
I started with a recipe from Gourmet. You take three cups of basmati rice, rinse well and drain, then boil in a generous amount of highly salted water for five minute and drain. Then, melt 6 tablespoons of butter, put the rice back in the pan layered with pistachios and dill, poke some holes in the rice with a wooden spoon, cover with a kitchen towel and a lid, and cook on low for half an hour. You then let the pan sit for a half hour, and when you dump in out of a platter, you have beautiful rice with a thick, golden crust of tahdig.
I made a couple of changes, however, that I think improve it. First, instead of butter, I used ghee.
Then, I used slightly less salt in the boiling and instead ground some sea salt on each layer when mounding the rice.
Then, I let the plan sit for more like 45 minutes, and I found it came out much more cleanly.
Any other ideas? I've been thinking of using plumped raisins instead of dill and pistachios.