tah chin or tah dig?

[gus_tatory]

i just had this Iranian rice dish for the first time tonight, and would love to recreate it.

essentially, jasmine or basmati rice is half-cooked, then it's placed in an oiled casserole with layers of potato at the bottom, cooked, and you end up with the world's most fantastic, fluffy, basmati rice, along with a delicious crispy, layer of 'burnt' (not really burnt, browned) rice on the bottom.

has anyone tried this before? do you have reliable ways to reproduce, besides what i said above? what's it called? have i got it right? i understand familes fight over who gets the crispy rice part?

Iranian rice-recipe clarification appreciated

[skchai]

It's called tah dig - you can find it in a lot of "chelow" (plain rice) and "polo" (pilaf) recipes in Iranian cookbooks such as those of Najmieh Bamanglij. Here's a link to a chelow recipe from her personal website.

[Shiewie]

Tried an Iranian rice with chicken dish with a crusty bits at the bottom of the pan at an Iranian food promo once - think it was called Tah Cheen. There's no potato in it though so am not sure whether it's what you're looking for. Anyway, here are links to a couple of recipes for Chicken Tah Cheen - http://persia.org/Recipes/tahcheen.html and http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/F.Mokh.../tah-cheen.html.

The site that the second recipe is on http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/F.Mokhtarian/recipes/ is a wonderful source of Iranian recipes.

[Adam Balic]

i just had this Iranian rice dish for the first time tonight, and would love to recreate it.

essentially, jasmine or basmati rice is half-cooked, then it's placed in an oiled casserole with layers of potato at the bottom, cooked, and you end up with the world's most fantastic, fluffy, basmati rice, along with a delicious crispy, layer of 'burnt' (not really burnt, browned) rice on the bottom.

has anyone tried this before? do you have reliable ways to reproduce, besides what i said above? what's it called? have i got it right? i understand familes fight over who gets the crispy rice part?

Iranian rice-recipe clarification appreciated

This book has detailed instructions on how to acheive the crust, including the potato version you had.

Persian food

Essentially, the basic form is what you get when you make a pilaw, the bottom layer which is in direct contact with the heat and in butter crisps up to form a crust. As this is so prized in Iran, the dish can be manipulated to get even more crust. Variations on this are:

- mix yogurt and egg yolks together with some of the rice, place this in the bottom of the pilaw dish which contains a layer of hot butter. Add the rest of the rice (no yogurt or egg) to the dish and steam until done.

- thinly sliced potato placed on bottom of dish, with much butter, rice place on top of this and then steamed.

- As potato, but using flatbread.

The rice used would not be Jasmine rice traditionally, Basmati is the best choice, unless you have access to some of the Iranian varieties. Rice is par-boiled before the pilaw is made. This doesn't mean using the pre-cooked rice.

The book is very good.

[Rachel Perlow]

This book has detailed instructions on how to acheive the crust, including the potato version you had.

Persian food. . . .

The book is very good.

Here is an eGulletified Amazon link for the book you recommended:

The Legendary Cuisine of Persia by Margaret Shaida

Please support eGullet by making Amazon links that give eGullet a commission. Click here for instructions. Thanks.

[scubadoo97]

The Syrian cooks I know make rice with "hata" . They use quite a bit of oil or clarified butter when cooking rice. After the water has been absorbed they continue to cook on low to med heat until the bottom has browned. Invert the pot for a beautiful crunchy brown layer of toasted rice. Yumm.

[bhelpuri]

Here's a picture of the very satisfactory tah dig from my Iranian rice with chicken and barberry dish made yesterday.

It's amazing just how different it tastes from the rest of the preparation, mild with yoghurt yet full of flavor from the saffron and the crisping-up at the bottom of the pan.

We mix and match, eat it with spicy Indian mango pickle.

[Mabelline]

Oh yah, that is beautiful, and looks delicious. Anything crispy or left over from the main meal was called 'prisoners' or 'China cats' by my gram, and were my favorite part of the meal. I love sizzling rice!!

[Sleepy_Dragon]

Ok. Just going to sit here drooling and gibbering after looking at that pic.

Pat

[SwatiC]

Tried an Iranian rice with chicken dish with a crusty bits at the bottom of the pan at an Iranian food promo once - think it was called Tah Cheen. There's no potato in it though so am not sure whether it's what you're looking for.  Anyway, here are links to a couple of recipes for Chicken Tah Cheen  -

Tahcheen and tahdig are two different dishes. While tahdig is simply a byproduct (a very delicious one!) of making chelo (plain rice) or polo (pilaf), tahcheen is separately prepared and is stuffed with chicken. It is far richer than the tahdig, in fact probably the heaviest Iranian dish I've ever had. Also tahcheen is usually coloured with saffron, whereas tahdig ordinarily does not have saffron.

[touaregsand]

SwatiC-

Great to have someone on the boards who is Knowledgeable about Persian/Iranian cookery.

[M. Lucia]

We had a topic on this before:

Polow, Have you had tah dig?

I love polow, and it is often made with rice and only butter or oil used to form the crust, though the egg method is good too. See the thread above for more info.

[M. Lucia]

Just saw Epicurious has a feature on Iranian cuisine with Ms. Batmanglij.

Here is their article on Chelow.

[SwatiC]

SwatiC-

Great to have someone on the boards who is Knowledgeable about Persian/Iranian cookery.

←

Toureg, I'm simply an admirer and know very little about the vast and wonderful world of Persian cuisine. I'm sure there are many on the board who are much more knowledgeable than I am and I hope to be able to pick their brains through the forum!

[Episure]

I love the crust that forms at the bottom of any rice dish. The trick is getting it just right before the crust becomes carbonized and bitter.

With a little experience you can 'hear' the rice forming the crust just after the moisture has evaporated.

We call this crust 'khurchan" - literally 'scrape'.