This is how you simply and swiftly flip the Persian cake of savory golden goodness you’ve created in the rice cooker. The “Tahdig” is arguably the crowd favorite at any meal so every cook wants to proudly present their masterpiece. By cooking it in a rice cooker you get a tahdig cake of the golden crunchy goodness to be enjoyed by all.
Note- you must do the flip with confidence. Tahdig flipping is not for the light hearted!
Here, my cousin Payam demonstrates:
Rice is the ultimate comfort food. It has been farmed by people for over 10,000 years.
In the Hindi language “Bas” means “aroma” and “Mati” means “full of.” Growing up in a Persian family, that beautifully fragrant and earthy aroma is part of the essential scents of home. The cue of happiness and an eternal symbol of family dinners, celebrations and tradition.
Cooking traditional Persian rice (with crunchy tahdig of course) is truly an art form. For how to create a saffron scented masterpiece check out Persian Mama’s recipe here. For a simpler approach, I use a rice cooker. Not all rice cookers can deliver the crunchy golden goodness, however. Generally the Pars Brand rice cookers do the trick.
In this rendition, I highlight garden herbs using dill, mint, chive and rosemary for an aromatic rice dish guaranteed to feed the soul (nousheh jan...). But really you can use any herbs that you like.
On a recent trip to Philadelphia, we ate at one of the best restaurants on the scene in recent years: Zahav. Here Chef Michael Solomonov beautifully highlights modern Israeli cuisine. I was inspired by his vision, the story behind his culinary ventures and the flavors of the wonderful meal we had that October eve in the city of brotherly love. The menu excited my senses and my palate was dancing, curiously processing the familiar and the new. A colorful melody of flavors, humble, deeply flavorful food that was simply delicious.
What resonated the most were the familiar flavors of my childhood home found in smoky eggplant, coriander, warm bread, the grilled meats and tangy pomegranate. But most notably- in the herbed basmati rice. The Al’Haesh dishes (grilled over coals) are served with a side of basmati rice that was not only delicious, but momentarily took me home. This humble side dish became the center of what all the other plates harmoniously danced around. This beautiful little pot of rice had the power to transform me to another place and time. To the familiar places where we feel safe, comforted and loved. To where I remember being happy. To the quiet corners of memory, to our mother’s cooking and the taste of my grandmother’s love in an old kitchen in Isfahan. Maya Angelou says “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” I found myself at home in this beautiful experience, and I hope you do too by trying my basmati rice recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked basmati rice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh dill, roughly chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 cups fresh chives, roughly chopped
Handful fresh mint, roughly chopped
Handful fresh basil, roughly chopped
1-2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 2 teaspoons finely ground sea salt)
Directions:
Soak rice in cold water for 20-30 minutes.
Rinse rice with water, gently agitating with fingertips. Do this multiple times (3-4) until water runs clear.
Place rice in rice cooker.
Add enough water to cover 1″ above rice (about 2.5 cups).
Add olive oil, onion, all herbs, salt + pepper.
Mix ingredients and turn on rice cooker. Continue to mix ingredients couple of more times in the first 3-4 minutes if cooking so all ingredients are evenly spread throughout.
Let rice cooker do its magic!
Cook rice for approximately 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or until the indicator lets you know the cooking is completed. Timing can vary depending on the size and model.
That’s it! In about an hour you’ll have golden curst!
Once cooking is finished, unplug rice cooker.
Wearing oven mitts, place a platter larger than the rice cooker bowl over the bowl insert.
Lift bowl out and quickly and confidently flip the bowl and platter together.
Lift off the bowl slowly to reveal the Tahdig on top.
(Valiantly demonstrated by my cousin Payam, here).
Serve immediately: Tahdig loses crunch if it sits too long.
If you don’t have a rice cooker, see here for instructions on how to cook in a regular pot.
Musical Inspiration:
The Idan Raichel Project
http://idanraichelproject.com/en/
Travel has always been a source of inspiration. Experiencing new countries and getting to know them through their food- tiles my memory with a mosaic of color, flavor and nostalgia. During the past year of self discovery, Istanbul provided that for me on a level only second to a journey back to Iran 20 years after my family immigrated from my place of birth. Turkish culture has many parallels to Persian culture and that might explain why one sees many Iranians walking the streets of Istanbul. I heard more Farsi spoken there than I have in Great Neck!
Us Iranians, we are nostalgic people. Nostalgia is a common human sensation, but Persian culture is deeply impacted by the elusive dream of the past. Always distorted, always seen as better times and always yearned for. It protects us from the truth of the present moment and the pain of reality. This distortion is seen as something beautiful, somewhere that will always be better than where we are today. Woody Allen’s film “Midnight in Paris” portrays this sentiment well. Regardless of the decade, there is a constant notion that the “golden age” existed in a past era and the story line follows various characters in the constant quest for better times. However, like the unpredictable future, the past is an idealized version of what we want it to be, not necessarily reality. Memory is fiction. An though at times I struggle with this truth, I still allow myself to relish in the people and places that take me to my idealized history, regardless of its distance from what may have actually happened.
Istanbul was that kind of journey. It was a last minute trip which ended up being one of the most profound travels of my life. To my surprise the food was not great. Aside from the endless spice bazaars from which I bought a zillion colorful powders, the food was bland. The meals were disappointing everywhere, from street-food to high-end restaurants. The kebabs were fatty, the lemons had a strange aftertaste and the Manti was mushy. Besides delicious baklava and coffees, we did not have many memorable meals.
However, despite this unexpected letdown, I was happy to be there. I felt a strong connection to this city, to its people, and to its history. All the sites we visited were beautiful and somewhat ethereal with their echos of the past. I became obsessed with the tile work such as the ones in the Blue Mosque and fell utterly in love with Iznik Turkish Tile. I bought dishes and scarves and coasters with these stunning patterns and even invested in tiles hand painted by a renowned Iznik artist – dedicated to continuing this ancient art form – passed down generation to generation.
This was a magical journey amongst history, minarets, domes, culture and faith. Color and beauty collided in the smoky city where East met West, where inspiration bloomed, where ancient empires once stood and where today, the old and new mingle in beautiful harmony. At the end, a trip to this land ended up being a journey to myself. To understanding myself and to appreciating all aspects of my human experience. From the allure of the past, to the tangible miracle of the present, and the promise of a bright future. The unique combination of them all, ultimately make the Mosaic of Me. The Mosaic of Nazanin. For so long I had struggled with my own East meets West identify conflict- what was I supposed to be? Which was I supposed to be? For the first time, I recognized the beauty of the sum of the parts and the harmony that exists in contrasts. Perhaps this is why the tiles mesmerized me so.
As Azadeh Moaveni says poignantly and beautifully in her memoir “Lipstick Jihad”-
“All our lives were formed against the backdrop of this history, fated to be home nowhere- not completely in America not completely in Iran. For us home was not determined by latitudes and longitudes. It was spacial. This was the modern Iranian experience that bound the diaspora to Iran….. But the bridge between Iran and the past, Iran and the future, between exile and homeland, existed at these tables- in kitchens, in bars, in Tehran or Manhattan- where we forgot about the world outside. [Our culture] had been disfigured, and we carried its scraps in our pockets, and when we assembled, we laid them out, and we were home.”
(My baklava recipe inspired by this trip, here)
Simin Bari- A popular Persian tune sung by a Turkish artist, heard all over cafes in Istanbul
