Persian Rice Aabkesh Style

Step 1

Bring a large pan of water to boil and dissolve all of the salt in it. Don’t worry, you will rinse most of the salt off later. Trust me, if you use any less your rice will taste bland.

Step 2

Wash the rice in a bowl by adding cool water to it, moving it around with your hand, draining the water, and repeating this process 3 to 4 times.

Step 3

Add the rice to the pan and keep the water boiling. Let it pre-cook until the rice corns are soft on the outside but still have bite in the centre. How long this process takes depends on your rice. I’m using Tilda basmati rice and it only takes 5 minutes for the rice to cook to this stage. It might take anything from 3 to 7 minutes.

Step 4

Once your rice is parboiled, drain it in a strainer and immediately rinse it with cold water to interrupt the cooking process and wash off any excess salt.

Step 5

Put a coated pan over medium heat. Cover the bottom of the pan with the vegetable oil. Add 1 tbsp of water to it and give it a quick shake. Then add the rice to it in a slight heap shape.

Step 6

Poke a few holes through the rice to the bottom of the pan using the back of a wooden spoon. This, along with the heap shape, will help the water that’s still in the rice, evaporate.

Step 7

If desired, you can sprinkle more vegetable oil or melted ghee or butter over the rice now. Combining it with a few tbsp of warm water will help distribute it evenly. Simply pour it over the rice.

Step 8

Once you see steam rising from the pan, cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel, firmly press it on the pan and reduce the heat. Let the rice steam over low heat for 45 to 60 minutes.

Step 9

Now you can prepare the saffron by combining it with a few tbsp freshly boiled water in a glass. Set it aside in a warm place (near the pan of rice for example) until the rice is ready to serve.

Step 10

After 45 min to 1 hour you can touch the outside of the pan with a wet kitchen towel. If it makes a sound like ‘tsss’ your rice is done.

Step 11

You can submerge the bottom of the pan in a sink filled with cold water to make the rice and tadig come off easily. Just a fair warning, this might not be the best practice if using expensive coated pans. If you have a good quality pan, the rice shouldn’t stick and if you have a less valuable pan, you might as well risk it – at least that’s what I’ve been doing and the coating is still intact.

Step 12

Transfer a small part of the rice into a bowl and combine it with the saffron water until it's evenly yellow. Arrange the saffron rice on top of the white rice. You can serve the tahdig (crispy bits) separately.

Step 13

Serve the rice with your favourite Persian stew. You can find all them here.