persian rice

Tahdig, pronounced tah-deeg, literally means &quot;bottom of the pot&quot; in Persian. And it refers to a beautiful, pan-fried Persian rice that is fluffy and buttery on the inside with a perfectly golden crust, which is the layer at the bottom of the pot. This tahdig is laced with saffron and scented with orange zest. Be sure to use a nonstick pan for this recipe. Step-by-step photos and more tips in the post.

Tahdig Recipe (Crispy Persian Rice)

saffron

basmati rice (like Royal Basmati Rice (affiliate link))

salt

tbsp whole milk yogurt (Greek or otherwise)

cherries, (finely chopped)

orange

cinnamon

tbsp pistachios, (roughly chopped for garnish)

Mix the saffron into 1 cup very warm (but not hot) water. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to let the saffron release all of its flavor.

In a sieve, rinse the rice under cool running water until the water almost runs clear.

In a large pot, combine 8 cups of water and the salt (this is your one shot to season the rice itself). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook until al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the rice.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the cooked rice, the yogurt, grapeseed oil, and 2 tbsp of the saffron water. Mix thoroughly.

Spread the rice-yogurt mixture evenly on the bottom of a 10-inch lidded nonstick pot. Sprinkle 1 cup of the remaining cooked rice on top, followed by 2 tablespoons of the dried cherries, a pinch of orange zest, and a pinch of cinnamon. Add another layer of rice and repeat with the cherries, orange zest, and cinnamon, reserving a couple tbsp of the cherries for garnish. As you go about layering, the rice will start to dome and look &quot;pointy&quot; in the middle--that&#039;s okay! Keep it that way. Finish by dotting the top with the butter and pour the rest of the saffron water all over the top.

Wrap the lid in a kitchen towel and secure it around the handle with a rubber band. Cover the pot and cook over low heat, 25 to 30 minutes or until the rice around the edges is golden and crispy; it&#039;s okay to peek under the lid! (See note #2) Be sure not to burn the bottom layer of the rice, though you do want a nice crust in the bottom.

Remove the lid, invert a large serving plate over the pot, and carefully flip them over together. No worries if it sticks, just scrape it out and run with it! Sprinkle the tahdig with the reserved dried cherries and pistachios and serve right away.

Lubia Polo (Persian green bean rice) is a quick and easy comfort dish that is simple but tastes magical! A healthy and complete one pot meal, your next go-to recipe for a weeknight dinner or a quick fix for a party. Guaranteed you will love this nourishing meal that is packed with protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates.

Persian Lubia Polo (Green Bean Rice)

basmati rice

olive oil

onion (medium, chopped)

garlic (grated)

lamb (ground, 90% lean)

advieh (Persian spice mix or curry powder)

cayenne pepper

cumin

turmeric

black pepper

dried thyme (or dried savory)

salt (adjust as needed)

lime powder (or 2 tablespoons lemon juice)

green beans

tomato paste

saffron (powdered and dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water)

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil at medium setting in a cooking pot. Add the chopped onions and sauté few minutes. Then add the grated garlic and continue to sauté until the onions are light golden brown.

Add the ground lamb and sauté. Then add all the spices, dried herbs, 1/2 tsp salt (advieh/curry powder through lemon powder) and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the green beans.

Next add the tomato paste and mix it well. If the mixture is too thick, may add a some water, cover and let it simmer until the beans are 3/4th done. It will continue to cook in the steaming process in the next steps. The mixture should be moist but not too wet.

Cook Ground Meat with Green Beans

Rinse the white basmati rice in water several times until the water is clear and not starchy. Then drain the rice very well in a colander.&nbsp;(Tip: Basmati rice often has fine starchy powder on the top and you must get rid of that.)

Stove Top Method: Bring 6 cups of water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add the rice and allow it to boil at medium high heat for about 5 to 6 minutes until the rice grains are soft. Stir the rice in between. Drain the rice and set aside.&nbsp;(Tip: The rice should be cooked to al dente stage. It should have expanded well, soft at the tips, see a white dot in the center and holds its shape well).

Rice Cooker Method: Bring 3 cups water, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil to a rolling boil. Add the rice and cook it just until all the water is absorbed, which should take about 15 to 20 minutes in a rice cooker. Do not let the rice steam after the water is absorbed. Or it will clump together.

Cook Rice

Stove Top Method: Place the cooked rice with the sautéed meat/green bean mixture in several alternating layers in a heavy bottomed wide cooking pot. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon olive oil and saffron water all over.&nbsp;(Tip: You can make an optional potato crust or rice crust - video).

Turn up the heat to medium high for about 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to the low setting and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes or more until the steam builds up well.

Rice Cooker Method: Alternatively, you could also layer the rice with meat/green beans and steam it together in a rice cooker.&nbsp;(Tip: You can make an optional potato crust or rice crust - video).

Once the rice is ready, turn off the heat. Gently mix the layers of the Persian Green bean rice.

Serve this Persian lubia polo with salad shirazi or Persian yogurt dip with shallots or a green salad, pickles and/or pickled olives.

Assemble Rice with Meat/Green Beans

Bring 3½ cups water to a boil. Add 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the brown rice first. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Then add the white basmati rice to the same pot. Let it all simmer till the grains are well done.

Easier Method

Bring 1 ⅓* cups of water to a rolling boil in a sauce pan. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt and 3/4 tablespoon olive oil. Then add 2/3 cup brown basmati rice, stir and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and allow it to cook until all the water is absorbed for about 30 to 40 minutes.

In a cooking pot, bring 4 cups of water and 3/4 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add the white basmati rice and let it boil at medium high heat for 5-6 minutes until the rice grains are soft. Make sure to stir the rice while it is cooking. Drain the rice well in a colander and set aside.

Proceed with the remaining assembly steps above in section&nbsp;"Assemble Rice with Meat/Green Beans".

Perfect Method

Baghali polo or Persian dill rice is a fragrant and fluffy rice dish that pairs the pleasant flavors of dill, basmati rice and  saffron with plump soft broad beans. All topped with a delightfully crunchy golden crust.

Baghali Polo (Persian Dill Rice)

tbsp olive oil (or butter, grass fed)

potatoes (medium, sliced)

black pepper (ground)

coriander seeds (or cumin seeds, crushed)

dill weed (fresh chopped (or 1¼ cup dried dill))

water

tbsp salt

basmati rice (white, rinsed)

lima beans (fresh

tbsp chives (finely chopped (or green onions))

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Boil 10 cups of water with 2 tbsp salt in a cooking pot. Add basmati rice and lima beans. Boil at medium high to high heat for  4 to 5 minutes until rice grains are soft. Stir the rice while it is cooking. Drain rice in a colander and set aside.

Potato crust (optional): Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil or butter in oven proof dish such as Pyrex baking dish. Spread the oil or butter evenly and sprinkle half the salt, pepper and coriander/cumin seeds (if using).Next arrange the medium thick potato slices. Then sprinkle the rest of salt, pepper and cumin.

Spread a layer of rice and beans, followed by sprinkling a thin layer of dill weed. Mix the grated garlic and chives and sprinkle some of it.

Assemble the dill rice by making several alternating thin layers of rice, lima beans, dill weed and sprinkles of the garlic-chives mixture.

Finally top it with a rice layer. Pour 4 tbsp olive oil or melted butter all over and then sprinkle the saffron water.

Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil and seal well. Bake for an hour or more until steam builds up well. If making the crust (tahdig) it should be golden.

Transfer the baking dish from the oven and let it rest a few minutes. Take some scoops of the top layer of saffron colored rice and set it aside for garnish.

When the steam has released a little, gently mix the top layers of rice and dill and plate it on a serving dish. Arrange the potato slices all around and sprinkle the saffron rice for garnish.

Persian baghali polo goes well with a yogurt salad such as Persian yogurt dip with shallots.

You can make this same recipe in a cooking pot on stove or in a rice cooker (see the blog post and notes below).

Recipe video above. This is a rice side dish that will steal the show! The rice stays fluffy and tastes quite rich, but it's not heavily flavoured (hence suitable as a side dish), yet is flavoured enough that you'll want to eat it plain. The barberries provide welcome pops of sour but don't fret if you can't find them, see Note 2 for substitutions. This rice dish will pair terrifically with any Persian / Middle Eastern / Lebanese / Gulf recipes. See in post for Persian Feast menu!

Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

basmati rice, uncooked ((Note 1))

barberries ((Note 2))

unsalted butter

rose water ((optional))

tbsp warm water

/ 125 ml oil (, neutral (or butter!))

Bring water to the boil in a large pot. Add salt and rice. Bring back up to the boil then cook for 5 minutes. Drain and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.

Parboiled Rice:

Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add barberries and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes until they plump up (see video!).

Remove from heat (they will shrivel quickly) then stir through rose water (if using).

Barberries:

Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan).

Lightly grease a glass pie dish with oil.

Ground saffron into powder (optional step). Add water and leave to seep for 10 minutes.

Mix yogurt, egg, oil, saffron water and salt in a large bowl.

Add rice, stir well.

Pour half the rice in the pie dish, smooth surface. Top with 1/3 of the barberries.

Cover with remaining rice, smooth surface, sprinkle over another 1/3 of the barberries. Press down firmly, cover with foil.

Bake 60 - 80 minutes until the crust is deep golden all over.

Rest for 10 minutes. Remove foil. Place serving plate on pie dish then flip upside down (it won't stick because of the oil, see video!).

Scatter surface with remaining barberries then serve.

Saffron Rice:

Persian Rice Aabkesh Style

basmati rice (700 grams)

tbsp vegetable oil (+ extra if desired)

ghee

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.

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.

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.

Parboil the rice

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.

Drain and rinse the rice with cool water

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. 

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.

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.

Transfer the rice to the pan

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. 

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.

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.

Let the Persian rice steam

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.

Transfer a small part of the rice into a bowl and combine it with the saffron water until it&#039;s evenly yellow. Arrange the saffron rice on top of the white rice. You can serve the tahdig (crispy bits) separately. 

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

Serve and decorate the rice

Morasa Polo - Persian Jewelled Rice

basmati rice (525 grams)

barberries (40 grams)

raisins (50 grams)

dried bitter orange peel (25 grams)

pistachios

tbsp slivered almonds

vegetable oil

tbsp sugar

tbsp salt + extra to taste

Cover the dried orange peel in water. Before you go to bed, drain the water and cover it with fresh water to let it soak over night. The next morning drain the water and cover them with fresh water once more to let it soak until you start preparing Morasa Polo.

The evening before:

If you want to serve your Morasa Polo with Saffron Chicken, start with the chicken first. While it is simmering and doing its magic in the pan, you can prepare the rice.

On the day:

Prepare the saffron by combining it with a few tbsp freshly boiled water in a glass. Set it aside in a warm place until the rice is ready to serve.

Bring a large pan of water to boil and dissolve 1 tbsp salt in it. Don’t worry, you will rinse most of the salt off later.

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 3 minutes for the rice to cook to this stage. It might take anything from 3 to 7 minutes.

Put a coated pan over medium heat. Cover the bottom with 3 tbsp vegetable oil. Add 1 tbsp of water to it. You can also add a little saffron water to it, if you want the tadig (crispy part) to be yellow. Give the pan a quick shake. Then add the rice to it in a heap or pyramid shape.

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/pyramid shape, will help the water, that’s still in the rice, evaporate.

Once you see steam rising from the pan, line the lid with a clean kitchen towel and reduce the temperature to low. Let the rice steam for about 1 hour over low heat.

Prep the rice

Try the bitter orange peel that you have left to soak in water. If it still tastes very bitter, you can boil it in water for a few minutes and try them again. You can repeat the process a couple of times, if necessary. Once they taste slightly bitter and orangey, they’re ready.

Heat a small pan with the sugar and 2 tbsp water in it. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the bitter orange peel to it and let it caramelise for up to 10 minutes.

Caramelise the dried orange peel

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee in a small frying pan. Briefly fry the raisins in it, for only about 10 seconds until they bloat. Set them aside for later.

Prepare the raisins

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee in the same small frying pan. Briefly fry the fry the barberries in it, for only about 10 seconds. You don’t need to add any sugar as you would for Zereshk Polo. In this case the barberries give the dish a nice sour taste, that balances out the sweetness of the raisins and caramelised orange peel.

Prepare the dried barberries

After 1 hour of letting the rice steam, you can touch the outside of the pan with a wet kitchen towel. If it makes a sound like ‘tshhh’ your rice is done.

If the tadig doesn’t come out of the pan easily, you can submerge the bottom of the pan in a sink filled with cold water. 

Transfer a small part of the rice into a bowl and combine it with the saffron water until it is evenly distributed and the rice has a bright yellow colour. Arrange the yellow saffron rice on top of the white rice. You can serve the tadig (crispy bits) separately. 

Decorate the rice with the bitter orange peel, raisins, barberries, slivered almonds and pistachios.

Serve your Morasa Polo with delicious Khoresh-e Morgh. Enjoy!

Combine all the ingredients

Recipe adapted from Turmeric and Saffron and many other Youtube searches

Tah-Dig (Persian Rice)

basmati

canola oil

In a large bowl, rinse rise several times until the water drains clear.

Fill bowl with water again and add a large pinch of salt. Allow rice to soak for about 20 minutes while you boil water. Reserve 3 tablespoons of boiling water for later use.                                *I've read/heard different soaking times, anywhere from no soaking to overnight.

Bring a large pot with 4 cups of water to a boil. Drain rice and add to boiling water. Allow to cook, uncovered on medium-high heat for exactly 8 minutes (Set your timer.) Skim the foam off the top.

When rice is done, it should begin to puff up, be soft on the outside and hard on the inside. Drain rice and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.

Using a mortar and pestle, grind a large pinch of saffron until it becomes powdery. Dissolve saffron in reserved 3 tablespoons hot water and stir with a spoon. Set aside.

Heat a medium size non-stick skillet on medium high heat and add oil, 3 Tb plain water, turmeric and saffron liquid. Gently swirl pan around so bottom is fully coated.

Add rice back into the pan, making sure the entire bottom is covered. Using the back of your large spoon, poke holes into the rice mound being careful not to go all the way down. Allow to cook on medium-high for 10 minutes, you should see steam coming out.

Cover pan lid with a kitchen towel and close pan. The towel will catch any moisture from the rice. Allow to cook for another 35 minutes. When it's done, you should hear a sizzle and crackling sound.

To serve: remove lid and place plate on top, carefully inverting the pan so the bottom of the rice is up. Or you can scoop the rice out and break the tahdig apart and scatter around the edges.

Top 7 persian rice recipes from across the web

The most viewed persian rice recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Tahdig Recipe (Crispy Persian Rice)

Persian Lubia Polo (Green Bean Rice...

Baghali Polo (Persian Dill Rice)

Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

Morasa Polo - Persian Jewelled Rice

Tah-Dig (Persian Rice)

Top 7 persian rice recipes from across the web

The most viewed persian rice recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Tahdig Recipe (Crispy Persian Rice)

Persian Lubia Polo (Green Bean Rice...

Baghali Polo (Persian Dill Rice)

Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

Morasa Polo - Persian Jewelled Rice

Tah-Dig (Persian Rice)

The most viewed persian rice recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine