| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 cups basmati rice
- Kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon saffron
- 3 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter
Instructions
- Put the rice in a large bowl, then cover with enough water so that it comes up a couple inches above the rice. Soak for 30 minutes. Drain the rice, then rinse it well.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.
- Crush the saffron using a mortar and pestle, then add 3 tablespoons boiling water from the pot and allow to steep and break down.
- Add the rice to the boiling water and cook until it’s soft on the outside but still has a bite on the inside, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking.
- Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a lid over medium-high heat and add the ghee and the saffron water; swirl it around so it coats the pan evenly. Add the rice and pack it down firmly with the back of a spatula, mounding it slightly higher in the center. Use the handle of the spatula to poke a few holes in the rice, stopping right before you get to the very bottom of the rice (this allows the steam to escape). Carefully cover the skillet with a clean dish towel and then the lid, folding the corners of the towel up around the lid so they don’t touch the stove (if you’re working with a gas range, you may want to fold the towel up around the lid before putting it on the skillet to be extra careful that your towel doesn’t touch the flame). Cook on medium-high for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium-low until the bottom is golden brown, about 7 minutes more. Carefully uncover the skillet, keeping the cover level so that any moisture collected under the towel doesn’t spill out and burn you or fall back into the rice.
- Flip the rice out onto a plate so that the crispy bottom becomes the top. Serve!
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 394 |
| Total Fat | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 74 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 0 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 16 mg |
| Sodium | 230 mg |
Reviews
This is actually a very old recipe for Persian rice with tahdig (bottom of the pot crusty rice.) Giving cultural & gastronomical credit where it’s due (but never mentioned here.) We make it all the time with Persian kabob and stews.
What a let down. This just made a whole lot of unseasoned basmati rice. And it made it the hard way.
I really enjoyed this rice. I used a good stainless steel pan and the rice came out perfect. I couldn’t stop eating it. It looked picture perfect. I used saffron and I made my own clarified butter. Yum.
Since I used a cast iron skillet rather than a nonstick one, I used extra butter. I should have used a heat diffuser on my gas stove, the middle got a little burnt. Adding turmeric and other seasonings to the cooking water would be a great variation.
add turmeric, sea salt, and curry powder while the water is boiling. Also if you fry the uncooked rice in butter with half and onion and some garlic the flavor will be out of this world . this recipe is a nice backbone to build a great recipe .
I really wanted to love this recipe, but my family and I did not. The crispy top tasted like uncooked rice. I would not make it again.
Did not have saffron so I used a tiny bit of turmeric for color. Also used leftover rice from yesterday. We all loved this!