A simple side dish that goes well with any meal is our recipe for sauteed broccoli. Broccoli florets can be easily sauteed in Country Crock® Spread for a buttery taste before simmering in vegetable broth until just right.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 3 quarts water
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 russet potato, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 pinch ground cumin
- salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons butter, cut into thin slices, or to taste
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 1 ½ tablespoons hot water
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, or to taste
Instructions
- Place water and kosher salt in a pot; bring to a boil. Add rice; cook and stir for exactly 7 minutes. Drain.
- Heat olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Cover the bottom of the pot with 1 layer of potato slices. Sprinkle cumin and salt over potatoes. Cook until potatoes are sizzling, 2 to 3 minutes; top potatoes with rice to form an even layer. Reduce heat to low and place butter slices over rice.
- Top the pot with a layer of clean paper towels, then place the lid over the towels. Steam until rice is fluffy, about 45 minutes.
- Grind saffron threads with a mortar and pestle. Mix crushed saffron with 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water in a large bowl. Add a couple of spoonfuls of rice to saffron mixture and stir until rice is yellow.
- Spoon remaining rice into a serving bowl. Top with saffron rice and line the edges of the bowl with potatoes. Garnish with parsley.
- You can use vegetable oil instead of olive oil if desired.
- This is delicious served with anything, but especially with my
- recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 255 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 42 g |
| Cholesterol | 11 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 2223 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Loved this Chef John!! The video was awesome too.
A never-fail recipe; delicious every time! I serve this alongside grilled lamb kabobs (Koubideh) and halved tomatoes.
The potatoes turned out well but my rice was dry. I have never tried to cook rice this way before so I’ll accept some beginners failure as the cause, but I was hopeful since the instructions were very specific! Not sure what went wrong.
Just spent thanksgiving with an Iranian-American family. Loved the rice, it was light and soft. They used tortillas at the bottom of the pan instead of potatoes. My mom is Panamanian, my sister in law, Japanese. It amazes me how different and the same we all make our rice dishes. This rice seemed so complicated when described it, but this recipe is actually is very easy. We use Azafran (the Spanish word for Saffron) to make our rice yellow. It comes from the stamen of the Safflower while Iranians use the very expensive Saffron……the stamen of the Crocus. Azafran is very easy to grow in the SW. the plant is like a yellow thistle with thorns. I use a tweezer to remove the flower tems. Happy T. Day.
This was such a different way of preparing rice (paper towels…really?) but the cumin, saffron and butter were strong indicators that this might be a good recipe to try. We frequently make lamb kabobs and the rich yet subtle flavors are a good side dish that doesn’t upstage the main course. I would use more than a pinch of saffron next time.
I’ve never made this type of rice before but it turned out perfectly and the entire family loved it! Definitely going to become a regular addition to our special Shabbat meals!
Delicious. Perfectly fluffy and a hint of savory flavor from the potatoes and seasoning. Paired well with sliced onions with sumac, garlic herb butter potatoes, Mediterranean side salad, and lamb chops.
Made it exactly like the recipe and this is how I cook rice, from now on. Love it so much, this vegetarian will make it again and again!
Love this rice very fluffy and simple…
It was good!
A simple dish that provides an interesting end result. Very flaky rice with an interesting presentation. worth the effort if only for a simple process that one can seldom duplicate if you like rice.
My Iranian housemate approves! I made him this and he loved it. He had the special ‘damkoni'(fitted lid cover) so I didn’t have to use (paper) towels. I did use a non stick pan because I was scared about burning the potatoes/rice. But they came out crunchy and tasty. I also did not have a pestle to grind the saffron so couldn’t get the rice bright yellow. Thank you for this easy and tasty recipe!
This recipe turned out great – I followed everything as written and it was a huge hit with the whole family (especially the potatoes).
This recipe turned out great – I followed everything as written and it was a huge hit with the whole family (especially the potatoes).
This was wonderfully light and fluffy as advertised. As good as, or better than you will get in a Persian restaurant. Potatoes were not quite as crispy as I expected, so next time I won’t drop temperature completely too low, but a little above. Will definitely do this one again.
Favorite rice dish!
Loved this – especially the crunchy bits at the bottom! It is a flawless technique and worked perfectly. Hubby wasn’t fond of it but he isn’t a huge fan of rice anyway.
I made it just like the video, but substituted red potatoes. Makes really fluffy rice, with coveted crunchy bits. It’s difficult not to eat all the potatoes myself.
Bottom layer of rice grains were crunchy. Other than that, this was very tasty. Next time I’ll let the oil cool more first before adding the parboiled rice. I think maybe the rice fried in the hot oil.
This is the best thing ever. Seriously. It’s simple and I make it exactly as written. My kids fight for the potatoes and the crispy rice bits are so addictive. Ever since I found this recipe it’s been in regular rotation.
Very good and very straightforward. I will use this again and again.