Learn how to make perfect Persian rice called Tah-dig with step by step instructions. Tah-dig is a Persian rice dish with a crispy bottom and saffron and turmeric.
I can not believe I am already crossing off the first item from my 2013 Culinary Bucket List, perfect Persain rice called tahdig . Since I started it last year, several bloggers and readers have written to me saying they are now about to start their own list! You have no idea how that makes me feel.
Not only am I doing my own culinary bucket list, but so is the #SundaySupper gang, so I had to jump in and cross things off already.
I have been getting infatuated with other cultures since I really began to dig into cooking and have been researching and scouring new and authentic recipes to create. Persian rice aka Tahdig has been on my list for quite a while. It is a Persian style of rice that has a crispy bottom, which is the best part. The word “tahdig” means “bottom of the pot”, which is exactly where the crispy layer is formed. The solid layers bright and golden and I’ve heard it’s supposed to resemble the large and wide golden dessert. It is also said that the better your tahdig is, the more praise and “ooh’s” you receive.
See, this is more of a technique than a recipe. Persian rice only has 4 ingredients and still creates the most unusual and addictive rice dish you will ever want. Other variations have thinly sliced potato on the bottom as the tahdig, which I can not wait to try next! I’ve also seen a spaghetti tahdig and one with sour cherries too! Read my step by step below to learn how tahdig is made.
Method:
1) In a large bowl, rinse rice several times until the water drains clear. (I use this basmati rice).
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) Heat a medium size non-stick skillet on medium high heat and add oil, 3 Tb water, turmeric and saffron liquid. Gently swirl pan around so bottom is fully coated.
7) 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.
8) 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.
9) 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.
Tah-Dig (Persian Rice)
Ingredients
- 2 cups basmati
- 1 large pinch of saffron
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 tsp turmeric
Instructions
- 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.
Nutrition
*Disclaimer: This is a fickle dish. Every oven and stove temperature is different, therefore please play close attention to your rice as it cooks. I used medium-high for creating the crispy rice crust, however if your stove is hotter and you sense it burning, then please lower temperature. Cooking is all about experimenting and variables.
This week’s Sunday Supper is all about trying something new, something that’s been on your bucket list that you have yet to tackle. We have had so much fun with this and can’t wait to share these recipes with you!
Join us this Sunday at 7 pm Eastern Time on Twitter as we share our bucket list recipes during our #SundaySupper chat.
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A beautiful dish and I love saffron and turmeric. Glad to see you back joining in Sunday Supper and tackling your culinary bucket list.
Wow – this looks and sounds incredible! I have to try it….
Samantha that is the coolest looking recipe I’ve seen in awhile. I definitely want to try this and cannot get over how beautiful the end result is. Great job on crossing something off your bucket list.
I’ve seen this done before, and I’m enthralled. Yours is gorgeous!
I like any recipe with the word persian in it, it sounds so exotic and spicy. I´ve never seen this rice but it´s going into my bucket list. That crunchy bottom, reminds me of paella! Amazing!
Amazing. What a beautiful crust. I must try this like now.
Isn’t that cool, I have never seen anything like it!! I will have to try this recipe!!
Besides being stunning, who doesn’t love crispy rice? I think I need to give this a go, I do have saffron in my pantry!
AMazing! It doesn’t burn?
You have completely outdone yourself with this one Sam! Wow, Wow, Wow…. added to my bucket list!
Love Persian rice. Never tried making it though. this looks like a great recipe to try. Love the color 🙂
This looks fantastic! I love, love , love this one. Pinned!
What a beautiful looking rice dish! I’ve never heard of this dish but it looks lovely!
oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh – I LOVE this! Chinese people have a word for the crispy rice at the bottom of the pot too. It has always my favourite part to eat. As a kid, I’d pick it off the bottom (only after fighting with my sisters to see who would get the biggest piece) and then dip it into the sauce of whatever dishes we were eating that night. I’ve never heard of tah-dig but I definitely want to make this. Your crust looks so golden and perfect – I can just imagine that satisfying crunch of sinking one’s teeth into it.
I’ve never had persian rice but you’ve totally convinced me to try it out!
I have never heard of this but now I want it and I must try this recipe! Awesome, thank you for sharing!
Sam, I want to dig into that crispy layer so bad. This dish looks amazing!
I HAVE to try is. I’ve never heard f it, but I always get some crispy rice in the bottom of my risky dink rice cooker, and that is my favorite part. And now adding saffron. Oh boy! Pinning is one.
You have no idea how much this rice was made for me. When I was little I use to ask my mom if I could help clean up after dinner when she made rice. She thought I was being kind but I had an ulterior motive, I wanted to help clean the rice maker and pick off the cripy rice from the bottom of the pan. Until I saw your teaser photo I had no idea there was a dish like this but I can promise you I will be making this very soon. I even have a wonderful stash of saffron.
Beautiful rice dish, wow! Love it! I love how different it is! 🙂 Did you come up with this whole culinary bucket list thing? If so, thank you!!!
Love the color. I like the towel technique!
Korean have a very similiar dish called noorungi. We sometimes add it to hot water and make sort of a congi dish. Where did you first try this dish? I have never heard of it in other cultures but I am so glad somebody else thought of crispy rice because it’s my favorite thing in the whole entire world..
Ohhh will you make the Korean style one??! I’ve heard of Tah-dig for a while and a lot of Persians I know grew up on it, so I thought I’d research it and make it. It’s really common in their culture (I’m not Persian) but probably has different flavors, wich saffron and turmeric. I’d LOVE to see the Korean version!
You should try making Ghormeh Sabzi with Tahdig.
Oh that looks wonderful!! I think I will! Thank you for the suggestion!
I followed the recipe exactly and my rice burned. It was nowhere near 35 min. I think med high heat is too much and it doesn’t need so long. argh. All that time and effort wasted. So frustrated as I was really excited to serve this.
Hi Aliza! Well tahdig literally means “bottom of the pot” where the crunchy burnt pieces are..which is the most prized part of it! So is it too burnt at the point of being inedible or is the rice still crispy/burnt? There should be a good crust which is what the higher heat will do. Please try it again and let me know if you have any more questions!
Nice recipe, but as far as I know this is Indian rice not Persian. Persian cooking does not involve a lot of turmeric or saffron. Well at least not in my Persian household.
Hi Janie! Thanks for the tip…I have seen other preparations with the saffron and thought the turmeric would be a nice touch as well. I actually did not know that Indian had a similar rice dish!? Would love to look that up!
Plenty of Persian dishes requiremturmeric or saffron. This IS a Persian rice dish, however, I might use basmati rice instead of Jasmine next time to be more authentic. But this is not an Indian dish, it is Persian. In fact the Indians I know don’t eat crispy rice and they consider it a mistake when they make accidentally make some on the bottom of their pot of rice,
Thank you for your comment Rox! I don’t believe I ever said it was am Indian dish..I do call it “Persian rice” as it is, yes? Please let me know how basmati comes out. I love the flavor of jasmine, that’s why I used it! Happy cooking!
Just made this tonight after trying a dish like this about a month ago at a nearby Persian restaurant. This was even better than the restaurant. Thanks so much for the step by step instructions and the visuals were very helpful. I’m so happy it turned out so good!!
Thanks for sharing Heather!! SOOO glad it turned out good!!
I made this recipe for a Sunday supper. I never heard of this dish, nor was I expecting the crispiness of the rice. It turned out fabulous, with everyone loving the crunchy bits of rice. Everyone, except me, as I do not like the tough little bits of rice. Yet, my husband and our guests thought it was fabulous.
Some of the steps in the procedure seemed slightly counter intuitive to my cooking knowledge. No matter, I followed every step and am so pleased with the results.
This is an excellent recipe. The technical tips embedded in the blog are a must-to-be-followed!
I absolutely love this rice and I’m very familiar with it. I used to eat it often because I lived with an Iranian family (in UK) many years ago. Since then I’ve had it only twice in my friend’s house. This Sunday, really puzzled what to cook, bored of same old dishes, I started searching for burnt rice and came across this recipe and decided to give it a try. I’m really glad for the pictures. My rice came out almost like the one in this recipe. The instructions were very clear, but I struggled with one part. When I put oil in the skillet and added water, the whole thing started to splutter all over my kitchen and I couldn’t even come close to it. Could you advise me what I did wrong, please.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe
I have tried to make this many times without success – so thank you for an easy recipe that makes perfect tadig!
Thank you Ali! Have fun cooking 🙂
I did it! I cooked it on Medium on my propane gas cooktop for 5 minutes, then turned it down to Low with a diffuser for 35 minutes. Yum!
I recommend the addition of salt in step 3 as the middle layer was a bit bland.
Wooohoooo…thats awesome Adriana!! Isn’t it sooo good?? And yes to salt!
Shouldn’t this recipe be using basmati rice? Never had Tah Dig with jasmice rice before.
I have tried it with both and both are delicious!
I’ve been struggling to make this – will try your method, though I know med-high is too high for the 35 minute portion of the cooking. Also, it says “jasmine” in your ingredient list, but I think that basmati is the only way to go.
Hi Christine! Yes you are totally correct, basmati is the way to go and the way I make it. (I had that in my instructions but not ingredients, sorry about that). Also, I have a disclaimer on the bottom mentioning heat levels. When I made this my stove wasn’t as strong so I did med09m-high. I have since moved and have a range now which is much more powerful…but I would definitely do medium to get it hot. Please share the results when you make it 🙂
It turned out great-all I did was adjust the time and heat because my stove runs hot, and added some melted butter around the pan edges and into the holes. I might bloom the saffron in a little rosewater next time. I’m floored that a Persian person doesn’t think of turmeric and saffron as very Persian ingredients – perhaps there is a region that doesn’t use them, I think of them as ubiquitous in Persian cuisine! FYI – I would never use Jasmine – seems like blaspheme.
Oh the rose water sounds lovely!! I have not used rosewater in rice dishes yet! So glad it turned out well!!
Samantha, this looks really good! I think I need to make these for myself and the kids. Love this idea!
Thanks Alyssa!!
Samantha, bravo! What a great idea! Love this. I’m sure this is incredibly delicious!
I tricked the kids that it was a cake ahaha it took them few bites to realize the truth
BTW, great recipe it’s delicious <3
Tah-Dig is great! To be honest, I’m not good at cooking but I like them, they give me joy and excitement every time I finish the dishes, which is a great thing. With your recipe, just need to follow the instructions and the rest is simple, thank you for sharing them.
This looks great! Thanks.
I followed your recipe exactly and the rice did not cook. I thought “8 minutes exactly sounds really short”. But I have never made this dish so I trusted this recipe. I was correct. Your recipe is wrong. The rice needs AT LEAST 15 minutes to cook in water before drain and transfer to pan. My dish is ruined and I am furious.
Hi Helga..apologies for the late reply. I would love to help troubleshoot the recipe with you, if you’d like. Did you do the double cooking as well? After you drain it, put it back in the pot? And did you test the rice as it was cooking in the water? Happy to help if you’d like to make it again.
Look yummy! One of my favorite Tah-Dig, nice to see your recipe, easy to follow, will cook this for family this weekend. Thanks you!