Recipe by:    Fae’s Twist & Tango    (fae-magazine.com)

To soak the rice
•   2 cups basmati rice
•   1 Tbsp salt

◊  Although today, clean fine rice is available, some imported rice brands may contain small, non-rice particles which must be scrutinized and removed by hand before washing.  Also, some brands may need to be washed with extra agitation until water is clear.  Put the rice in a large enough bowl with plenty of water and rub the rice between two hands to scrape off any powdery substance. Drain in a fine-meshed colander. Rinse the rice until clear water runs through.

◊  Put the washed rice in a bowl, add 1 Tbsp salt, cover with water level 3 cm/ 1″  above the rice, stir gently and set aside for more than an hour.  This can be done in advance and soaked for 3+ hours, or overnight. (Note: A faster step for cooking rice is… wash rice and soak without salt for 30 minutes. Add the salt to boiling water and follow the next steps.)

To boil the rice

◊  Have a colander ready in your sink, one with fine-mesh or with very small holes, and with legs, so that it doesn’t touch the sink bottom.

◊  In a non-stick pot (9 cups capacity) bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Drain water from the soaked rice and add to the boiling water. Keep your attention on the pot or else the foam from the boiling rice may overflow.

◊  As the rice starts to boil briskly, lower the heat to medium-high and occasionally, gently stir the rice in a circular motion.  At this point, taste the boiling water (carefully) to insure the salt content is to your taste.  Add salt if needed.

◊  In a few minutes, after rice begins bubbling like a fountain, it boils slower/thicker.
Test/bite a grain to check its hardness.  Do this repeatedly, as timing is very important.  As soon as there is no more hardness in the center of the rice (don’t let it get completely soft), drain rice in colander waiting in sink.  It is better for rice to be a tad under-cooked than over-cooked.  Rice should not sit in the colander more than a minute  (it will continue cooking and be sticky soft).  At this point, you must act quickly.

To steam the rice:

•   4 ~ 6 Tbsp vegetable oil needed

◊  Rinse the non-stick pot used for boiling.  Add 2 ~ 3 Tbsp oil.

–    Choices of  tah-dig    –

♦  For plain tah-dig:  add few drops of   saffron  diluted in hot water [1]   to the oil and rotate the pot so it will spread in the bottom before you spatula in the rice.

♦  If making  tah-dig other than plain tah-dig,  have the ingredient/mixture for the tah-dig ready in advance. Depending on the diameter of the pot, increase the oil poured into the bottom of the pot by 1.5x or 2x.  Put on heat just a little lower  than called for plain rice tah-dig.

♦  For potato tah-dig,  after peeling the  (russet) potato(s), cut them at least  1.6 cm/ 5/8″  thick and soak them in a bowl of  water for a few minutes (or much longer). Drain well before use.

♦  For bread tah-dig,  use one layer of  flour-tortilla  or lavash  to cover the entire bottom of the pot. For mixed rice, especially ones with sweet ingredients, this tah-dig is recommended to avoid fast burning of sugar.

♦  For yogurt tah-dig
•   1  cup  whole yogurt
•   2  egg  yolks
•   pinch  (1/16 tsp)  ground saffron
•   1/8  tsp  salt

◊  In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg yolks with a fork, add yogurt, saffron and salt, mix well and set aside.
Adjust the recipe quantity to the amount of rice being cooked.

–    To continue with assembly of rice    –

◊  Gently, a spatula at a time, put the boiled rice in the pot. Poke a few holes into the rice.

◊  Pour 2 ~ 3 Tbsp of oil evenly over the rice in the pot.

◊  Cover the pot with one layer of  paper towel and put the lid on tightly. On medium-low heat, steam for 45 minutes.

◊  If desired to serve with the tah-tig on the top, right out of the pot in tact:  Choose a deep serving dish at least 5 cm/ 2″  wider than the pot on each side.

◊  Invert the serving dish over the pot and flip.  Unmold the rice and lift the pot.

– or –

◊  Dish out the rice, a spatula at a time and sprinkle on the serving dish/platter [1]  (keeping the tah-dig intact at the bottom of the pot).  Loosen and dish out the tah-dig with wooden or non-stick, pot-safe spatula and serve in a different dish.

♪

[1]   To garnish the rice with saffron:
•   smidgen  ground saffron
•   2 Tbsp hot water
•   1 Tbs softened butter

◊  It would be preferable to make the saffaron ready while the rice is steaming.  In a medium-small bowl, add the saffron and  hot water and let it sit for ten minutes minutes or more.

◊  Add the butter and have it ready for when the cooked rice is ready to be dished out.

◊  Add the first spatula of the rice to the saffron bowl and mix well.  When the rest of the rice is dished onto the serving dish, spread/garnish the saffron rice over the white rice.  Design made by saffroned rice over the dished out rice is not uncommon either.

~   Noushe jan!    •   نوش جان   ~