Learn how to make Persian-style Rice! Visit foodwishes.blogspot.com/2014/1... for the ingredients, more information, and many, many more video recipes. I hope you enjoy this easy Persian Rice recipe!
@MrA It doesn't have to be topped off with the barberries. It comes in many forms. But it definitely never has cumin or cumin seeds. Sure someone may have done it once in human history but it's completely wrong and ruins the flavour. Iranian food mostly just uses Saffron as a spice. I don't know why people try so hard to make something simple and good more "exotic". It's ridiculous and almost offensive.
I liked your enthusiastic narrative ... 😍 I'm Persian (Iranian) and thanks for sharing the technique and recipe in your channel :) We mostly soak the rice about an hour before boiling it .. it allows the rice grains to absorb water and grow longer and even prettier Authentic Persian (Iranian) rice is only harvested in north part of Iran and sold locally except for a few brands that you can find in California Stores that import it directly from Iran, Basmati rice is very similar in shape and size to Persian rice but the Persian rice has an awesome Scent once cooked properly 😍
@@aminrastgar hi I always wanted to know how Mediterranean rice was cooked because I love it. So if I soak the rice one hour before does it mean I only cook it for 10-12 minutes and skip the step where I have to steam it for 45 minutes?
finaly!!! thanks chef John ! 3 little tips from a Persian though: that amount of saffron is too little so what you could do is to infuse it as my mom dose! put your grounded saffron in a little tiny glass like a shot with a bit of boiling water and put the glass inside your pot in the center (don't pack your rice of course) as you are steaming the rice the saffron will get infused like a Persian tea ! and right before serving the rice take the saffron out and put a tiny cube of ice in it to shock the color out of the saffron. same amount will give you twice the color and perfume guaranteed. As for the rice, when you'r going to cover it, shape your rice like a dome, with a WOODEN spoon so you wouldn't break the grains. and then with the other end of the same spoon make a hole in the center all the way to the bottom of the rice and cover. this way the steam will circulate freely in the pot and it would't over cook. last tip! if your doing only a one step steaming rice recipe in order to get the same results as this 2 step method, you can add half a cup of COLD water to the rice just before there is no water left in the pot. the thermal shock would make your rice grow longer and be much more similar to the rice done by 2step method only easier and faster!
My mother (the best Persian cook ever!) always says that the more formal an occasion, the longer should be your cooked rice grains. To end up with extra long rice grains, about two minutes before removing the rice from the boiling water, add a glass of super cold water to shock the rice. I always do it and it has never failed me! Love you, Maman!
@@msobetchi Add the ice water to the boiling pot of al dente rice, let it sit for two minutes, then remove it from the heat and drain it. Of course a few more steps need to be taken at this point to complete the process. Enjoy!
The version of this rice I was once served (By a mother and grown daughter from Iran) had the thin slices of potatoes and slabs of carrot, not just on the bottom but lining the sides of the pan as well. Then the rice was basically un-molded onto a large platter for the center of the table. Digging in with a large spoon, It had the crispy brown crust on the outside, and perfect, fluffy rice on the inside -- EASILY the best rice I've ever eaten in my life! The whole dinner was like a magic carpet ride, but the rice is what I remember the most clearly.
Well basically rice crust/crisp/bottom layer or Tahdeeg or pot bottom in Persian comes in various types from lettuce, potatoes, saffron rice, flat breads. Depends on ur own choice.
Hi Chef John. I’ve been a long time subscriber and every time you made rice and said this is the best rice, I just rolled my eyes. You nailed it this time and to your credit, there are many many Iranians who can’t do what you just did. Next time try it without potatoes and try the bottom part which is called Tahdig (Literally means bottom of the pot). Now just a little trivia about Persian rice. Contrary to many RU-vid videos that you see, long grain rice is not used very often in Iran. Most How-To videos on RU-vid tend to be from the Iranians living in the US and they use Basmati rice because they don’t have an alternative. Some of the best rice in the world are grown in the northern provinces of Iran, Mazandaran, Gilan, and Golestan. Tarom Rice from Rasht (Grown in Fereydoon Kenar mostly) or Dom Siah (Black Tail) in particular is undoubtedly the most aromatic and delicious rice you’ll ever taste and no Basmati can hold a candle to it. The method you just cooked your rice is almost universal in Iran but there are many variations as well depending on the provinces and rice used. For example, the Binam rice is a very short grain rice and once cooked, it becomes almost round and but it’s delicious nevertheless. It's mostly used in Northern Iran as it doesn’t sell very well in other parts of the country because of its shape. It is made as Kateh (soft and somewhat moist rice) and it’s not strained. Kateh kabab is a very famous dish from the north which traditionally uses this rice. Where the saffron is plentiful like in North and South Western Iran such as Estahban, the locals put a bunch of saffron flowers in the middle of the rice at the second stage and steam it all together. Unfortunately many hybrid variety of rice from the Philippines and Pakistan (absolute garbage) are now grown in Iran and they are endangering the many thousand heirloom varieties that have in production for thousands of years. Cooking a Persian rice is one thing, how to eat it is another. Here are some dos and don’ts: Don’t just use a fork, it’s not spaghetti. Use spoon and a fork and nothing should ever drop. Don’t use olive oil at the bottom; it kills the fragrance of the rice. Traditionally animal fat is used but almost everyone uses vegetable or sunflower oil these days. My favorite is animal fat (rendered sheep fat) or butter. Also, mound the rice in the middle of the pot; you only want the bottom to get hard not the sides. One word of caution though, don’t ever garnish a plain Persian rice with Parsley again :P What makes me an expert? Fourth generation rice grower and a millionth generation rice eater:)
Great job! I can't believe how perfect your potato tahdig came out. Lavash bread works great too. My personal fav will always be the classic: rice tahdig. Adding a bit of saffron to the bottom of the pot will give a beautiful tahdig too btw. Where did you learn to cook Persian food? Thank goodness it's catching on because it's only the world's best food. And of course I'm biased but that doesn't matter! ;)
***** - That was an amazing read, Moto W. Years ago, I had many, many Persian friends in Houston, TX. I ate wonderful fezenjan and, of course, the Persian rice. As they explained it, "Two kinds of rice in one dish. The soft delicate rice, and the crispy delicious rice cover". They baked it, and then turned the pot over onto a plate, so the bottom became the top of the mound, and was a crust of lightly-browned rice covering it. Truly delicious food. I miss it very much. I miss them very much. ツ
Hi there Chef, Thank you for the recipe. I am from Iran, and we love our rice and take a lot of care about it. I wanted to share another step to complete your recipe and it is the very essential step at the beginning which is soaking the rice with salted water at least for 2 hours before adding it to the boiling water. It is better to soak the rice overnight and also use Iranian organic smoked rice which is much better in terms of taste, texture and smell. I think you can find them in Iranian stores in US. Another substitute for the potatoes in the bottom can be flat bread (It can be pita bread, or tortillas, or any sort of not very thick breads as well) which is more popular in Iran. Some people add sesame seeds to the bottom of potatoes or bread that I personally love because of added flavor and texture.
I was hoping he would have incorporated tahdig into this recipe. I dated an Armenian for 6 years and grew to love Armenian, Persian and Middle Eastern food in general. Dolma, kabob, doogh, mortadella with small Persian pickles and pickled garlic and the flat bread and many others. Mmmhmm. I'll be making a stop to our local Persian store soon now. :)
If you soak it into salt water for 2h or over night, do you then boil the rice still in salt water or in this case unsalted water? It sounds very salty otherwise.
YES! I dated an Iranian boy for several years and he used to cook the most amazing rice ever. probably the most devastating thing about our breakup was I never learned the recipe .... this just revealed it! Persian rice will be on my plate tomorrow! thank you!!
I'm so happy my wife is Persian, lol. I'm Puerto Rican so we like to team up and combine our dishes together when we have guest over and they literally go crazy over our food. Everytime there's a fight on Pay Per View or some event or holiday everyone ask us what we're doing and if we plan on cooking. LMAO. Being Hispanic and being married to a middle eastern woman is so awesome. I would have never guess how much middle eastern folks have in common with hispanics. Let's just say food is the best first step in bridging the gap between cultures.
I'm Persian and I have to say this video is awesome. Chief John you made me Love you even more than before! I feel so good when I see American chiefs teach Persian dishes. Persian food is unbelievably super delicious. The only thing I can say about this video is that it may take less than 7 minutes for your rice to cook in the boiling water. Sometimes 6 minutes is enough. If you overcook the rice a little bit, you won't get the perfect rice at the end. As chief John also say "Enjoy"!
I cried and thought of my mother's cooking watching throughout the video. I miss how she would cook something similar back in my childhood days. Love and miss you mommy, thank you Chef John.
Oh my god! Chef John...you've officially proved yourself to me today! I mean you've always been an amazing chef, but you just cooked rice perfectly the way we've grown up doing! And I've never seen any non-Persian make it like this! So all to you! Being Afghan, it's so nice to see the tricks of our mothers and grandmothers finally make it to American cuisine! The only one little difference we have is that we'll always mix the saffron water mixture throughout the whole pot, not just with a little portion of rice for the top. Anyways thanks for making us proud today! Absolutely love your recipes and videos! You are without a doubt the most entertaining man on RU-vid! Love your sarcasm. Good luck to you :)
Ah. Now I know this is your good recipe. Saffron is very expense, naturally so, therefore mixing into all the rice seems very reasonable. Thank you for the information.
I've tried several recipes for Persian rice but nothing worked for me until I now 😊. I tried your rice recipe today and the rice turned out fantastic. I'm so thankful you uploaded this video to RU-vid.
I know this video came out years ago but it always puts a smile on my face to see people cook Iranian food- it is so beautiful, unique, and puts me right back at home. You did a great job, my mom would be proud :) I hope that you'll make more Iranian food in the near future.
my mother is making this almost the exact same way ( since we are afghans) but she puts oil and sugar in a pan, waits until the sugar is getting brown, then she puts that mixture on the rice (before she steams it). that way you get colour and a beautiful caramelized top. sometimes she adds some cinnamon on top. Chef john, if you read this, pls try to make some byriani, thats the most delicious rice based dish ever. ( sry for my bad english, im from germany)
Oh this rice, i have a love/hate feeling to it, our house sometimes runs out of everything but if you open the fridge you'll find rice every single time, it's just mandatory in every Persian household.
Metayounis Salute to you, too! :) I don't live in Afghanistan. Part of my family lived in Iran though for a long time during the taliban war, but now they moved back to Afghanistan. We are all (Iranians, Afghans etc ) sisters and brothers!
Excellent recipe! I Thank you so much! I quickly realized that this method can be easily adapted for any type of grains, which, of course, i did. Tried it with wild rice, mixed rice, wheat, barley/pearl barley and buckwheat - as well as the assorted mixes of all of the above. Tried it all several times already, always to a perfect result. And for that i have you to thank! You have really made a difference in my grain kitchen! And the two-dishes-in-one concept... The only difference is that i found (at least for me) that water had to be added in the steaming stage, in about 1:1 ratio to grains. I also fry the potato pieces for a few minutes on each side before proceeding. Finally, easier on the butter slices, yet much more generous on the spices.
I love that you're featuring Persian food on your channel lately! Makes me miss home and my dad's cooking. By the way, in Persian cuisine, rice isn't a side dish--it's the centerpiece! :) And the way I've always seen rice dished up at home is by uncovering the pot, placing a large serving dish upside down over the pot, and in one motion while holding both tightly together, flipping the pot upside down and the serving dish right side up. Then lay the dish on the table and lift off the pot. Rice plated!
Thank you so much for this! Years ago I enjoyed this wih my Persian friends when I lived in Berlin (large community there). Now I know how they made it! LOVE how you explain things!
It will make the rice turn out longer and will help to get rid of more of the starch. A great (professional) way to make the rice if you have time or a party to cook for. If not, you can just make it like in the video.
Hi Chef John. I have the fortune of being given high quality Iranian saffron from my coworker who just returned from Iran. I was so nervous to use his precious gift so I ran to your channel for help. I am happy to report that this rice along with your turkish chicken kebab recipe was amazing together. Thanks!
John! Save money by using Turmeric-it's healthier for us ! What happened to the Tadigh? Try circle of potatoes instead of covering the bottom, Then you get the crispy buttered olive oil RICE with crispy potatoe too. The crispy is the "Tadigh" that Persians crave and fight over. Invert the pot onto a serving dish and everything comes out golden brown and crispy on top instantly with no effort. You know,… place plate on top of finished pot and turn over, then lift off! I've been hanging out with Persians since 1969. Love you John, and all you do.
Dear Chef John, as an Iranian I say bravo!! This is really fantastic. I love your recipe and whenever I get homesick for my mum's rice I cook rice using only your recipe. Thanks so much and bravo for your rice cooking skills :)
thanks for this. I went to college with a bunch of Iranians and one of them cooked this. I have never forgotten it but of course I didn't pay attention to how he cooked it. Now I know.
Cooking rice is our expertise in Iran and you did it right! In fact, you nailed it by adding butter! It makes it so addictive. One small trick: before putting potatoes, you can add some small-moderate amount of turmeric to oil to give some yellow color to it. When hot oil took turmeric's color, you can add potato slices there. I like your videos and recipes very much. Thanks for sharing them.
I never knew about this technique and always LOVED the rice at the Middle Eastern restaurant where we eat. The grains are so beautifully separated and plump. I'M EXCITED TO TRY THIS TECHNIQUE!
I was taught this by my Armenian SIL from Iran in early 1980s. You can use a flour tortilla and ghee in bottom. The crunchy tortilla is delicious to snack on if the kids didn’t snag it first. Instead of paper towels, wrap the lid with a clean tea towel - not terrycloth. I can make 6 -8 cups of rice in a tall soup pot and freeze extras in portion sizes to suit us. This works with Jasmine and plain long grain rice too & test the boiling rice by biting a grain of rice...it should still have a core when you drain it. I only add butter or ghee if extra moisture is needed after steaming for 40-45 min. Thank you for sharing this excellent technique!!!!
I think the cooking cultures, to whom I'm closer connected to as Greek are Turks, Persians (actually the whole middle East), Balkans (all of them) and Italians. BUT Persians and Italians are the master of cooking rice (to my taste), giving imaginative flavor to the most dull and still very nutritious product. I'm not nationalizing this, I'm just a neighbor between these countries and their flavors. So, no politics about rice, OK? Chef, thanks for bringing that up! PS: I had that, made by Persians, but the crust on the bottom was from the rice... A (very buttery) dream! So, cheers to all!
Persian cuisine shouldn't be classified with the rest of the Middle East dear. Different ethnicities exist there... But you are right, Greeks and Persian cuisine is very alike, and many dishes are alike to those countries you have named.
Fantastic video. From a young Persian man who has been brought up on this rice multiple times a week I approve this dish! Where did you learn the recipe John? This is extremely similar to the way my mum and dad cook rice, all be it a slightly modified version with use of a rice cooker for ease. Have you ever tried to cook the ancient Persian dish called Ghormeh Sabzi? It goes wonderfully with this rice.
In more traditional gormeh sabzi they put dried limes, which soak up the juices of the meat and sabzi. But they leave a sort of bitter taste in the dish so sometimes its very overwhelming and I can't even eat it, or its more suttle and it tastes very good. So it depends on how much is put in.
+秀樹 Trust me it is, when my friend saw it the first time he laughed about how unappetizing it looks. But when he tasted it he is almost addicted to it!
This is the best and simple demonstration, this is how I make mine so I will be sharing your video with my friends who want to make persian rice. Thank you!
Chef John, I watched this last night and made this tonight. It was SO easy and so delicious and I have added to my list of very special simple exquisite dishes. Thank you!
I've had Persian rice in the past and and have been wanting it so much!! Now I can have it. I love extra virgin olive oil but yours didn't look like olive oil. On my potatos I'm going to leave the skins on. I enjoyed listening to you and hearing your comments. Thanks
Incredible! When I was 12 years old, we lived next door to a young woman who had lived in Iran for a few years. She made this dish for me. I had it exactly once. But never forgot. Excited to relive this dish.
Our neighbors in los Ángeles thought us how to make Persian rice rice, different varieties, and now that I decide in Miami, I still make it. Your video is very good. Like another commenter said, rinse the rice with cold water, and saffron let it soak with warm water. Thank you.
Hello Chef, If I may and to follow your good advices, short or long grain rice needs to loose some starch to become light, fluffy and open up like a flower! Try adding a couple of spoon full white vinegar or lemon juice to the boiling water and once the rice is to be drained, add a glass of cold water, bring again to boil and once drained, grains has doubled length and tastes lighter. & FYI there are numerous types of Iranian rice dishes.
This rice looks realy, the real deal :) - I'm married to an Iranian, an she sure knows how to make the best rice in the World - hehe. And your pronunciation of Fesenjan (Fesenjoon) was spot on ;)
I have been making Cuban rice all my life. This recipe is over the top! What a beautiful dish. Definitely making this soon. Love the authentic way of using a clean paper towel...lol you could of course use a clean dish towel. Thank you so much to Persia for the wonderful dish.
How do you steam without adding liquid to the pan? Is there really enough residual moisture on the rice after draining it to steam it for or 45 minutes, without the rice or potatoes scorching? I have been cooking for a long time. I do not know how to steam something without adding liquid beforehand. Your end product did look very tasty. I don't mean to question your method. I'm just curious how it works in this instance.
You're hysterical the way you talk👍. I come.for the recipes but get caught up in how good your voice is and the lilting and then I have to rewind half a dozen times
I lived with my best friend for a few weeks who is persian. I would eat this rice 24/7. Its still my favorite and a request it every year for my birthday.
Chef John. YOU ARE A REAL CHAMP MATE! What I really appreciate about your presentations is that you do not swear or blaspheme like others on RU-vid save a few. Your presentations are always welcome and you have taught me a lot. :))
I'm Persian and always I made my rice in Persian rice cooker because whenever I tried other way it came out soggy so when I saw this video I said I will give it a try. I just wanted to tell you guys I'm not going back to my rice cooker.anymore. It was so delicious specially when you serve it with kabob digi (another Persian food). Thanks chef John :)
