David Tanis’s Persian Jeweled Rice Recipe (2024)

You might want to look at Paula Gabriel's Persian Rice With Tah Dig Crust. She adds a few tablespoons of yogurt in addition to the melted butter to a cup of the rice that touches the bottom of the pan. I find that that really helps with browning the crust even when making it in a rice cooker.

This is a wonderful dish. I used hot orange blossom water instead of hot water to dissolve the saffron. I put julienned orange peel instead of the apricots and I omitted the cinnamon. My mother had made this for me in 1966 after a stay in Tehran and I remembered the orange peel...I will make this often.

Basmati rice is typically soaked for several hours in a quarter cup of kosher salt. It is then rinsed many times until the liquid runs clear. This is a customary technique in Persian cooking. Barberries are traditional fruit used otherwise it's really not An Iranian dish. It's like using kale instead of romaine in a Caesar salad.

It worked. it's wonderful. it's lovelyy on the platter and on the plates. I used a regular skillet but placed a diffuser under it. I have gas burners. The crust was divine. Spot on suggestions for using some yogurt ( 2 tablespoons) on the bottom with the 4 tablspooons of butter and to make spices 1/4 tsp each except the allspice- 1/8 teaspoon.
I will make this again and again although it did use lots of pans and pots. Worth It.

Hint: Avoid using the pre-ground spices! Grinding your own allspice, cardamom and pepper will make a world of difference. This is a very fragrant dish, and you won't be able to achieve the same results, and won't be able to truly appreciate this wonderful dish

I made this using orange blossom water, which I found at the Indian grocery store, along with all of the other ingredients needed to make this dish. I soaked the saffron threads in the orange blossom water and used a bit more than the recipe asks for (about a third of a cup instead of a quarter), and it really added a wonderful layer of perfume on top of all of the other spices.

Thank you! I love this rice preparation! We use it in Punjabi cuisine too. I suggest using ghee; it does not burn like butter. You can use any dried fruit and nuts. Add saffron that has been soaking in a tablespoon of warm milk to sprinkle on top with slivers of toasted pistachios. And then unfold a paper-thin "chaandi ka vark" (silver foil) on top. Every morsel to be savored slowly, Tandoori meats and a cucumber-dill raita are the perfect accompaniment.

Crispy rice is the best! Try this: Use normal proportions of rice/water (1:2) in a NONSTICK PAN ONLY. Add a nice dollop of butter and some salt. Let boil with no lid until the water you can see is evaporated, but the rice is still wet. Then cover, reduce heat to medium (med/low) for another ~10-15 mins (varies). You can smell when the rice is browning and cheat with a spoon to scrape a little bit out to see until you get the hang of it. When done flip pot directly over into serving dish. yum!

One of the notes suggested adding a little yogurt to the butter at the bottom of the pot in order to get a really nice crust. I tried it. It worked. I would recommend this.

Speaking as an Iranian, I give this recipe an A. I also use tiny candied orange peel which makes it ideal for duck, especially duck fesenjan. I brought back some lovely - very green - slivered pistachios from Iran that are a “gem” for this ;)

Awesome! Flavors are subtle but exquisite. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. I mixed the bottom layer with melted butter and yogurt. The addition kept the rice together and enriched the flavors. I also mixed the remaining rice with the saffron water for uniform distribution. We both had seconds! Since chicken was mentioned in the text, I added some diced chicken thigh (Costco rotisserie) to the middle layer. It's just the two of us, I made half the recipe. There's just enough left over for lunch.

Persian rice is always presoaked for several hours with the addition of salt. Mine rests in the soaking water for at least six hours.

It's your choice, one gets used to the fragrances from childhood, just as I would not use butter in a tradional Italian dish, I would not use olive oil in this dish. The butter/ghee adds to the delicate fragrances of this dish.

Delicious and a hit with guests! However, I couldn't get the bottom crust to form following these instructions in a heavy non-stick pan; there wasn't so much as a single browned kernel. I'll make it again and maybe try more butter and medium-high heat to see what happens. I also used 1/4 tsp. of each of the spices except the allspice, which was 1/8 tsp. and the flavor combo/level was great. I think a pinch would be too bland. This made at least 8 generous servings.

A wonderful, savoury variation on a Persian rice that I make. I use saffron and some form of dried berries (cranberries work), and in the summer I mix in lots and lots (and lots!) of fresh, finely chopped herbs - dill, coriander, parsley, thyme, whatever I can go out and snip. I then use no more seasoning than salt and pepper. For the bottom crust I also use yogourt and scramble an egg with it and the butter. I finish the whole thing in the oven or on the barbecue if it's too hot to cook inside.

It took me a while to get the crust ,but so worth it. The chewy crispy rice, warm spices, and fruit and nuts was so yummy! So glad I got over my fear of making this. Thanks for the recipe.

I followed this recipe pretty closely except that I used dried cherries for the raisins and the goji berries. I also used organic whole grain basmati rice. It was phenomenal! A definite Do Again. My husband, who is Not a rice fan, loved it and said he wants this for his rice all the time. It is excellent with the Persian-Spice lamb shanks.

This was delicious even though I didn’t have saffron! I added chopped dates instead of goji berries and served it with a chickpea coconut swiss chard dish.

Used dried blueberries for the raisins. Delicious dish. Put the rice back in the same pot as it was boiled in. No need for so many pans. Toasted the nuts in the pan the onion fruit mixture was in. This is a keeper.

Ordered barberries from Amazon and waited for that to arrive... it was worth the wait. I love (Puerto Rican) rice, so this was a delight. The crust (referred to as pegao in PR) was very good and contributed to the taste.

Delish and got rave reviews from guests. Cooking instructions worked perfectly. For ingredients, added the candied zest from 1 orange (thinly sliced zest + 1/4 C sugar & 1/2 C water simmered for ~20 minutes). Otherwise used raisins, sulfur-free dried apricots, dried cherries for the fruits. Used freshly ground whole spices (except for the cinnamon). Nuts per recipe. Following advice from other posters & from Samin Nosrat, added 2 T yogurt to 1 C of the par-cooked rice for the tahdig layer.

I need to serve 12 people. Has anyone made a double-sized batch? What size pan did you use. Thanks.

I made this for our Rosh Hashanah lunch. Everyone loved it. I'm not really a recipe-follower, but whatever I did, I started with David's blueprint and then threw in some fruit and nuts. (Got a GREAT tahdig too!) I wish I had used more saffron; I usually wish I used more saffron, so ma nishtana, but it was still delicious.

This is amazing. I served it alongside a pork tenderloin w/ a maple glaze for two new dinner guests. I thought we were all going to lick our plates. Takes a minute to get it all together, but then you really forget about it for those last, critical 30 minutes before serving. Perfect.

Made this exactly as described and it was delicious! An instant family favorite. Has anyone doubled the recipe? Wondering if any adjustments would be needed to make a double batch.

I got some crunchy rice pieces but need to make again in a smaller bottomed Dutch oven. Mine was too spread out. Flavor was excellent tho. Process was well written. I followed closely to be sure to get color and crispness on the bottom. I made it ahead of time just before guests arrived and it held nicely.

Add rice flour cornstarch slurry to rice for bottom layer and some yogurt to rice for top layer.OPTION: Before putting in oven to finish, make an opening in top layer, place 2egg yolks into opening, cover with rice to close up. Baste circomference of pan with a thin layer of sweet butter then return to oven and bake until you can smell the aroma of the crispy rice.

Followed recipes exactly and it's delicious. Wouldn't change a thing!

Delicious. Followed the recipe to the letter and it worked!

Dried montmorency sour cherries work well as a substitute for barberries. Also fine julienne cut orange peel and carrot. Boil in water with a spoonful of sugar, then drain. Increase saffron to 1/2 teaspoon. In preparing for an event I once forgot to plate the rice until the event was underway. Leaving the rice in the pot covered that extra time made made it more flavorful. Now I make it at least 2 hours before serving to give it time to rest.