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Pot-Bottom Crust with Chicken
Tah-Cheen-e Morgh
(4-2 servings)
Ingredients:
For Tahcheen:
• 1 pound of long grain rice.
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) of cooking oil.
• 1 cup (8 oz) of mAst (plain yogurt).
• 2 teaspoons of zafarAn (saffron).
• 1 pound of various chicken pieces.
• 2 egg yokes (zardeh tokhm-e morgh).
For Zereshk:
• 1 cup of red currents (zereshk) presoaked and washed.
• 1 tea spoon of dried saffron (zafarAn).
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, or one fresh lemon, squeezed.
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.
• A touch of turmeric (zard-choobeh).
Directions (for Tahcheen):
Presoak the rice in hot water and salt for about an hour before
cooking. Cut up the onion in large pieces. Wash and devein the
chicken pieces, put them in a pot with some water, add the
onion, turmeric, salt and a touch of saffron and let it cook
until the meat softens. Take it out, drain it and set aside.
In a medium size pot, half filled with water, boil the rice for
a few minutes, until the rice is half crunchy half soft when you
chew on it. Take it out, drain it and set aside. You may want to
wash off the rice in a stringer, if you used excessive amounts
of salt to soak the rice.
In a bowl, mix the egg yokes and yogurt and beat it until it has
a smooth texture. Mix in about a cup full of cooked rice.
In a medium size pot, pour half of the cooking oil in the bottom
of the pot, evenly pour in the egg-yoke/yogurt mixture in the
bottom, place the chicken pieces on top of it and top it up
loosely with the remainder of the boiled rice. Sprinkle the
remainder of the oil on top of it, close the lid, put the heat
setting at high for a minute or so until the rice starts
steaming.
Turn the heat setting to low and let it cook for about an hour
and a half to two hours. The lower the heat and the longer the
cooking time, the crustier and darker the bottom layer becomes.
Careful not to burn it. |
