Rice is the quintessential component of many Iranian and Afghan foods. We'll go over the traditional - and only coincidentally my favourite - method of cooking rice.

Ingredients

Serving: 2 persons.

• 284g of basmati rice
• 18g of salt (1 tablespoon)
• 100g of vegetable oil (1/2 cup)

Substitutions

• none

Equipment

• Large pot
• Large bowl
• Food strainer

Time

• Attended prep time: 30 minutes
• Unattended prep time: 3 hours
• Attended cook time: 0
• Unattended cook time: 45 minutes

Instructions

1. Pour rice in a large bowl and fill the bowl with water until the water level is above the rice by 3cm.
2. Leave the mix for 3 hours. This helps the rice absorb water, become softer, and lengthens the grains.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil and add salt.
4. Strain the rice and add to boiling water.
5. Let boil until rice grains are soft and do not have a hardened core. You should be able to feel them squish under your fingers completely.
6. Strain the rice.
7. Add vegetable oil to an empty pot, add 1/2 cup of water, then add rice.

• This is where you can make Potato Tah-dig.

1. Shape the rice like a hill in the pot and try to avoid the rice sticking to the sides as much as possible.
2. Close the lid and put on medium heat until vapour is visible.
3. Reduce heat to minimum and leave for 45 minutes. The rice is then cooked and ready to serve.

Potato Tah-dig

Tah-dig literally means "bottom of pot" and refers to whatever that is well-fried at the bottom of a pot of rice. This can be rice itself, or it can be bread, or in this case, potato. Potato tah-dig is the most popular by far, and is quite simple to make.

Ingredients

• 2 medium russet potatoes
• 1/2 tsp saffron

Substitutions

• Can replace saffron with turmeric.

Instructions

1. Wash, skin, and slice potatoes into 3-5 mm long slices.
2. Before adding rice to the pot, let the oil and water mixture come to boil on medium heat, then add 1/2 tsp saffron and mix until yellow.
3. Gently arrange the slices of potatoes in the pot to make one thin layer of potatoes.
4. Let cook for 5 minutes on medium, then add rice and continue with the rest of the above instructions.