Persia and the Caucasus · Volume 10, Rice, Reduction and the Country Beyond the Kebab House
Tahchin-e Morgh
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 3 hours 30
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6. 1 to 2 hours to soak the rice, then 60 to 90 minutes to cook.
Ingredients
- 400g basmati rice
- for soaking salted water, for soaking
- 2 eggs
- 200g thick yoghurt
- generous pinch a generous pinch of saffron threads, bloomed in a little hot water
- 300g shredded, pre-cooked chicken thigh
- for greasing oil, for the pot
Method
- Soak the rice in salted water for one to two hours, then parboil until just short of fully cooked, firm at the very centre of the grain, and drain thoroughly, since overcooked rice at this stage turns the finished cake mushy rather than sliceable.
- Whisk the eggs with the yoghurt and the bloomed saffron.
- Fold half this mixture through the drained rice.
- Oil a heavy, oven-proof pot or dish, spread a third of the rice mixture across the base, layer over the shredded chicken thigh, then the remaining rice, finishing with the reserved saffron-yoghurt mixture poured evenly over the top.
- Cook, covered, over gentle direct heat or in a moderate oven, sixty to ninety minutes, until a firm golden crust has formed at the base and the cake holds together when unmoulded onto a plate, crust uppermost.
What a modern chef changes
Rung 1
Method
- Apply the tahdig discipline of rung 1 to the whole cake rather than only its base, treating the yoghurt-and-egg layer as doing the same starch-and-fat crisping work a plain oil layer does in ordinary chelo, which means the same discipline against stirring or disturbing the pot once it is assembled.
- Cook the chicken separately sous vide, at a low, precise temperature until just cooked through, before shredding it into the layers, so it stays properly moist through the cake's own longer cook rather than drying out twice over.
- Finish with a scatter of barberries sautéed briefly in butter, pressed into the top layer before it sets, so they read as a considered garnish rather than an afterthought scattered on the finished plate.