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Recipe
Persian Tahdig
The traditional rice crust in Iranian cuisine
I love tahdig
What is tahdig, you ask? It is rice with a crispy, golden crust. I’ve seen Iranians get creative with how they vary tahdig. Some make it with pieces of lavash — a kind of flatbread similar to tortillas. Others appear to make it with what looks like Rashteh — a noodle used in Ash Rashteh, a traditional noodle Ash (Ash is Farsi for soup or stew). Many Iranians just make tahdig with plain rice.
My preference is tahdig made with a potato crust. I just love the texture of the thick sliced potatoes, soft but crispy on the bottom and embedded in crispy rice. Seriously, I could eat the tahdig by itself.
The problem for me has always been that I could never get the tahdig to come out right doing it the way Hamid tried to teach me. Hamid is my Persian husband. I had no trouble with the other recipes he taught me. But until recently, he always made the tahdig when we had it. So, most of the time, we had to eat just plain old rice with our Persian dishes.
However… at long last — after more than thirty-three years — I have found a way to successfully make potato tahdig! I’ve been making near perfect tahdig for almost two years now. And, I’m confident enough in my method to share it with you, readers.
