Tahchin Morgh Recipe+20 Tips of Persian Saffron Crispy Rice

Tahchin or tahchin morgh (Persian saffron crispy rice) is one of the most popular and delicious Iranian foods. This food is a mixture of Persian rice, eggs, chicken, saffron, and yogurt. this food is a very delicious dish, but at the same time, it is a bit difficult to make.

The history of Iranian tahchin has a very interesting story. One of the king’s court cooks, and while cooking rice spoils and softens it. He poured saffron, chicken, and yogurt on the rice for fear of being punished and in this way, the first Persian tahchin morgh recipe in history is cooked.

Tahchin morgh, along with Zershak Polo ba morgh completes an Iranian banquet table for Nowruz Eid and gatherings.

For: 4 people

Preparation: 30 minutes

Cook for: 60 minutes

Ingredients for Tahchin Morgh:

You can also read dolmeh bademjan and  reshteh polo recipe.

Tahchin morgh recipe:

Instruction:

1. To prepare tahchin morgh, we first pour the chicken meat with two cups of water, some turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, and onion into a stock pot, then we put the pot on medium heat until the chicken is boiled.

2. In order to make the chicken taste better, it is better to let all the water in the pot drain; this will make the flavor of all the spices absorb into the chicken meat. 

After removing the chicken from the heat and letting it cool down a bit, we cut it into small pieces.

3. After cutting the chicken pour them into a pan with some liquid oil and saute it a little, then add some turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, and black pepper to the chicken and continue sauteing until the chicken is frying with spices. Then, we put the chicken aside.

4. We rinse the barberries, which we have soaked for 20 minutes, then saute them with powdered sugar and some butter in liquid oil in a suitable pan when the oil becomes hot on medium heat until the color of the barberries shines. We put them aside (be careful not to burn them).

5. Now, depending on its type, we soak the rice for 1 hour to 3 hours along with 1tsp of salt and lukewarm water. Then, we put a suitable pot on the heat, fill it halfway with water, and let the water boil.

6. After the water boils, add ½ tsp salt and 1 tbs of liquid oil to the pot, then add the soaked rice to the boiling water and let it simmer for 7 to 10 minutes.

7. When the rice grains become a little soft, but their kernels of rice are yet hard and stuck under the teeth, we should rinse the rice. After draining the rice, we put it aside. Then, pour the egg yolks into a big bowl.

8. Now we mix the egg yolks until they become in smooth texture, then we add the yogurt with brewed saffron to the bowl and mix well until the ingredients are completely mixed.

9. We add the drained rice to the bowl containing the egg and yogurt mixture and mix gently until they are uniform. Then we grease the pot that we have prepared for cooking crispy Persian saffron rice with a little oil or melted butter.

10. Pour half of the rice mixture on the bottom of the pot and press it well with the back of a spoon, then pour the chicken with the barberry on the rice. Next, we add the rest of the rice mixture to the pot.

11. Now, we press the rice again with the back of a spoon so that it does not fall apart after cooking. Then, we divide the butter into small pieces and spread it on the rice. Now we put the pot on a low heat.

12. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to cook this food. In the end, after the cooking of this food is finished, we slowly turn it into a suitable dish and decorate it with pistachio slices and barberry.

Related: tahchin esfenaj recipe.

 Golden tips for tahchin recipe:

The most important point for cooking tahcheen is that we must use Persian rice.

Yogurt and saffron with excellent aroma is another point of preparation of this food.

Another point is that food should be cooked and prepared with low heat so that the bottom of the rice does not burn.

8 Tips for cooking tahchin morgh:

Cooking Iranian tahchin in the oven:

• First, turn on the oven to a temperature of 350 Fahrenheit, so that you don’t wait for the oven to heat up when the ingredients mixture is ready. Instead of using a pot, it is better to use a Pyrex dish to cook the chicken in the oven.
• After greasing the Pyrex dish with liquid oil, place the ingredients for the bottom layer in the Pyrex dish as described above and press it, then put the butter on the different parts of the last layer of crispy Persian saffron rice. In the end, put a thin foil on the Pyrex dish and place it in the oven for an hour until it is ready.

Tahchin eggs:

• It is better to always use egg yolk to make this food because it makes tachin’s tahdig softer and more tender at the end of cooking. If you use a whole egg the possibility of tahdig becoming hard and dry increases.
• Another thing about eggs is that using too much egg makes the crispy Persian saffron rice dry and using less than the recommended amount of egg will increase the possibility of its ingredients falling apart.

Chicken of tahchin (tahchin morgh):

• In order to have a tastier chicken in this food it is better to cook the chicken meat with the right amount of water not too much water and at the end of cooking the chicken let the water inside the pot be completely absorbed.
• To get the bad taste and smell of chicken it is better to take the foam on the boiling water completely and use spices like cinnamon powder to make the chicken tastier. After the chicken is cooked, it is better to saute it with oil a little.
• For this purpose, we chop an onion into small pieces and then fry it with 1 tablespoon of butter. After the onion becomes fried, we chop the chicken meat and saute it with butter and onion to make it more delicious.

Saffron:

• Saffron is one of the most important food ingredients that gives better color and aroma. Be sure to use the best quality of saffron to make this food and do not be stingy in pouring saffron into foods.
• Another point is that, be sure to brew the saffron well until all its color is removed then add it to the Persian saffron crispy rice.

Ways Barberries Can Improve Your Health

Antioxidants. About 22 alkaloids have been found in the barberry plant. Alkaloids are a group of compounds that have various properties beneficial for medicinal uses.

Berberine is one of these alkaloids, and some studies have shown that it has antioxidant effects on cell damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are unstable atoms that can be harmful if they accumulate in the body, causing illness and aging.

sourced: https://www.webmd.com/

FAQ for tahchin morgh

1. How many calories are in chicken Tahchin ?

There are 200 calories of energy,21 grams of carbohydrates,9 grams of protein,7 grams of fat, and 42 grams of cholesterol per 100 grams of chicken tahchin.

2. How many types of tahchin do we have?

The types of tahchin can be called chicken, meat, fish, spinach, and eggplant tahchin.

3. What is tahchin in English?

It does not have an exact meaning, in fact is crispy Persian saffron rice with chicken, barberry, almond slice, pistachio, and yogurt.

4. Where is tahchin from?

This food is from Iran.

5. Can tahchin morgh be reheated?

Yes, we can reheat this and serve it.

Did you like this recipe?

• • Please share your experience with Persian saffron crispy rice.
  • If you are looking for vegetarian food, I suggest you make and serve spinach and eggplant tahchin.
  • You can ask me questions about tahcheen and different types of that in the comments. I will answer your questions as soon as possible.
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