Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

By:Nagi

Published:1 Oct '18Updated:13 Nov '20

89 Comments

The humble rice transformed into an epic side! Called Tachin or Tahchin, this baked Persian Saffron Rice is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It’s seasoned enough to eat plain but terrific paired with even heavily spiced mains. That crust is everything!!

Brought to you in partnership with Farmers Union Greek Yogurt.

Have you ever seen a more spectacular looking rice dish?? Look at that insane golden crust!!!! Look at that beautiful vibrant yellow rice!!

Word of warning: Don’t take this Persian Saffron Rice to gatherings because it will steal the show and the host will get annoyed.

Instead, make this as part of your own Persian Feast. Because it’s PERSIAN WEEK here on RecipeTin Eats!

Here’s what we’ve got on the menu for this week:

This Persian Saffron Rice – there are no words. JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!
Persian Lamb Shanks – braised until fall apart tender in a beautiful aromatic broth. Incredibly easy with every day spices you’ll find at any supermarket!
Persian Cucumber Tomato Salad (in the Lamb Shanks recipe)- lovely and fresh, with a little sprinkle of Sumac for a touch of Persian exoticness; and
Persian Love Cake – made with semolina and almond meal, you’ll love how this cake is soaked through with hot syrup!

IT’S CALLED TACHIN

This Persian Saffron Rice is not something I made up. It’s a real-deal Persian dish called Tachin.

Often you’ll find recipes where it’s layered with a bit of chicken or other protein of vegetables. But for my Persian menu, I’m using it as a side dish so I opted to keep it plain.

Not that there’s anything plain about Tachin!!!

You’ll often find recipes for Tachin – also sometimes referred to as Tahchin – cooked on the stove. But having tried that several times, I can tell you definitively that oven is much easier and safer! On stove top, there’s a high risk of breakage when you flip it, you can’t see when the base is perfectly golden brown and actually, it’s harder to get lovely even golden browning on the stove, you tend to get darker and lighter patches.

YOGURT MIXTURE FOR SAFFRON RICE

All those vibrant colours and textures on the table, and I swear all I can focus on is the saffron rice! Not to talk down everything else on that table, because it’s all super tasty. 🙂 But I have a big soft spot for the rice because it’s one of those recipes that looks exotic but is deceptively easy.

Love recipes like that!

The key to this recipe is a yogurt-egg-oil-saffron mixture that is mixed with par boiled rice, then layered with barberries in a pie dish and baked until crispy on the outside.

This is the yogurt I use – Farmers Union Greek Yogurt. It’s the yogurt I’ve always used for all my cooking – savoury and sweet – as well dolloping / dipping / drizzling on everything from this Lamb Shawarma Chickpea Soup to Crispy Baked Chicken Tenders to this San Fran Chicken Salad with Granch (Greek-Yogurt-Ranch-Dressing).

It’d be a rare occasion if you opened my fridge and didn’t see a big tub of it. 🙂

DRIED BARBERRIES

They look like dried pomegranates (is there such a thing??!!) and taste like sour cherries. A very Persian ingredient, you won’t find these in every day supermarkets but don’t fret! Yes, having barberries makes it authentically Persian. But from a flavour and visual perspective, it can be substituted with chopped dried sour cherries or cranberries.

You’ll find dried barberries at Persian / Middle Eastern stores or at gourmet stores like The Essential Ingredient. In this Persian Saffron Rice, it’s used in the layers as well as a garnish. Beautiful pops of colour against the yellow rice and deep golden crust.

Let’s be honest – I can talk up how the rice inside is fluffy and flavoured with the yogurt mixture, and how it’s so tasty you can eat it plain, and how you’ll love the little pops of sourness from the barberries that cuts through the richness of the rice.

But you and I both know that this recipe is all about that golden crust. That crust you want to peel off and have all to yourself.

Pull yourself together!! This is a dish for sharing!! – Nagi x

A PERSIAN FEAST

Persian Lamb Shanks • This Saffron Baked Rice • Persian Chopped Salad (in Shanks recipe) • Persian L♥ve Cake (coming Friday)

OTHER THINGS TO SERVE WITH TACHIN

This Persian Saffron Rice will be right at home alongside anything Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. Make a big platter for sharing with a pile of Chicken Doner Kebab meat, Lamb Shawarma or Chicken Shawarma!

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

LIFE OF DOZER

Big goodbye hug as I head off to Vietnam for a couple of weeks. I love this damn dog so much.

As for Dozer – he’s off to the golden retriever boarder where it’s 24/7 fun and rumbles!!!

Today’s recipe is brought to you courtesy of Farmers Union. I’ve used their Greek style natural yogurt for as long as I can remember. So it was a no brainer when they asked if I’d create a recipe for them!!