Description
Inspired by Persian tahchin, this Crispy Golden Saffron Rice is a stunning entree full of rich flavor! This rice colored with saffron is a nourishing dinner pretty enough for a holiday table. Totally vegan!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 4 TBS sea salt
- 3/4 tsp saffron, partially ground
- 2 TBS ground flax seed + 5 TBS water (or 2 eggs if not vegan)
- 1 cup plant-based yogurt (or 1 cup coconut milk + 1 TBS lemon juce)
- Scant 1/2 cup neutral oil, like vegetable
- For topping: chickpeas, parsley, pomegranate, barberries, tart cherries, pistachios
Instructions
- Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, adding a few large TBS of salt to the water. While water is coming to a boil, rise rice in a fine mesh sieve until the water runs clear. Add rice to the pot once boiling. Boil for 7 or so minutes, until slightly cooked. Drain and set aside.
- Mix your flax seed and water in a smaller cup and let sit in the fridge to gel for about 5 minutes. While rice is cooking, add your saffron to a large bowl with 2 TBS hot water. Let this steep for 5-10 minutes, until it’s thoroughly yellow. Once steeped, add to this large bowl the flax eggs, vegan yogurt (or coconut milk/lemon juice mixture) and oil. Stir to combine (as pictured above).
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Add your rice to the saffron mixture, also pictured above. Carefully fold rice as you don’t want to break too many of the grains.
- Lightly oil a glass pie plate or similarly sized oven-safe dish (glass will help you gage how browned the rice is getting). Add rice to the plate, slightly packing down. The bottom of a cup can help with this. Place your rice-filled pie plate on a cookie sheet (to catch potential spills). Cover the dish with foil.* Bake for one hour.
- Remove tahchin from oven and check that sides are browned. Let cool for 10 minutes (this will help it firm up). Slide a butter knife around the edges to. check that they are loose enough to release. Place a large dinner plate upside-down on top of the pie dish. Confidently flip the tahchin and plate upside down, so that the plate is now right side-up on your counter and the tahchin in inverted. Carefully slide your tahchin out from the dish. It’s OK if it breaks! You should see a browned tahdig on the top.
- Serve the tahchin with your toppings of choice.
Notes
*I made this when I was out of foil and it still turned out great! Just be sure to keep an eye on it if you go this route since it may dry out more quickly when uncovered.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Persian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: One ninth of recipe
- Calories: 241 calories
- Sugar: 0.1g
- Sodium: 407mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 29g
- Fiber: 1.3g
- Protein: 2.5g
- Cholesterol: 0mg