Welcome to the third episode of the Modern Persian Food podcast! Co-hosts Bita and Beata have a thorough conversation all around rice. The duo touches on rice history, types of rice, cooking it, personal favorites, and of course tahdig! (note: Tahdig can also be spelled Tadig, or tadeeg)

  • Use long-grain, white basmati rice to make Persian Rice
  • Cooking/Preparing rice
    • Plain white rice | Chelo - often served with kababs
    • Layering parboiled rice with other ingredients for Persian Mixed Rice Dishes | Polo
    • Baked | Tahcheen
  • Special Steps/Techniques
    • Rinsing, soaking, salt the water, and add oil
    • Using a rice cooker
    • Tea towel wrapped lid of rice pot or rice cooker
  • Damkonee - a bonnet for the lid
  • Tahcheen - baked rice dish
  • Tahdig | Persian bottom of the rice pot - rice, bread or potato
    • Spelling variations include: Tadig and Tadeeg
  • Modern Tahdig - with tortilla, with pasta (‘macoroni’)
  • Persian Jeweled Rice -A beautiful layered rice dish/a celebration rice
  • Shirin Polo (sweet rice) - a Beats cheat: use orange marmalade
  • Albaloo Polo (cherry rice) - another Beats cheat - make it using sour cherry jam
  • Adas Polo
  • Reshteh Polo
  • “Ask the Beats” - Question: from Trish in Menlo Park, What is your Go-to dish - Tahcheen and Lubia Polo
    • Email hello@modernpersianfood.com to be featured in a future episode

Recipe links from this episode:

  • Rice:
    • Bita’s recipe How to Prepare Persian Rice in a Rice Cooker (with bit on saffron)
    • Bita’s recipe: How to Parboiling Rice; Bita’s Youtube video for How to Parboil Rice
  • Adas Polo
    • Bita’s recipe: Adas Polo | Persian Lentil and Date Rice;
    • Bita’s Youtube video for Persian Lentil and Rice | Adas Polo
  • Tacheen
    • Bita’s recipe: Tahcheen | Baked Persian Chicken and Rice Casserole
    • Beata’s recipe: Giti Joon's Famous Tacheen Recipe
  • Lubia Polo

    • Bita’s recipe: Loobia Polo | Persian Rice with Green Beans
    • Beata’s recipe: Lubia Polo for the Persian New Year Sezdeh be Dar Picnic

Podcast Production by Alvarez Audio