Recipe

Hullo everybody ,
The other day our very dear GM ( not General Motors car , General Manager) all smile came to the front desk and ask me if I can provide a Persian food recipe. "For sure ":I said . ( and I didn't mean it at all !! To nail my coffin I reconfirmed it with some French words ) Any way ,I had just two days to find a recipe . Getting married to an Iranian (Persian) has so many advantages ;Such as being able to fulfill a promise which you didn't mean : Persian Food Recipe !
She named some and I chose Tah-Cheen (Pot-Bottom Crust with chicken!).
Please be advised :Cooking a Persian food is a time consuming task (you need at least 3~4 hours ) .Therefore before starting ,pick up the phone and call sick (or come up with the excuse like something emergency ... ) . Do you think you won't be able to do it ?!! Come on , we are talkig about Persian Food ! Trust me it will pay off by the first bite .

Now ,Ladies and gentlemen : Tah Cheen ( Pot -Bottom Crust with Chicken!)



Ingredients:
For Tahcheen:
1 pound of long grain rice.
1/2 cup (4 oz) of cooking oil.
1 cup (8 oz) of mAst (plain yogurt).
2 teaspoons of zafarAn (saffron).
1 pound of various chicken pieces.
6 egg yokes (zardeh tokhm-e morgh).

What to do with the ingredients :
Presoak the rice in hot water and salt for about an hour before cooking. Cut up the onion in large pieces.
Wash and devein the chicken pieces, put them in a pot with some water, add the onion, turmeric, salt and a touch of saffron and let it cook until the meat softens. Take it out, drain it and set aside.
In a medium size pot,half filled with water ( you see !? You need the whole stove ? Freddie's recommendation here is to open up a chilled beer and enjoy it while cooking -Drink & Cook ) , boil the rice for a few minutes, until the rice is half crunchy half soft when you chew on it. Take it out, drain it and set aside. You may want to wash off the rice in a stringer, if you used excessive amounts of salt to soak the rice.
In a bowl, mix the egg yokes and yogurt and beat it until it has a smooth texture. Mix in about a cup full of cooked rice.
In a medium size pot, pour half of the cooking oil in the bottom of the pot, evenly pour in the egg-yoke/yogurt mixture in the bottom, place the chicken pieces on top of it and top it up loosely with the remainder of the boiled rice. Sprinkle the remainder of the oil on top of it, close the lid, put the heat setting at high for a minute or so until the rice starts steaming.
Turn the heat setting to low and let it cook for about an hour and a half to two hours. The lower the heat and the longer the cooking time, the crustier and darker the bottom layer becomes. Careful not to burn it :-)