Gochujang Crispy Persian Rice Recipe (Tahdig)
A classic crispy Persian rice (Tahdig) with a vegan and Korean twist! Fluffy saffron rice with a crispy golden crust, and gochujang butter for added flavour!
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
- 1 nonstick pan roughly 10.5"
Ingredients
- 2 cups basmati rice dry
- 3 cups cold water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 8 cups water
- 1/4 tsp crushed saffron
- 3 tbsp hot water
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 3-4 tbsp gochujang butter or regular vegan butter
Instructions
Prepare the Basmati Rice
- In a mixing bowl combine 3 cups cold water and 1 tbsp salt. Mix well then add your dry basmati rice and let soak for 1 hour.
Bloom the Saffron
- Use a mortar and pestle or other method to break down the saffron into a fine powder. Add 3 tbsp hot water and stir. Let bloom.
Par Boil the Rice
- Once the rice has soaked for an hour, drain completely.
- Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a large pot and once boiling, add the drained rice.
- Boil for 4 minutes, then remove from heat and drain the rice again. At this point it should be considerably fluffy and larger in size.
Prepare the Tahdig
- In your pan on low heat, add half of your saffron water, 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp gochujang butter. Use your spatula to mix while it melts down and then bring the heat up to a medium.
- Once melted and sizzling, add enough rice to the pan just to create a layer that covers the pan. Bring it up to the edges a little bit as well and use the back of a spoon or spatula to gently press down.
- Add the remaining rice to the pan, trying to keep the surface level and even. Use the back of a spatula to create steam holes in the rice. I made about 7 holes. Be sure not to penetrate the crust.
- Cover the pot with a lid and steam for 10 minutes.
- Once the 10 minutes is up, mix your remaining butter (melted), saffron water and oil and drizzle it into the mixture. Lower the heat, cover the lid with a towel (to capture any moisture that may drip down) and cook with the lid on for about 30 minutes, turning the pan every 5-10 minutes, for even cooking.
- Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Loosen edges with a spatula and place a plate on top of the pan. Gently flip the pan and garnish the rice as desired.
Notes
Expert Tips
- Because there is some sugar in the gochujang (most storebought ones especially) beware that it might brown more/be prone to burn but not too burnt that it's inedible. I've heard from Persian friends that that's preferred by most anyways ;)
- I recommend using a non-stick pot, but if you don’t have one, you want to coat the bottom with more oil or butter or the Tahdig will stick and not cook properly.
- If preferred, use regular vegan butter instead of my homemade gochujang butter.
Storage Tips
- Tahdig is best served fresh, however, if you have leftovers you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator and reheat over the stove with a little oil, crispy side down.
- Unfortunately, crispy rice does not freeze well, so I don’t recommend freezing it.