Hi, Years ago I had a Persian aquaintance who made delicious chicken and rice dishes. She used whole chicken pieces in a very buttery sauce with a delicious rice with a crispy top. Trying to recreate it and can't get it right. Recipes and recommendations for variety/brand of rice would be welcome!!
PS - I do think it is basmati rice, and I think the trick with the crispy rice has somehting to do with how she let it "burn" a bit on the bottom of her rice cooker. But when I do that I get black gunky rice and not the nice crisp :)
There are a lot of versions of Butter Chicken. We have a Chinese buffet near us who has a wonderful version.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Makhani-Chicken-Indian-Butte...
For the rice use Basmati. My sister's in-laws are from Iran and they make the same delicious crispy rice. Have no clue how they do it, but I do know that they use Basmati.
Yes, it's basmati rice. Yes- you should rinse it twice before cooking. It removes extra starch as well as plenty of dust etc from being stored.
The trick with the tah-dig (bottom of the pan) is either a special rice cooker (no you cannot use the regular one) OR a non stick pan.
For a family of four we usually make 3 cups of rice. Rince well and add 5 1/4 cups of water, salt and either a table spoon of butter or olive oil.
A lot of the rice will go to the tah-dig. Get the rice boiling, slow to a simmer and cover. This is where it gets tricky. If you get the pot to hot, your rice will burn, if you keep it too low, the rice will get sticky. Trial and error works here.
If you can get a hold of a special rice cooker, such as PARS or similar, you really just dump all ingredients in and the cooker does the rest for you.
As for the chicken, there are many different versions, but I can tell you that almost every recipe involves turmeric, onions and some kind of oil/butter.
Some add saffron for color and taste.
Good Luck!
I have an Iranian friend who makes the dishes you reference and they are delicious -- I can't help you with the chicken, but I can with the rice. I learned to make non-sticky rice from my Bolivian mother-in-law. What you do is fry the rice before you boil it. It tastes best when you fry it in butter (but you can use olive oil to make it more healthy). You just dump the rice you will prepare in a frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of butter and move it for a few minutes. You will see the rice turn from clear to white as it releases its starch. Then you pour the whole thing, butter and all into in the boiling water (I boil rice for about 1/2 hour at a 3 water to 1 rice ratio at the very lowest stove temp.). Because you have the butter in the rice and it has been fried so it won't be sticky, you end up with that nice golden crust on the bottom if you leave it for just a couple of minutes after it dries.
I do know, for the crispy rice, that is it important that you are rinsing the rice in cold before cooking. It helps get rids of the extra starch that can lead to the burning.
Hope you find the recipe...I've been craving some Makhani chicken myself.
P.S. I know Makhani Chicken is considered Indian. I've had a similar prepared by an Iranian boyfriend.
Google "Persian cooking (or recipes) and I'll bet you'll find something that fits your description.
The crispy rice layer is actually cooked in butter underneath the rice, then inverted in a dish so the "tadig" (bottom of the pot) ends up on top. There's also a wonderful variation made with a thin layer of sliced potatoes. It's a bit tricky to learn – very easy to burn or undercook. You'll find this process described online, but you may experience some less-than-perfect outcomes before you get it right. It's worth the effort.
Hi there, butter chicken (posted by someone) is Indian, not Persian. :) This looks like a great recipe, best of luck!
http://www.food.com/recipe/iranian-chicken-with-rice-morg...
