Tachin Ba Morgh (Saffron Yogurt “Cake” With Chicken)

Tachin translates as “arranged on the bottom” and refers to the layer of crunchy baked saffron and yogurt rice that forms on the bottom of this layered rice dish. Traditionally, this rich and celebratory rice is baked in a dome-shaped glass baking dish. I layer my tachin with cinnamon-scented chicken and tart barberries. But you’ll find many variations that also include tender lamb. Although the dome baking dish is pretty, I recommend using a deep 11 x 13-inch casserole dish for this recipe because it provides the most surface area and ensures a better ratio of saffron yogurt crust to meaty rice cake with every slice. If you don’t have a casserole dish, you may use a 12- to 14-inch nonstick skillet. The skillet also offers a large surface area, and more important, it’s deep enough for the rice to expand. Because you’re looking for that beautiful cake texture in tachin, use jasmine rice; its shorter, rounder grain yields more starch. You may also omit the meat and offer tachin as a vegetarian dish or as a side. 

There’s a bit of advance planning that’s worthwhile here: Bloom the saffron in the yogurt at least 4 to 6 hours in advance, and up to overnight. Soak the barberries in water for 10 minutes and drain before using.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Sofreh' by Nasim Alikhani with Theresa Gambacorta, one of the best cookbooks of 2023. Buy the full book on Amazon.