Baked Layered Rice with Spinach and Lamb, Tahcheen-e esfionaj

from 'Saraban: a chef's journey through Persia'

Culinary Wanderers Turkish Lunch, May 2023

"Tahcheen" means "spread over the bottom and the whole point of this dish is to end up with a lot of lovely golden crunch under the rice. Tahcheen is a brilliant dish for entertaining, as once the preparation is done it just bakes away by itself for a couple of hours.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, finely sliced

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

400 g lamb shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 2cm cubes

200g natural yoghurt

2 egg yolks 

80 ml Saffron Liquid (see below)

250 g spinach leaves, roughly chopped

400g basmati rice

12 prunes, pitted and roughly chopped

60g butter, plus extra for greasing

thick natural yoghurt and pickles to serve

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Heat half the oil in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add one of the onions to the pan with the garlic, I teaspoon salt, pepper and spices and fry gently for 4 minutes. Add the meat and enough water to just cover then bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 1 hour or until the meat is tender. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Saffron liquid: lightly toast about 40 threads of saffron in a dry pan over medium heat for about 30 seconds. They will have a wonderful scent and change to a darker red. Do not burn! Tip into a mortar and grind to a powder. Add 4 Tbls (80 mls) boiling water and allow to steep for at least an hour. 

Beat the yoghurt with the egg yolks and saffron liquid in a shallow dish.

Drain the cooled meat well and add it to the yoghurt mixture Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the remaining onion and fry gently until soft and lightly coloured.  Add the spinach and turn it about in the pan until wilted. Cook over a medium heat to evaporate any excess liquid, then set aside. When cool, squeeze the spinach to remove any residual liquid.

Wash soak and parboil the rice as described on page 53. Preheat the oven to 190°C and butter a 2 litre ovenproof dish. 

Remove the lamb from the yoghurt marinade Mix half the parboiled rice with the marinade and spoon it into the base and up the sides of the ovenproof dish Arrange the lamb on top of the rice, then cover with the spinach. Dot the prunes over the spinach then spoon in the remaining rice to cover and smooth the surface Cover tightly with a sheet of lightly buttered paper and a lid. Bake for 1.5 hours

Remove the dish from the oven and dot the surface of the rice with bits of butter. Replace the lid and leave to rest for 10 minutes. 

Turn the rice out onto a warm serving platter and serve with a bowl of creamy yoghurt and a selection of relishes or pickles.