Home Cooked at Mac: Tachin Recipe

Chefs: Parsia Parnian, McMaster student, and his mom, Neda Parnian

Dish: Tahchin

Region: Iran

Watch the Instruction Video Here!

Ingredients: 

• Non-stick pot (or high-sided pan, something you feel comfortable cooking rice in) 
• Large frying pan 
• Small bowl and blunt utensil/mortar and pestle 
• One medium (or large) bowl (to mix the batter) 
• A serving dish with edges
• 1 to 2 cups of Basmati Rice (or your preferred rice such as Brown/Whole Grain rice) 
• 1.5 to 3 cups of water, based on per cup of rice (or based on the rice packaging recommendation) 
• 4 to 6 tablespoons of Oil (such as canola, sunflower, or olive; enough to cover the base of the pan/pot three times) 
• 1 tablespoon of Salt (or to taste) 
• 1 to 2 Eggplants 
• Enough salt to cover eggplant slices 
• Optional: Any of vegetables or proteins you want to use 
• 1 Egg 
• ½ cup of Greek Yogurt 
• Spice Mix for Batter 
  • A dash of Saffron (Note: Saffron is a powerful herb and should be respected as such! You can always add more later) 
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon of Salt (or to taste) 
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon of Pepper (or to taste) 
  • 4 teaspoons of water 
• ½ cup of Pistachios 
• ½ cup of Barberry 
• Optional: Maast-o Khair (Side Yogurt Sauce): 
  • ½ to 1 cup of Greek yogurt/your preferred Yogurt 
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of Mint diced, based on preference 
  • 2 to 3 Garlic cloves minced 
  • ¼ to 1 whole Cucumber, diced finely 

Directions:  

Ingredient Preparations: 

1. Wash rice 2-3 times until starch is not visible in water being poured out. 
2. Cut eggplant into half inch (about 1.5cm) slices. 
3. Once chopped, salt the inner flesh of the eggplant to reduce bitterness and excess water. Right before frying, dry pat with paper towel or tea towel. 
4. Prepare batter: 
   1. Take spice mix into mortar or small bowl, crush with a sturdy pestle or blunt kitchen utensil (like a wooden spoon or metal spoon that is already bent).  
   2. Add 4 teaspoons of water to your spice mixture, mixing it then wait for colour to be uniform.  
   3. In a medium sized bowl, add one egg and half a cup of Greek yogurt, stir together.  
   4. Then add spice mix in small bowl/mortar to the mixture, stir together again until consistent and uniform colour. 
5. Cut pistachios (or alternative) into preferred sizes (such as halves, thirds, or closer to a grounded texture) for a nice crunch and garnish.   
6. Optional; prepare Maast-o Khair side sauce:  
   1. In a small bowl, put Greek yogurt (or yogurt), dice mint, dice garlic, and dice cucumber. Then combine thoroughly. 

Cooking: 

1. Cook the rice.  
   1.  Add 1 to 2 cups of washed rice to a non-stick pot or high-sided non-stick pan, then add 1.5 cups per cup of washed rice. (Or follow the rice-to-water ratio on the rice packaging.) 
   2. Warning: If rice and water mixture is hot, the water and oil particles will start popping and can lead to burns or fire. Make sure the element is off and the rice and water mixture is not hot. Oil and water by itself do not mix. Be careful! 
   3. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil to the COLD rice and water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the pot/pan. 
   4. Turn on element to high heat.   
   5. Once it bubbles again on medium heat, then keep it covered and put it on low heat until cooked to your desired texture (can take roughly 10-15 minutes or follow the instructions on the rice packaging).  
   6. Once desired texture is reached, uncover and leave until room temperature to better integrate the batter later. 
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil (or enough to cover the base) of the frying pan on a medium heat. When it is hot, add the eggplant to this pan.  
3. When eggplant slices are visibly browning (estimated 2-5 minutes each, depending on thickness), flip it to cook the other side of the eggplant.   
   1. Optional: Add any additional vegetables or proteins that you wish to fry and put with eggplant in the second layer of your tahchin.  
4. Once rice is cooled off, add it to the medium/large sized bowl with the batter, turning it until the cooked rice and batter are integrated.   
5. In a non-stick pot or high-sided pan (such as the previously used for rice pot/pan), add oil to cover the bottom of the pot/pan over medium heat.  
6. Add half of the battered rice in a flat, first layer.  
7. Add the second layer of eggplant and optional extra ingredients.   
   1. Optional: you can add any additional seasoning like cinnamon to this layer, based off of eaters’ preference.  
   2. Tip: Be mindful of the palette of anyone you are sharing it with, you can add additional seasoning with those people in mind for spice and sweetness levels. Or you can add seasoning to half of it, similar to a pizza with half different toppings.  
8. Add the top layer, the second half of the battered rice overtop of the vegetable layer into a flat layer too.  
9. Finish cooking over medium heat, covered. It is finished by visually seeing the sides become crispy and the batter being cooked all the way through, or roughly 15 minutes depending on size and stove element.  
10. Meanwhile, on the same frying pan that cooked vegetables, quickly fry barberry and pistachios together for 30 seconds to a minute, then take off the element.   
11. Once the layered rice with batter is finished cooking, turn off the heat on the pot, let it cool down to handle pot.   
12. Place the serving plate upside down on top of the pot. Quickly, confidently, and without hesitation, flip the pot with the serving dish now on the bottom holding the tahchin.  
13. Top the tahchin with barberry and pistachio mix to your preference. Slice with knife if you desire a cake-like shape and add optional Maast-o side sauce. 

* Note – If you do not have access to barberry, you can use dried cranberry with a sweet and sour taste profile. You can substitute Basmati rice with your preferred rice, be mindful of the different rice-to-water ratio.