Tahdig with Lettuce
So far here on My Persian Kitchen I have featured Tahdig with Yogurt , Tahdig with Lavash, and Tahdig with Potatoes. I was intrigued by Tahdig, crusty rice at the bottom of the pot, with lettuce from the very first time I heard about it. I always wondered how it would all come out whether the lettuce would maintain its green color, be crunchy, and more than anything taste good.
So I experimented!
The first step here is to make rice for polow. You can read all about how to do that on my post Cooking Rice for Polow.
I picked baby romaine lettuce leaves.
Add canola oil and water as you would normally for Polow. Place lettuce leaves on top and push down to make them as flat as possible.
Pour rice over and cook as usual. First cover and cook rice on high for 10 minutes then pour some melted butter and water over it, wrap the lid into a towel, place the lid back on, and steam rice for one hour on low.
The final product was good. But honestly, it wasn’t mind blowing to me the way potato tahdig is. The lettuce was not as crunchy as I wondered if it would be.The color was definitely light. I liked the way the tahdig came out though esthetically. It looked like a flower thanks to the baby romaine lettuce!
How about you all? How many of you like this type of tahdig and make it often?
October 13, 2010
Wow, this looks stunning! My mother-in-law makes this too and I really love it, but I must agree with you that it can’t compete with the “tahdig sibzamini”!
I should also add that while I was browsing your recipes I kept getting distracted by the picture on the top-right corner of my monitor….the mouthwatering picture of the kotlets sitting oh so pretty next to the basil, pickles and tomatoes…I’ve never made kotlet before but after seeing that picture I’m really tempted!
Thanks for sharing your ideas:)
October 13, 2010
Birdette, thank you for your kind words. I love kotlet and hope that once you make it, it will become part of your repertoire as it is not that hard to make!!
October 14, 2010
It looks good but I will stay with the potato. An Iranian friend of mine also made it with raisins that was delicious. I still don’t get mine to look as good as yours. Love your website and thank you for such beautiful recipes. May have to peruse in detail and plan a “Persian Dinner” party. Makes me hungry thinking about it!
October 14, 2010
Khathleen, go for it, have a Persian Dinner!!! Then tell us all about it!
October 17, 2010
Hi,
We use Lavash or a flour tortilla for tahdig. We love it so much that we haven’t made potato tahdig in almost a year. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
October 18, 2010
I’ve never had tahdig ever, bookmarking this recipe to try in the future. Question is which variation?
October 18, 2010
Mangocheeks, begin with the most simple one made with yogurt. Follow the link within the post to the recipe!
October 18, 2010
When I saw this… I thought this was “kimchi pancake”…. (I must have been very hungry.) Looks delicious! How was taste like?
October 19, 2010
Jackie, it kinda does look like a Kimchi pancake!!! The taste was good, but honestly, I didn’t loooovvvee it!!!
October 27, 2010
this gives me an idea to try this with small cabbage leaves( maybe even brussel sprouts in half) for kalam polo. i let you know!
October 27, 2010
Kim, I think it would be good for Kalam polow. I don’t know about Brussels Sprouts as we don’t get along!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 23, 2010
Have you had it with grape leave? My aunt makes an amazing fresh grape leave tahdig that is to die for. My all time favorite- it is crunchy, and green and tastes amazing!
December 23, 2010
Andrea, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!!! I had never heard of that before. I am so going to make it!!! Than you for letting me in on this other version!!!
July 29, 2012
hello there,
thank you very much for your lovely website.
as far as i know tahdige kahoo is a tahdig that you often make for a sabzi polow. i know you can do it half lettuce and half tomatoes to make it nice. i think they are not every day tahdigs like sibzamini and nan. i recently read that you can do it with choghondar (labooye kham) but i have never eaten it in my life. my favorite is tahdige mast o zaferoon.
keep up the great job.
November 16, 2012
vaghan khasteh nabashin! fantastic blog and awesome food choices… it would be nice to have some more food from Shomal and Jonoub and maybe some from Kurdestan and Tabriz hahaha i love them all 🙂
thanks again,
Mani
PS: will you marry me 😉
November 19, 2012
Mani,
thank you for the complements. I will try my hardest to add more Shomali and Jonoubi dishes. 😉
September 19, 2013
i have never tried lettuce before, but i have heard of it. i may have mentioned this on your facebook page or on another recipe page, but try it with thinly sliced onions. it is also quite pretty AND delicious, especially with the “green” polos like sabzi polo, cheshm boboli polo, or baghali polo!