jittery cook

recipes worth sharing

  • Join Jittery
  • Jittery Categories
    • Appetizers
    • Beans and Legumes
    • Favourites
    • Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Crackers and Breads
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • Fish and seafood
    • Fruits
    • Grains
    • Meat
    • Pasta
    • Pizza
    • Poultry
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Sides
    • Snacks
    • Soups
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
    • Reviews
      • Product Reviews
      • Restaurant Reviews
      • Jittery Reviews
  • 500 Jittery Recipes
  • Jittery Jabber
  • Jittery Who?

Persian Rice with Turkey – Aromatic!

March 18, 2013 By Jittery Cook 13 Comments

My mom always did accuse me of gilding the lily. If one thing is very good and a second thing is very good, I figure that joining them together will make something very, very good. This recipe can be as simple as steamed rice, steamed rice with a potato crust, or if you are looking to gild the lily, add in the turkey and the greens for a more substantial dish that combines different Persian rice recipes.

Persian Steamed Rice with Green Herbs and Turkey

Persian Rice with Turkey and Green Herbs

  • 1 recipe Steamed Rice with Potato Crust (below)
  • 1 c each chopped Italian parsley, dill, coriander, stems removed
  • 1 c chopped watercress leaves
  • 1/3 c chopped chives
  • 1 1/2 lb minced turkey
  • 1 c chopped onion
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 T olive oil
  • sea salt

Mix all the greens in a large bowl. In a frying pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. Add onion and sauté on medium heat, stirring for about 3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add turkey, turn the heat up to medium-high, and cook for 4 minutes, stirring, until cooked through. Season with salt.

Persian Steamed Rice with Green Herbs and Turkey

Add the cooked turkey to the green herbs. Set aside.

Persian Steamed Rice with Crispy Potato

Parboiling the rice

  • 3 c long grained basmati rice, rinsed (or soaked in water for 1 hour, then drained)
  • 8 c water
  • 1/4 c olive oil
  • 1 1/2 T sea salt

Steaming the rice 

  • 1/4-inch olive oil poured into the bottom of the saucepan (just enough to cover the bottom)
  • 4 small yellow-flesh potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (Keep in water until ready to use.)
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric and 2 tablespoons water (or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads ground, then steeped for several minutes in 2 tablespoons hot water)

Parboiling the rice
Fill a large, 5 quart, non-stick saucepan with 8 cups water; add 1/4 cup of oil and salt. Cover and bring to a brisk boil over high heat. Add the rice and continue cooking over medium-high, stirring occasionally. After 3 minutes, scoop some grains from the water. Break one grain in half to make sure it is “al dente”; it should have a tiny white dot in the center where it isn’t yet cooked through. Turn off the heat and pour rice into the colander to drain; set aside.

Steaming the rice
Using the same non-stick saucepan, just cover the bottom of the saucepan in olive oil. Add turmeric and water. Stir together. Add the potato slices in a flat layer on the bottom of the pan. Add the drained rice in layers with the green herb-turkey mixture in the shape of a pyramid. Poke down into the pyramid in a few spots, with the handle of a wooden spoon, to aid in the steaming process. Cover the pot and cook on medium-high for 7 minutes until rice begins to steam. Uncover and place 2 paper towels, one on top of the other, over the rice. The ends will extend a little outside the pot. Make sure that you aren’t creating a fire hazard. Cover tightly with the lid. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and tilt the lid to let steam escape until ready to serve.

Turn the rice out on a flat serving platter by inverting the pot, as you would invert a cake onto a platter, or cut the crispy topping into pieces and serve around the rice.

Persian Steamed Rice with Potato Crust Print Ready Recipe

Persian Steamed Rice with Green Herbs and Turkey

Watch Reyna Simnegar in the video below making Persian Steamed Basmati Rice with Ta Dig.

Final notes:

  • This Persian Steamed Rice recipe was inspired by Barbara Segal, who sampled Reyna’s rice for real and raved about the experience.
  • Thank you to my friend, Shiva Rahmani, who encourages and guides me in Persian cuisine.
  • Thank you Barbara and Shiva. This recipe may be credited with improving my marriage. My husband likes rice, crispy potatoes and me, in that order. So variations of this Persian Steamed Rice may become a new staple around here.
  • My apologies – Computers don’t come with scent capacity, yet. If you could smell the wonderful aroma in my kitchen right now…

Persian Steamed Rice with Green Herbs and Turkey

Related articles
  • Herbed Basmati Rice (mainstcuisine.wordpress.com)
  • Rice Crunchy Crust (mysticpersia.com)
  • Haveej Polo (Persian Chicken, Carrot and Rice Pilaf) (andreasgardencooking.com)
  • Spiced Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions (Mejadra) (emmycooks.com)
  • Cook LIVE with Vikram Vij: Chicken curry and cumin basmati rice (metronews.ca)
  • Share
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Related

« Cauliflower Crust Pizza – Do Not Passover!
Squash Soup with Faux Noodles »

Comments

  1. Allyson says

    March 18, 2013 at 10:24 am

    Amazing, Holly, truly. Thank you for the introduction to this new culinary delight!

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      March 18, 2013 at 10:28 am

      Thanks Allyson. It was hard for me to convince myself that I could do this. The video really, really helped.

      Reply
  2. shiva says

    March 18, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    You are an experienced cook!great ! Loving it!

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      March 18, 2013 at 1:09 pm

      Thanks Shiva! You gave me courage to try!

      Reply
  3. andreasgardencooking says

    March 18, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    This looks wonderful! It will be a perfect post Thanksgiving dish!

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      March 18, 2013 at 11:14 pm

      Got it! Turkey & Thanksgiving. I had to think about that one. Thanks for liking!

      Reply
  4. Susie says

    March 19, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    Trying it now…with a non-stick pot!!
    Will let you know…so far, so good.

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      March 20, 2013 at 6:56 am

      Let us know how it goes Susie.

      Reply
  5. {Main St. Cuisine} says

    March 22, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    And, this is why I love blogging! Thank you for sharing this recipe.. This is exactly how I love to experiment in the kitchen. Your photos are lovely…I only wish I could smell all of the wonderful aromas from your kitchen as you were preparing it!

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      March 22, 2013 at 5:20 pm

      Thanks! I just checked out a few of your posts. I’m a fan!

      Reply
  6. Susan says

    April 3, 2013 at 7:41 pm

    Do you offer cooking classes ?

    Reply
    • Jittery Cook says

      April 3, 2013 at 7:50 pm

      No, but you can come to the Pampered Chef – Jittery Cook get together on April 28, at 1:00. We’ll learn about 3 new recipes together. And you can get some great new cookware. Interested?

      http://www.jitterycook.com

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tah Chin Booghalamoon ba Sabzi (Persian Rice with Turkey and Green Herbs) | Andrea's Garden Cooking says:
    August 29, 2013 at 7:02 am

    […] you want to try this and do not have Qormeh Sabzi vegetables, you can start with the original recipe. My technique for this is a bit different from hers, use whichever approach you are more […]

    Reply

Jittery loves comments! Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Sign Up!

Welcome to Jittery Cook!

There are over 500 recipes for you to discover. Subscribe above to receive the latest Jittery recipes sent directly to your inbox.
Meet Jittery...

Search Jittery Cook

Find Jittery Cook

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • RSS Feed
  • What’s cooking?

    Jittery since 2011:

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.