About this recipe
Barberries are the point: tiny, intensely sour dried berries that cut through the butter and saffron. They burn almost instantly, so they get warmed in butter off the heat rather than fried. Persian rice is parboiled then steamed, which gives separate grains and, if you are lucky, a golden crust at the bottom.
Ingredients
- 900 g chicken thighsbone-in, skin on
- 4 tsp fine sea saltmost goes in the rice water
- 30 g flaked almondstoasted
- 1 whole lemonjuice only
- 2 tsp caster sugarfor the barberries
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 whole onionsfinely sliced
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 90 g unsalted butter
- 0.75 tsp saffron threadsground and steeped in 6 tbsp hot water
- 60 g barberrieszereshk, rinsed and soaked 10 minutes
- 500 g basmati ricerinsed and soaked in salted water for 1 hour
Method
- 1
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a casserole and brown the chicken thighs skin side down for 6 minutes, then turn and brown 3 minutes more. Lift out.
- 2
Cook the sliced onions in the same pan for 12 minutes until golden. Stir in the turmeric and cinnamon, then return the chicken with half the saffron water, 1 tsp of the salt and 250ml water.
- 3
Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes, then uncover and cook 10 minutes more until the sauce is thick and clinging.
- 4
Meanwhile, bring a very large pan of water to a rolling boil with 2 tsp of the salt. Drain the soaked rice and boil for 5 to 6 minutes only, until the grains bend but still have a firm core. Drain in a colander and rinse briefly with lukewarm water.
- 5
Melt 30g of the butter with the last tablespoon of oil in a heavy non-stick pot. Add 3 tbsp of water and swirl to coat the base.
- 6
Pile the drained rice into the pot in a loose pyramid, without pressing. Poke 5 holes down through it to the base with the handle of a wooden spoon.
Those steam holes are what give you separate grains instead of a solid block.