Some Iranian dishes and their preparation methods have been inscribed as the intangible national heritage of the country. At the present time, when fast foods and genetically modified ingredients have become popular, some local dishes such as Garmsari Tahchin have retained their authenticity.

Features of Garmsari Tahchin

Tahchin is an Iranian dish that can be described as a rice cake. But Garmsari Tahchin is different from other forms of Tahchin which are common in different parts of Iran in terms of cooking and raw materials. In this dish, raisins are mixed with rice and the meat used in it is fresh meat, i.e. frozen meat or leftover meat totally avoided because they do not give it a good taste. In this dish, mutton and tail fat are usually placed in the heart of the rice so that all the ingredients get cooked simultaneously. Since the meat used in the food has tail fat, no oil is added to Garmsari Tahchin. This ensures the health of the food and eliminates the suspicion of the presence of transgenic materials in it! The people of Garmsar believe that in order for Garmsari Tahchin to have an authentic taste, it must be made in a copper pot.

The longevity of the Garmsari Tahchin, most likely, dates back to the Qajar era (18th century). Of course, as a dish of Iranian origin, which has no equivalent in other countries, Tahchin has been popular since the distant past, but cooking it in the Garmsari way is relatively newer. Garmsari Tahchin is mostly cooked during months of religious ceremonies such as Muharram and Safar or Ramadan.

Ingredients (for Six People)

• Rice: four cups

• Fresh mutton (along with tail fat): 500 grams

• Onions: two

• Brewed saffron: three tablespoons

• Turmeric, sour grapes powder or lemon powder, dried tomato powder, black pepper, cumin powder, and cinnamon: one tablespoon each

• Raisins: half a cup

The best meat for this dish is fresh lamb (along with tail fat), but you can use chicken instead. In this case, it is better to use chicken thighs. Using chicken meat reduces the time required to cook the food and, of course, cooking oil will be needed.

Recipe

• Soak the rice in cold water for at least two hours before cooking.

• The process of preparing the Garmsari Tahchin starts from the night before cooking! In the first step, you have to season the meat. For this, put it in a container and chop the onions and pour on it. After adding the spice, stir it well so that the whole pieces of meat are coated with it. Then put it in a closed container and put it in the refrigerator.

• Fill a pot halfway with water and put it on the stove to boil. After the water boils, drain the water from the rice and pour the rice into the pot. You should let the rice boil in the water for about five minutes until it is almost cooked. Since the brewing stage takes a rather long time, make sure to drain the rice quickly. While draining, you should also make sure that no amount of water is left so that it does not stick together during brewing.

• Put the pot on low heat. If you like, you can pour a little oil on the bottom of the pot. Now cover the bottom of the pot with some slices of bread or potatoes. This part is the “Tahdig” of the dish and it will be very delicious. Of course, in the traditional method, they do not use slices of bread or potatoes for tahdig and pour the rice directly into the pot; it, therefore, depends on one’s taste.

• Pour half of the rice onto the bottom of the pot and then place the meat along with spices and chopped onion on it.

• Dissolve saffron in boiling water and pour two-thirds of it on the rice and meat so that it colors everything.

• Finally, empty the rest of the rice into the pot and leave it to steam on low heat. You can add half a glass of water to the rice to make it brew better. Now you have to wait at least for two hours for the brewing stage to be completed.

While waiting for the steaming to be completed, you can fry the raisins. Fry a chopped onion, add the raisins to it, continue frying for a while, and then add salt, turmeric, and cinnamon powder to it. In the last half hour of cooking, pour raisins and spices on the food along with the rest of the saffron... Yogurt and raw onion are among the most popular accompaniments to Garmsari Tahchin when it is being served.

Tahchin is an Iranian dish that can be described as a rice cake. But Garmsari Tahchin is different from other forms of Tahchin which are common in different parts of Iran in terms of cooking and raw materials.