Tah-Cheen Baked Persian Chicken and Rice Casserole

Tah-Cheen is a delicious Persian baked chicken and rice casserole made with eggs and yogurt.  “Cheen” in Farsi means to arrange.  Enjoy this traditional Persian comfort food rich with aromatic saffron and turmeric.  This recipe is simplified and modernized.  We put this dish together in less time by using leftover rice and pre-cooked chicken. 

Tah-cheen (also sometimes spelled tah-chin) is a family favorite.  We have it on our regular rotation for dinners.  It’s become Persian comfort food.  Our girls eat it up with ketchup.  Bob is our big yogurt eater and enjoys his serving with Persian Cucumber Yogurt Dip.

This is a good recipe to keep in your back pocket.  It’s great for using up leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

The traditional methods of making Tah-cheen include parboiling the rice, poaching the chicken, dousing with butter and oil, and topping with sugar-coated barberries.  No wonder my memories of it are so good!  In our recipe, we take many liberties saving time and saving our waistlines all the while preserving flavor.

Modern modifications to Traditional Tah-cheen recipe:

• cutting out butter and oil reduces the fat content and the caloric density of the dish
• increasing proportions of chicken and eggs and decreasing proportions of rice means more protein and fewer carbs
• using precooked chicken and rice saves time

The result is a faster, easier, more nutritious Persian chicken and rice casserole!

Make Basmati rice using a rice cooker ahead of time to save a step (“How to Cook Persian Rice in a Rice Cooker”).

The direct translation of “Tah Cheen” in English is ‘arranging at the bottom of the pot’.  Arrange the chicken and yogurt/egg mixture at the bottom of the pot (or in this case at the bottom of the Pyrex).  When this rice casserole is baked long enough, it yields a delicious, savory, toasty, baked-in flavor.  My mouth waters thinking about it!

It’s handy to have a supply of cooked chicken.  I buy it pre-cooked or I cook up a few breasts in the Instant Pot.  Once there is cooked rice and chicken, the rest is a matter of mixing, layering, and arranging. 

Steps for putting together a Persian chicken and rice casserole

1. Stir in dissolved saffron (or pure saffron spray) into plain yogurt.
2. Add eggs to yogurt/saffron mixture and stir.
3. Stir in the spices and garlic.  Remove the crispy, slightly burned shell from the outer layer of the rice.
4. Add cooked rice to yogurt/egg/spice mixture in the bowl and stir until all the rice is coated in the yogurt sauce.  Spray the bottom and edges of Pyrex baking dish liberally with cooking oil.  Scoop out a little more than half of the rice and yogurt mixture to the bottom of the baking pan or Pyrex dish.  Smooth out and pat down with rubber spatula until even.
5. Add and arrange cooked chicken pieces on top of the yogurt and rice mixture.  
6. Put the rest of the yogurt and rice mixture on the top as the final layer.  Again, smooth out and pat down until even with a rubber spatula.  Bake in a 400-degree oven for 70 to 75 minutes or until the bottom and edges are golden brown.  Remove the tin foil from the top of the pan for the last 5 to 10 minutes.

Tips on using Saffron

• If you are having trouble getting a hold of saffron, you can substitute with more turmeric.  I’ve made it this way in the past and it is also very good.  Ideally, use both saffron and turmeric for the best flavor.  
• Pure saffron spray is a convenient way to get dissolved saffron (click on this link to order a can of Pure Saffron Spray).  The price is steep (it’s known as the king of spices), about $18 a can, however, it is so worth it!  If using dried saffron strands (the stigma of the saffron flower), grind it, then carefully dissolve in boiling water.

• Using saffron spray is so fast and easy and the color comes out vibrant, beautiful, dark yellow.  The flavor is the same as the ground and dissolved type to my Americanized taste buds.  

As mentioned, we take short-cuts in our modern version of Tah-cheen Persian Chicken and Rice Casserole.  In addition to using pre-cooked rice, we use pre-cooked chicken.  In a bind, pick up a whole roast chicken and cut up about 2 cups of roast chicken (I use the white breast meat).

When we have raw or frozen chicken in the house, the Instant Pot is a great tool for cooking up chicken.  The Instant Pot can even handle frozen or partially frozen meat.  

 

How to cook chicken breasts in the Instant Pot:

• Place 2 to 4 fresh chicken breasts with 1 cup of water or broth
• Add salt, pepper/spices
• Set the pressure cooker to 10 minutes
• Natural release the steam for 5 minutes then use the quick-release valve
• Note:  for frozen chicken increase pressure cook to time 15 minutes

For the complete recipe on how to cook chicken from fresh or frozen in the Instant Pot click HERE.